FBS Member News 6 Recognitions

MEMBER NEWS

Frequent Guests at Indianapolis Buffalo Wild Wings Turn Reward Points Into Meals for the Homeless

Bob and Laura Dugan donated food purchased with over 200,000 Blazin’ Rewards points to a local homeless shelter, Wheeler Mission, in Indianapolis.

Bob and Laura Dugan have been regular guests at Buffalo Wild Wings® in Indianapolis, Indiana, for the past few years. The couple loves to relax, watch sports and eat wings several times a week.

Over two years, the couple collected more than 200,000 Blazin’ Rewards points, which can be used on food and merchandise, and came up with the idea to donate the points during 2020.

“It was right when the pandemic hit, and the shutdown started and doors closed, and we said, ‘We’ve got to do something,’” Bob said. “‘We’ve got to make people happy and do something good for the community.’”

So, the Dugans did just that – they worked with franchisee World Wide Wings and a local homeless shelter, Wheeler Mission, to get meals to those who needed them the most. As soon as it was safe for the shelter to distribute group meals again,

the lunch plans were set. Wheeler Mission is a nondenominational, Christian, social services organization that provides critically needed goods and services to the homeless in Indiana. The Dugans used their collection of rewards points to buy lunches for residents, who roared with applause when they heard the menu for that day. “To be honest with you, I was kind of shocked,” one resident told a local news reporter. “Being that we’re in a homeless shelter, people look down on us because we’re homeless. As long as we get people from outside showing that they care about us, it tells us something different.” The couple was happy to make the donation and encourages others to follow suit. “We encourage people to give back whenever,” said Laura Dugan. “Even if it’s just purchasing a gift card or buying the person behind you lunch.” S

LaHaise Management LLC Gives Back to Local First Responders With Gift Card Donation

LaHaise Management LLC, owned by Todd and Susan LaHaise, operates 12 BWW® restaurants across South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota. When the duo opened their first restaurant back in 2000, they knew being involved in community initiatives would be a priority.

Over the years, LaHaise Management has shown support in various ways to its communities across the Midwest, but the company’s most recent efforts benefitted first responders and high school graduates.

The group ran a first responder gift card program during May 2020, when for every $25 gift card purchased, Buffalo Wild Wings® gave guests an extra $5 gift card. In addition, the restaurant also donated an additional $5 toward buying meals for local first responders.

In total, the company has donated $40,000 in meals across its 12 sports bars as a thank you to first responders for their efforts. The LaHaises also donated over $100,000 in BWW gift cards to graduating high school seniors whose ceremonies were cancelled or postponed in 2020.

“This franchise was built on a community-involved foundation. Todd and Susan have continually given back to every community for over 20 years,” Director of Operations Jeremy Lembke told Inspire Stories. “Through good times and bad, we will always be dedicated and support those that ultimately support us.” S

Franchisee Todd LaHaise operates 12 sports bars across the Midwest with his wife, Susan.

MEMBER NEWS

Four M Franchising Turns Win into Donation for Boys & Girls Clubs

James Bitzonis of Four M Franchising presented officials and members of the Boys & Girls Club of Milford, Connecticut, with a donation of $3,500. Accepting for the Milford club were Charlie Kittleman and Megan Altomare. Four M Franchising and Bitzonis also donated $3,500 to the Stamford club and Andrea Figueroa, Steve Basquiat and Rowena Track.

Four M Franchising LLC recently made donations to Boys & Girls Clubs of America chapters in two communities where the company operates Buffalo Wild Wings® sports bars.

The company was able to make the donations after its victory in the Team Up for Kids tournament last fall. The tournament is the annual fundraising event for the Buffalo Wild Wings Foundation, and Four M Franchising was one of three bracket winners.

“All corporate and most franchise stores participate in the annual October fundraiser,” Four M Franchising President James Bitzonis said. “This year, to make things interesting, the brand pitted franchise groups against each other in a weekly, tournament-style, knockout competition. To beat our opponent and advance, we would have to achieve higher donations, as a percentage of sales, than our opponent. The final week, we achieved over 1.45% of sales to win.”

Team Up for Kids is a brand initiative that began in 2013. Collectively, BWW locations have raised over $20 million since. As a system, $1,235,000 was raised in support of youth sports in 2020, exceeding the $1 million goal. Over 230,000 individual donations were made.

Bitzonis said winning the tournament was important to the Four M Franchising team. “I must confess that we wanted to win and incentivized our team to do so by offering a pizza party to our store with the highest percentage of donations and a $50 gift card to the top fundraiser per store, as well as a $25 gift card to the second-highest fundraiser per store,” he said.

For its win, the company received $7,000 to award to local Boys & Girls Clubs. The team chose to donate $3,500 each to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Milford and Stamford, Connecticut. Bitzonis noted the facilities at the Stamford club, which serves more than 600 children per day and has two gyms, a weight room, a theater, a technology lab, a math and science lab, a library, a rec room, outdoor fields and a kitchen for training for Servsafe certification tests. “It was a treat to tour the facility and learn all about the club,” Bitzonis said.

“The clubs we chose were well deserving and based on longtime relationships between them and us at the local level,” Bitzonis said. “They were extremely grateful and appreciative and seeing the work they do made us very proud to help in any way we can. We are looking to repeat next year!” S

A DOS A DOS O O GOOD GOOD

Your purchase of Dos Equis can help support the Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation relief fund

ONE BEER = $1 DONATED WHEN YOU UPLOAD YOUR RECEIPT TO DOSEQUIS.COM/ADOSOFGOOD TO HELP SUPPORT RESTAURANT WORKERS AFFECTED BY COVID-19

A DOS O GOOD