First BWW Franchisee Blazed Trail for Others Dave Kajganich’s leadership part of franchise system’s evolution Dave Kajganich, left, and his wife, Lynn, visited with Kris Paronto, keynote speaker at the 2019 Summit. by Sean Ireland
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2021 Issue 2 |
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eadership comes naturally to Dave Kajganich. From serving as captain of his college baseball team to becoming the first independent franchisee in the Buffalo Wild Wings® system back in 1992, blazing a trail for others to follow has never been too daunting. Kajganich, who eventually owned seven BWW® sports bars, is blazing a new trail these days. He and his former partner, Ken Brown, who combined their franchise companies in 2012, left the system last fall by selling their restaurants to Grube Inc. But Kajganich and Brown, another early franchisee of the system whose first store in Ashland, Ohio, was one of the original 25 franchised locations of the brand, found plenty of challenge and reward during their careers as pioneers
of the Buffalo Wild Wings system. The two Ohio natives met in 1980 as freshmen infielders on the College of Wooster baseball team in Wooster, Ohio, about 50 miles southwest of Cleveland. By their senior years, Brown and Kajganich were the starting shortstop/second baseman combination, with Kajganich serving as team captain. They maintained their relationship after college, both living in the Columbus, Ohio, area working corporate jobs, marrying and starting families. By the early 1990s, the former teammates and their wives often shared game nights with chicken wings that came in plain brown packaging bought from a local restaurant. Little did they know, those wings would lead to the start of a nearly 30-year
journey with what became the Buffalo Wild Wings brand. “I wanted to open up a sports bar, which at the time, weren’t as prevalent as they are now. My corporate job saw me get relocated to Columbus, Ohio, which is where I met [my wife], Lynn,” Kajganich said. “One day, I asked her, ‘Where can you get good wings in Columbus?’ She asked her brother, and he said that the BW-3 on North High Street had the best wings in the city. I became addicted to the Wild-flavor wings. Long story short, while waiting for my takeout order, I saw a small sign behind the counter: ‘For franchise information … .’ I wrote down
