The singularity is here—and it smells like fried chicken.
Are robots taking over your local Buffalo Wild Wings?
Boneless chicken wings might taste like their bony counterparts, but they don't come from
the same part of the bird.
They're not wings at all, but chicken breast meat cut into wing-sized pieces and thrown
into a fryer.
Buffalo Wild Wings began selling boneless wings back in 2003 to deal with the increasing
price of bone-in wings, caused by both high demand and production costs.
And while you only get four wing pieces per bird, each chicken breast can be cut into
multiple "wings", so there's more meat to go around, at a better price.
To deal with the soaring wing prices in 2017, Buffalo Wild Wings replaced its popular Half-Price
Wing Tuesdays with Boneless Thursdays, since the price of chicken wings had risen 44 cents
per pound since 2016, according to Business Insider.
Former Buffalo Wild Wings COO James M. Schmidt said that he was optimistic about the shift
to Boneless Thursdays since they already outsold bone-in wings.
The shift worked, with Buffalo Wild Wings' profits and shares soaring in the third quarter of 2017.
The chain eventually brought back its Tuesday deal, albeit in a slightly different format.
Now, when you buy traditional wings on Tuesday, you can get another set of wings at 50% off.
"Tommy likey!
Tommy want wingy!"
Just like many other cost-focused fast food franchises, Buffalo Wild Wings has much of
its food arrive at the restaurant frozen or pre-packaged.
According to a Reddit user who claimed to be a cook for the chain in 2016, this includes
burgers, boneless wings, and even salads.
According to the employee, the only menu items that aren't ever frozen are wings and produce.
However, they went on to say that they would avoid ordering wings between 3 and 5 p.m.
since this is the "slow time" when they tend to sit in the holding area for longer.
According to Business Insider, Buffalo Wild Wings shifted from serving frozen to fresh
beef in 2019.
So what about their food preparation?
A few of the chain's food items do get microwaved.
A self-described Buffalo Wild Wings manager once came clean about the chain's cooking
practices on Reddit, saying,
"We microwave diced chicken which goes into the grilled wraps and buffalitos.
[...] Our spinach artichoke dip is microwaved per order for freshness standards.
We also microwave cheese onto buffalo chip or wedges, but those are made fresh per order."
For a hot minute, wings from Buffalo Wild Wings were sold in sizes small, medium, or large.
Slinging them by volume, it turns out, was actually more expensive for BW3 in the long run.
In 2020, Restaurant Business reported that the chain switched to ordering by quantity
on the grounds that the former method drove up food costs.
As Sally Smith explained to Restaurant Business, employees would go through a lot of wings
to fit the specific weight requirements for each portion.
Wings don't come in consistent shapes or sizes, so workers would have to include a little
extra to meet the target, which adds up.
And from the customer's perspective, it blurred the lines of exactly how much food they could
expect to get in return.
Today, customers can order wings in batches of six, 10, 15, 20, and 30.
The count-based approach is easier for everyone, because customers will know what they're paying
for upfront and the chain can eliminate guesswork in estimating how much product they'll have
to purchase, keeping the wings as affordable as they are.
In 2017, Buffalo Wild Wings embraced a new business model with the opening of the first
B-Dubs Express in Minnesota.
Unlike the usual restaurant experience, B-Dubs Express doesn't require customers to wait
to be seated and deal with servers.
Focused on take-out, B-Dubs Express also has fewer television screens than traditional
Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants, and seating for only around 35 to 50 patrons.
The main goal of the new strategy has been to attract millennials and reduce the chain's
need for staff by adopting a scaled-down, grab-and-go approach.
Customers who visit B-Dubs Express can order right at the counter and either take their
food home or sit down.
Former Buffalo Wild Wings CEO, Sally Smith, noted to Food & Wine that millennial consumers
were more likely than older consumers to eat at home, have food delivered from restaurants,
and have quick meals at fast-casual or quick-serve restaurants.
With an annual revenue of $2 billion dollars, Buffalo Wild Wings rolls in enough dough to
support the 44,000 workers who bring their A-Game to the sports bar, according to Zippia.
At least theoretically.
Like many other minimum wage restaurant chains out there, Buffalo Wild Wings employees don't
make a whole lot of money.
As of 2022, Indeed shows cashiers make around $12 an hour, while line cooks pocket $15.
These wages more or less line up with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' current numbers
on the subject, but it's not especially lucrative.
Management doesn't seem to have it much better.
Some employees have reported not receiving the benefits promised to them, such as health
insurance, dental, or even paid time off.
One individual on Indeed described their experience as
"...extremely stressful.
[The job] "provides little to no work/life balance, having to work at least 50 hours
a week with very little PTO."
Essentially, the chain maintains an inexpensive labor force which subsidizes the low menu
prices it's been allowed to get away with.
The particulars appear to vary depending on the state and location.
but it doesn't change the fact that service workers at large are generally underpaid for
the amount of work they do.
Buffalo Wild Wings is no exception to the rule.
To address labor shortages, and no doubt save on labor costs, Buffalo Wild Wings is getting
ready to introduce a new addition to its team in 2022 — Flippy Wings, the robotic wing fryer.
The result of a partnership between Inspire Brands and Miso Robotics, Flippy Wings, or
Wingy for short, will streamline operations and maximize efficiency.
According to the robot's creators, Wingy can increase the speed of food production by between
10% and 20%.
According to a press release, Flippy Wings comes with AutoBins where kitchen staff drop
products to be cooked.
The AI system then picks up the food, cooks it, and places it in a holding area.
The CEO of Miso Robotics, Mike Bell, explained the benefits of the venture, saying,
"Flippy Wings fries fresh, frozen or hand-breaded products like a pro, avoiding cross contamination
and increasing throughput while reducing costs.
It is fast, safer to operate than traditional fryers and the whole system can be set up
in just a few hours over existing equipment."
Buffalo Wild Wings isn't the only restaurant eager to utilize robotics in its food processing system.
According to the 2021 Global State of Hospitality Report, 45% of restaurant operators have said
that they plan to use automation technology during the next two to three years.