Inspire Brands’ BWW GO concept—the counter-service spinoff of the legacy sports bar—crossed the 100-standalone restaurant mark roughly a year ago. It was a relatively quiet, yet rapid rise. Inspire, the owner of Dunkin’, Baskin-Robbins, Arby’s, Jimmy John’s, Sonic Drive-In, and Buffalo Wild Wings, and the 38,000 or so units that encompass the fastest growing restaurant group on record, began the brand’s development on the company-owned side.
Inspire wanted to test and refine the BWW GO model before opening it to franchisees, as it often does with innovation. Inspire has one of the largest corporate footprints of any group its size in the business, perhaps only behind Starbucks. Arby’s alone had north of 1,000 at year-end 2023.
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Reaching 100 BWW GOs last April, which Inspire did with a New York City location, represented an inflection in its franchise versus corporate ambition, however. It planned to close 2024 with 150 total and touted commitments for nearly 600 more locations, with 85 percent of sign-ups stemming from existing Inspire franchisees.
So where did it end up?
According to its recently released FDD, BWW GO exited 2024 at 140 total outlets, a net change of 61 restaurants, year-over-year, making it one of quick service’s underserved growth stories. That’s more net expansion than Culver’s, Smoothie King, Panera, and Shake Shack had in 2023 (updated data coming in August).
The initial standalone BWW GO debuted in 2020 in Atlanta at 1,800 square feet with a walk-up counter, digital menuboards, and a small seating area with TVs to entertain customers while they waited. As of last year, just 9 percent of the BWW GO standalone business was call or walk-in.
To put recent development into perspective, at the start of 2021, there were zero standalone BWW GO franchises. There was one to begin 2022 and four before 2023. That number reached 31 ahead of 2024 and expanded by 59 to hit 90 at year’s end. Meanwhile, on the company side, Inspire built 15 in 2021, had 37 the following year, 48 at the close of 2023, and 50 after 2024.
The present mix is 50 company BWW GO restaurants and 90 franchised. In 2022, those figures were 37 and four, respectively.
As for where BWW GO franchises popped up, the largest market currently is New York, which scaled from five restaurants to 15 in 2024. Texas is next, growing from six to 11.
Otherwise:
- Alabama: 2
- California: 5
- Colorado: 1
- Florida: 7
- Georgia: 5
- Illinois: 6
- Indiana: 1
- Kansas: 1
- Maine: 2
- Maryland: 3
- Massachusetts: 1
- Michigan: 2
- Missouri: 1
- Nebraska: 3
- New Jersey: 9
- North Carolina: 1
- Ohio: 4
- Pennsylvania: 1
- Virginia: 1
- Washington: 4
- Wisconsin: 3
Eight markets have one BWW Go today.
For corporate:
- Arizona: 4
- California: 5
- Colorado: 5
- Georgia: 4
- Illinois: 11
- Kansas: 1
- Missouri: 1
- New York: Zero (it had one year-end 2023)
- North Carolina: 1
- Texas: 13
- Wisconsin: 3
And to Inspire’s 2024 expectation, additional growth is ahead, although not as robust as this past year. The company, per its FDD, expects 32 new franchised outlets to open in fiscal 2025 and zero corporate. There are 45 franchise agreements signed without a store being opening yet.
This near-term expansion will spread out, like it has thus far:
- California: 4
- Florida: 5
- Georgia: 1
- Illinoi: 4
- Iowa: 1
- Kentucky: 1
- Maryland: 3
- Nevada: 3
- New York: 3
- Ohio: 1
- Tennessee: 1
- Texas: 3
- West Virginia: 2
There were 103 franchised BWW GO restaurants operating in the U.S. as of the measuring date used in Inspire’s FDD. Of those, five operated as non-traditional venues. The company did not factor in a store that operated as a multi-brand location and 21 franchises that were not open for at least 13 weeks. The remaining 81 franchised venues were labeled “reporting franchised restaurants.” Only 38 operated for the full measuring year, or “experience franchised restaurants.” Given a limited number of franchised BWW GO units run during that measuring window, Inspire expanded its Item 19 to disclose financial performance representations that pertain to the larger group of “reporting franchised restaurants,” as well as sales pertaining solely to “experienced franchised restaurants.”
For clarity, the “experienced franchised restaurants” were part of the “reporting franchised restaurants.” Also excluded was a franchise restaurant that closed (it was open for less than 12 months) and the 49 company-owned locations that Inspire or its affiliates operated at the end of the measuring period.
This pool of “reporting franchised restaurants” varied in size from 600 to 2,900 square feet, with an average of 1,550. The average box of the “experienced franchised restaurants” was 1,675 square feet. Seventy-eight of the “reporting franchised restaurants” operated at traditional locations and three non-trad. All 38 of the “experienced franchised restaurants” were traditional restaurants. Fifty-three overall were in-line of retail shopping centers, including 26 of that “experienced” definition; 23 were end-cap units (11 of “experienced”); three in mall food courts (none of “experienced); and two in standalone buildings (one “experienced”).
Fifty-three (27 “experienced”) were in suburban markets; 18 (five “experienced) in urban/metro areas; seven (three “experienced) in rural markets; and three (two “experienced”) in “super-urban” locations.
Among this group, 38 operated for 52 weeks, 25 between 32 and 51 weeks, and the remaining 18 for less than 32 weeks.
The weekly average unit volume for the “reporting franchised restaurants” averaged $18,821, or roughly $978,692 per year.
The first quartile clocked $28,270; second quartile $19,777; third quartile $15,943; and fourth quartile $11,654.
The weekly AUV for those 38 “experienced franchised restaurants” was $18,054 (about $938,808 on a yearly basis). The median was $17,243 and the lowest $8,445. Forty-two percent sat above the average.
The highest earning BWW GO overall clocked $43,208 per week, or $2.25 million yearly. For the “experienced,” there was a restaurant in 2024 pushing $38,986 per week ($2.027 million).
One of the key shifts in the BWW GO model is its agility versus a traditional Buffalo Wild Wings location. The total investment to begin operation of a BWW GO, according to the FDD, ranges from $564,345 to $1.051 million. That includes $30,000 to $93,400 paid to the franchisor or affiliate.
Inspire requires a minimum of five units to sign an area development agreement for BWW GO. The total investment necessary to start one under such a deal, covering five to 10 stores, is $639,345 to $1.186 million.
For comparison, the total investment for a full-service Buffalo Wild Wings Sports Bar franchise scales from $2.450 million to $4.883 million, inclusive of $12,500 to $156,200 paid to the franchisor or affiliate.
An area development agreement to open multiple Buffalo Wild Wings of that definition comes in at $12,500 and $375,000 on the investment side, respectively ($12,500 to $3750,00 paid to the franchisor or affiliate).
Inspire has retracted its legacy sports bar slightly in recent years. It closed two, year-over-year, to finish 2024 with 1,183 restaurants. That after sliding by a net of four the prior year and seven the year before that. It did, however, expand by five franchised restaurants to reach 548. Buffalo Wild Wings thinned by seven on the company side to get to 645. So the 1,183 split broke down as 645 company and 538 franchised year-end 2024.
Twenty-one restaurants were also transferred from franchisees to new owners in 2024 after just seven the year before, but more in line with the 28 that transferred in 2022. The largest franchised footprint in the country last year was in Ohio, where there were 63 Buffalo Wild Wings, followed by Michigan (60), Indiana (47), and Illinois (38).
For corporate, Texas topped with 74 stores, with California (58), Illinois (33), Ohio (30), and Wisconsin (29) trailing.
Inspire expects 10 franchised outlets to open in fiscal 2025 and zero company. There are eight franchised agreements, including five in Texas, signed but without outlets opened yet.
Buffalo Wild Wings’ traditional sports bar averaged $3.567.5 million per year in 2024. The top quartile was $5.098 million; second quartile $3.797 million; third quartile $3.085.7 million; and fourth quartile $2.290.7 million.
These ranged in size from 4,000 to 10,000 square feet. And unlike the relative infancy of BWW GO, the stores in this breakdown operated for an average of 14.4 years. Of the 538 franchises, 10 were non-trad locations.
Total revenues for Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. and subsidiaries for the year end December 29, 2024, clocked in at $2.310.516 billion. It was $2.324.645 billion in 2023.
Net income was $129 million, a dip from $158.785 million the prior year, and up from a loss of $116.901 million the reporting calendar before that.
