Buffalo Wild Wings' executive chef reveals the chain's new food strategy, which includes adding brisket and hand-breaded chicken to a revamped menu to win over millennials
- Buffalo Wild Wings is in the midst of a transformation.
- Since the chain joined Inspire Brands in 2018, its menu has been revamped and updated with new items such as boneless chicken wings, a new signature burger, and, now, an array of brisket dishes.
- Buffalo Wild Wings' executive chef Jamie Carawan said the menu changes are all a part of the brand's new strategy to be the great American sports bar and the go-to place to hang out with friends.
- "We're kind of being a little bit more surgical in how we address the menu items that we add," Carawan said. "We want to make sure that were building reach through some unique items."
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Buffalo Wild Wings has a clear goal: to be the great American sports bar. According to the chain's executive chef Jamie Carawan, the menu is an essential part of that.
"Frankly, wings, beer, and sports isn't really who we are," Carawan told Business Insider. "It's what we do."
In other words, good food by itself isn't enough. It has to translate to the chain's overall purpose to create great experiences.
This idea has been the chain's North Star for the last two years or so, since it joined Inspire Brands in 2018 following two years of slumping sales and internal struggles. A turnaround strategy outlined by Inspire Brands CEO Paul Brown included plans to change the restaurant chain's experience and menu to win over millennials.
As such, the company replaced disposable paper wing boats with reusable trays last year and rolled out a new store design with self-service beer taps and Xbox gaming consoles.
What BWW changed about its menu
In terms of food, Buffalo Wild wings has introduced a slew of new menu items in the last year, including boneless chicken wings, hand-breaded chicken, a brand-new cheeseburger, and a new cocktail menu.
"These are sort of foundations and pillars of a great sports bar," Carawan said, explaining why it was essential to start perfecting these items first.
Once the big dishes had been revamped, Carawan said, his team could focus on the smaller details of perfecting the completed menu.
"We're kind of being a little bit more surgical in how we address the menu items that we add," Carawan said. "We want to make sure that were building reach through some unique items."
He gave the example of the dirty dub tots, a platter of tater tots loaded with queso, cheese, pickled peppers, smoked brisket, and Adobo sauce that was recently added to menus.
"It's just all this flavor, but ultimately it's a great bar food item and it's something you could share if you wanted to," Carawan said.
Breaking into brisket
The dirty dub tots are included in Buffalo Wild Wings' latest brisket-based menu rollout, made possible through a partnership with Sadler's, which also works with the Inspire Brands-owned Arby's. The brisket menu, which includes a brisket burger, brisket tots, brisket tacos, and a brisket sandwich, is made with 14-hour-pit-smoked barbecued brisket.
"I feel really good about our product, the quality of product, the flavor of the product, and I think our consumers are going to absolutely love it," said Carawan, who grew up on Texas-style barbecue.
New items can take more than a year to roll out
When it comes to adding and changing menu items, Carawan said, the process can take over 13 months per item. For the latest menu additions, that process was sped up because of the need to get new items on the menu quickly; finalizing the basic items in the menu revamp was a priority in the chain's turnaround process. For example, the fresh, never frozen, burger was rolled out in six months.
"There's a lot of hurdles that a product has to go over before it actually makes it to the menu from a consumer, operational, and a commercial standpoint," Carawan said.
The process starts with an idea and goes through various levels of consumer research and testing before the item is rolled out to stores.
"We don't pick up a spatula, we don't order any food, we don't do anything in the kitchen until there's a good reason for us to be working on it," Carawan said. "Meaning a consumer or a group of consumers has told us, 'Hey, I'd come in more often for this, this seems appealing to me, yes, it's brand appropriate and yes, I would come in and purchase that item."
Great food is important. But to Carawan, every item on the menu should relate to the overall goal of the chain.
"We're a sports bar that is trying to create legendary experiences among friends," Carawan said. "And that's our purpose in the world. That's why we exist in the universe."