Nader Masadeh

it’s in my blood

Masadeh discusses how he came to join the sports restaurant and bar franchise, how he’s helped guide the brand throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and more.

As someone raised in a family of restaurateurs and owners, I always knew I was a natural fit for the foodservice industry. I worked my way up from dishwashing to later helping my father run a Wings and Rings location. After earning a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Cincinnati and a master’s of business administration in international business and negotiations from Xavier University, I joined the Wings and Rings corporate team in 2005. Since then, I’ve spent the past 16 years working to develop a fast-growing, club-level sports restaurant and bar franchise with more than 85 units globally. Today, as the CEO of Wings and Rings, I help guide the corporate team and lay the framework to continue growing and improving the brand. In addition to “As someone raised in a family of restaurateurs and owners, I always knew I was a natural fit for the foodservice industry. I worked my way up from dishwashing to later helping my father run a Wings and Rings location.”

evolving what customers already love about us, I’m a big fan of the franchising industry because we are able to focus on the profitability of our franchisees and help people achieve their dreams of business ownership.

Why Wings and rings is a Franchisee-First organization

Since day one, we have continued to refine our franchise model and enhance our mission to provide an unmatched club level, elevated sports restaurant and bar experience at Wings and Rings. For example, I participated on CBS’s Undercover Boss a few years ago, which proved to be an extremely valuable experience to further our company’s vision and make sure that the Wings and Rings experience is second-to-none throughout the system. Not only did the appearance boost brand awareness and systemwide sales, but I also learned several lessons throughout the experience that I’ve been able to utilize to better optimize our business model.

For example, I realized that a lot of times, the things we hope to see in our employees—like passion, charisma, loyalty and hospitality—sometimes get lost in translation as they trickle down the management ladder. That is why, when you have someone who embodies what the company stands for, you have to hang on to them. It’s important to focus on longevity and a low turnover rate by creating a safe environment and a culture that inspires personal and professional growth. As a franchisor, Wings and Rings has always strived to ensure owners felt as though they had a voice in the overall trajectory of the brand. That is why we created a franchise advisory council, for example, which is a group of franchise owners who review topics and go over what the company is working on every month. They then give the corporate team feedback from the franchisee perspective. This ensures that franchisees can feel confident that their voices are being heard and that they are having a direct impact on corporate decisions. In that way, the franchisees aren’t the only ones who benefit from the council — the corporate team relies heavily on its network of franchisees to advance the brand. As we continue to grow across the country, our franchisees are the eyes and ears of the operations. Having a unified franchise advisory council that can speak on behalf of all of our franchisees is an invaluable resource in ensuring we grow the right way and position all of our incoming and existing owners for success. It was especially helpful to have their insight and guidance during the pandemic when the restaurant industry was constantly changing.

how Wings and rings has continued to thrive over the past year

Now, in these tumultuous times, we’ve continued to do all we can to support our franchisees and continue to grow the brand. For example, our new restaurant model (called G4), launched in Greater Cincinnati in September 2021, and is designed to meet evolving customers preferences and includes a reimagined dining room and patio and additions to the brand’s existing take-out and valet drive-thru model. With this new restaurant model, we’re creating an

exciting opportunity for those who want to grow with a brand that’s been around for decades, while evolving to meet the current consumer and franchise demands.

We also introduced a development incentive program for franchisees who signed on with our new full-service restaurant of the future model last year. We waived the initial franchise fee of $40,000 and eliminated royalties for the first six months for existing and prospective franchisees who qualified. This program will continue through 2022. Overall, it felt great to be able to help our owners make it through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Wings and Rings kept all of our locations open in 2020 and even continued to grow from within as existing franchisees signed on for more locations. Although 2020 wasn’t easy for any of us in the restaurant industry, COVID-19 expedited where we were already headed, shifting to offpremise, delivery services and adding new technologies. Then, one of the biggest moments from this past year for me was being recognized by the Ohio Restaurants Association for the work I did leading the brand through the pandemic. It felt like a great culmination of our efforts and it wouldn’t have been possible without the incredible network of franchisees, corporate employees and team, and vendor partners.

Why the Wings and rings team is more excited than ever

Looking ahead, we’ve used the downtime that we’ve had from the pandemic to improve systems, processes and strategies for Wings and Rings. This will allow us to slingshot into the future with more momentum than we would have otherwise had.

This is a really exciting time for our current and prospective franchisees, as well as for us on the corporate team. In terms of the future, some of the things I’m most excited about include our recent name change from “Buffalo Wings & Rings” to “Wings and Rings.” For a long time, customers confused us with our larger competitor, Buffalo Wild Wings. People would try to use BWW gift cards at Wings & Rings or write reviews directed at BWW on our web pages. Some even enjoyed an entire meal thinking they were at a BWW, and then wondered why the food was different from their other experiences. So finally, after years of thinking about it, we officially dropped the “Buffalo” from our name. We’ve also refreshed our logo and layout in a handful of new and existing stores over the past year and determined that it contributed to higher sales and traffic. In fact, many longtime fans of the brand didn’t even notice the change, and most already referred to it as Wings & Rings anyway. But it did attract people who weren’t familiar with it and who were open to an alternative to Buffalo Wild Wings. Overall, as a brand, we are trying to differentiate ourselves from our competitors from a food quality and service standpoint, and this rebranding will definitely help us do that.

We’ve also continued to increase our international presence this year with multiunit signings in Mexico, as well as new franchisees signing on in new domestic markets.

Additionally, one of the most rewarding parts of my job is watching franchisees within our system open additional restaurants, and during the last year we’ve seen a significant increase in franchisees reinvesting in the brand. For example, some of our existing franchisees in Texas and Kentucky have recently signed on to open new locations. Nearly half of our system is made up of multi-unit operators and more than half of those operators grew from just one location when they joined. Now, after almost two decades with the brand, I am confident that our future is brighter than ever as we plan to grow intelligently and strategically, with market availability existing for franchisees across the U.S. We will continue to anticipate the changing needs and desires of the emerging generation of customers and our business model will continue to cater to new and existing franchisees.