Article
Franchising Focus: CEO confident that his Buffalo fries will hit the Spot
Buffalo Spot CEO Ivan Flores thinks he can change how Americans order wings.
January 21, 2020 by Cherryh Cansler — Editor, FastCasual.com
With the average American consumer feasting on nearly 18,000 chicken wings over their lifetime, it makes sense that the fast casual industry has a plethora of concepts dedicated to the Super Bowl-favorite cuisine. But just as Uber disrupted the transportation industry and $1 Shave Club changed the shaving industry, Buffalo Spot CEO Ivan Flores thinks he might be the one to change how Americans order their wings.
"We are a disruptor in the wing industry because we were one of the first in the market with this product," he said during an interview with FastCasual about his 30-unit chain in California, Arizona, Nevada and Texas.
But what exactly is a buffalo fry? It sounds simple — buffalo chicken strips on top of French fries — but it's actually a little more than that.
"We engage with our customers to discover which kind of flavors they like so that we can make recommendations toward our 14 proprietary sauces served with our buffalo fries," Flores said.
And he must be onto something considering the fries make up 75% of his sales and his average unit volume is $1 million.
How it all began
Just as many stories that eventually end in success, Flores' started with failure. He opened a Mexican restaurant in 2013 in San Diego but soon closed up shop.
"My first brand failed. I did not have enough business experience, I made a bad choice for the location, demographics and pricing on product did not work well," he said.
Although he was going out of business, he couldn't ignore that customers loved one specific menu item — carne asada fries — which inspired him to test buffalo chicken on fries.
"I knew we had something special once we perfected it," said Flores who opened the first Buffalo Spot a few months later.
The chain, which now has 23 franchised and seven corporate-owned units, will add a Las Vegas location in a couple weeks and is developing locations in Arizona, Texas, California and Nevada.
"Our overall goal with brand is to take it nationwide," Flores said. "I would love to pass this business down to future generations when I grow old."
Success, however, is not about money, fast growth or hitting a specific number of units.
"Success, as a company to me, is about a steady growth and making sure we stick around by delighting our guests with a great experience and great food," Flores said. "I want my kids and my future generations to take over the family business. There are many new concepts out there just focusing on fast growth, money and worried about getting more units opened. I think at the end of that day that model will kick you in the butt sooner or later."
The costs of growing up
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Buffalo Spot CEO Ivan Flores thinks he might be the one to change how Americans order their wings. |
Flores said it costs between $350,000 and $400,000 to open a unit, which is below the average costs to open a fast casual brand.
"We have successful unit economics due to our restaurant specs of square footage and other building costs," he said. "We definitely have standards for all our corporate and franchise units, but our focus is not building the fanciest restaurant specs with lots of bells and whistles. Our standard is to build a strong, clean, functional restaurant, and we put more focus on our product and our employees ability to deliver superior customer service."
The small menu helps as well as equipment costs are lower than other franchise models.
"We know what we are serving, how to prepare and store safely and properly and focus on the equipment to successfully deliver the best product," Flores said.
He also understands how important training is when it comes to offering high-quality customer service, which is why employees go through a standard two-week training program followed by weekly ongoing training sessions.
"We take every opportunity to make customers feel welcome by helping them out to their car with big orders, to engaging them to learn about the flavors they like, to making sure our employees are happy in their roles as that translates into happy customers, Flores said.
He also uses the lessons he learned from failing to his advantage.
"I learned not giving up and being persistent does payoff," he said. "You just have to be willing to sacrifice and put in the hard work no matter what happens and keep trying."
About Cherryh Cansler
