MENU TRENDS: Wings, Beer, Sports … Flatbreads?

Buffalo Wild Wings aims to diversity its menu portfolio--without straying too far from the coop--with the addition of flatbreads.

By Christine LaFave, Associate Editor -- Restaurants and Institutions, 11/10/2008 1:15:00 PM

Late last month, still-rising casual-dining star Buffalo Wild Wings announced the nationwide debut of a new menu category, Wild Flatbreads. Baked on-site in ovens formerly used for baking bread, the 10-inch, eight-slice flatbreads are available (for now) in three varieties: Buffalo Chicken (with Spicy Garlic sauce and blue-cheese dressing, chicken, fresh celery bits and mozzarella cheese), Parmesan Garlic Chicken (with chicken and mozzarella over Parmesan Garlic sauce) and Honey BBQ Chicken (with pico de gallo, Honey BBQ sauce, chicken and mozzarella). Prices range from $6.99 to $8.49, depending on market and menu tier.

The Minneapolis-based chain continues to buck the trend of slumping sales and store closings in the casual-dining sector, posting a same-store sales increase of 6.8% over the previous year for the third quarter of 2008 and expanding from approximately 490 locations at the end of 2007 to 546 now. Sylvia Matke-Hill, Buffalo Wild Wings’ director of research and development, explains what in-vogue flatbreads bring to the table in a concept built on the humble chicken wing.

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Q. What was the development process like for the Wild Flatbreads?
A. We actually started about nine months ago. All of our food and beverage items we test, and we utilize a menu-development process. We start out with just the concept, and then we go to field testing, to market testing, and we implement the item pretty much as a feature item on the menu, and then from there it will go on to the core menu.

Our research team came back and they [kept] telling us, you know, the hot trend for consumers is pizza. And we’re like, yeah, we know, we know that’s a big trend but it doesn’t really fit our concept. And then just recently, probably over the last year, year-and-a-half, the whole thinner-crust, kind of flatbread lavash has become very popular. And then the fact that people, they’re curious, they’re accepting more of those nontraditional toppings. So that kind of led us to the development process.

Q. What was it about flatbreads that made them versus pizza an acceptable addition to the menu?
A. We really try to stay true to our brand, to the Buffalo Wild Wings brand, which is the chicken. So [if] you start getting into the pizza category, that’s not quite the same. The Wild Flatbreads are really kind of unique because it kind of offers multiple dimensions for us. It combines chicken along with our sauces, and so it’s just a great combination on the crust. It’s a cracker crust, and then it has a unique sauce and then the chicken and the cheese. What it does is it gives the guest kind of a familiar concept for Buffalo Wild Wings so they know what they’re getting, but then it puts a twist to it as well.

In this test we went to three different markets, and we put them on the menu, and the guest comments were just fantastic. And what we do is we have a strategic benchmarking system that we set up that any product we test has to meet or exceed what we’ve set as a standard level. So we put these products in and we tested for a six-week period. We get guest feedback as well as operational feedback, and of course we look at the sales as well, and this product just exceeded all of those benchmark numbers for us. So we knew for sure at that point that we had a home run.

Q. How did you hit upon the flavor profiles for the three varieties?
A. The nice part about working with Buffalo Wild Wings is we have 14 sauce flavors to start with. We started across the board looking at our sauces and what combinations we thought would work the best. Our Parmesan Garlic is just a perfect match, so that one was great. And then we really wanted to keep that tradition of Buffalo Wild Wings, so the Buffalo Chicken one combines our Spicy Garlic sauce with our blue-cheese dressing, and then we have the celery and the chicken, so it’s really kind of a Buffalo Wild Wings experience on a flatbread. [With] the Honey BBQ, the Honey BBQ is our most-popular sauce, and barbecued flatbreads and barbecued pizzas have become more popular.

It’s kind of interesting because it makes a wonderful shareable [item]. We’ve seen the majority of our sales have been as an add-on, kind of as an appetizer, but then we’re also seeing [it become] a hit at lunch, just as something that’s kind of different or unique for a lunch item, or even as a dinner item. It’s helped to diversify some of that demographic as well.

Q. What did you see as the guest appeal of the flatbreads? Did you envision them serving as a starter or an accompaniment that a party could share, or are they meant more to appeal as a main-plate item to female guests who seek something other than wings?
A. We wanted to do it partially as a sales-builder, as an add-on, and then to kind of diversify to that nontraditional guest, like the girlfriend or the wife that comes in that maybe isn’t heavy into the wings, but now they’ve got a great option and they can experience the sauces. The biggest driver for us is our sauces; people just love those. Being able to extend that to a new category has been great.

Q. Guests who aren’t big on wings have always had options at Buffalo Wild Wings in the form of salads, wraps and other items. Was the decision to add flatbreads made in part based on flatbreads’ status as a “trendy” item?
A. That’s part of it; it is a very popular trend. And then you, know, just to kind of diversify and offer the sauces in a different option.

Q. Would you consider expanding the line or rotating flavors, or do you think you’ll stick with the three core flatbreads?
A. Actually, we’ve just finished a test with two other ones. We really see this as a venue to be able to offer some different options. We’re testing one that has pork. And the other thing that’s really nice is we’ve started to mix some of our sauces. So like on the pork, we’re using half of the Asian Zing (sauce) and half of the Honey Barbecue. I’m kind of in my glory, because from a development perspective, you just take a look at the sauces and say, OK, I can mix half of this with half of that and now I have a new flavor. We really do see this as a great opportunity to expand some profiles.

What we try to do is balance [menu offerings]. We’ll take a look at the numbers; we’ll take a look at where we’re at. We’ll probably keep to three or four [flatbreads], and then if we did offer another one it would be just as a feature, and we would see how that would rate versus the current ones.

Q. Any items that might be phased out in conjunction with the addition of the flatbreads?
A. Not at this time, not in direct correlation to the flatbreads.

Q. Buffalo Wild Wings has continued to increase sales and open dozens of new stores this year as other full-service concepts have faltered. In particular from a menu standpoint, what do you think have been the keys to the chain’s success—to staying relevant to consumers?
A. I think it’s very interesting because the experience at Buffalo Wild Wings is really unique, so I think that everything that we’ve really tried to do is to enhance that experience and enhance it from the food side. We do quite a bit of testing and we try to be very strategic in what we’re doing, [and we strive] to really balance out that menu, making sure that [a new item] is something that meets the demographic, that maybe has some opportunity to expand into different dayparts. We’re excited to have [flatbreads] as part of the night menu; we’re looking at the lunch menu as well and expanding that option there. And again, we’re staying very true to what we are, which is beer, wings and sports, but, you know, just trying to enhance that with the food side. We’ve got a lot of exciting things happening.