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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.
Leadership 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
by Sean Ireland
Dave Kajganich, right, was a fixture at FBS Summits for many years, including the 2018 event where he was photographed with former college and NFL football coach Lou Holtz.
the number, called Art Bowman and the rest is history.”
Brown recalled, “He called and said, ‘Lynn and I are quitting our jobs, and we’re moving back to Cleveland, and we’re going to open a BW-3.’”
In July of 1992 in Cleveland, Kajganich opened the first franchise location of what would evolve from BW-3, which stood for Buffalo Wild Wings and Weck, to become Buffalo Wild Wings. By 1994, he owned three locations in the Cleveland area, and Brown had also become interested in becoming a franchisee. With his friend’s help, Brown opened a location in Ashland, Ohio, the first of his three. “We operated separately. He had stores in northern Cleveland, and I operated three down here in smaller towns,” Brown said. “Then finally the anvil hit us in the head in 2012, and we realized that he was better at aspects of the business that I was weak at and vice versa. Our strengths and weaknesses meshed, and we combined operations and became much more successful.”
“It really was just Lynn and I from the beginning and for over 20 years,” Kajganich said. “We had silent investors, but [the business] was ours to operate. Around 2012, Ken Brown and I were talking, and he brought up the idea of combining our companies. We had known each other since college, so I felt comfortable that we would make it work. It was an easy decision because Ken worked extremely hard for the success he had, and he is someone with high integrity and great character.”
The combined company was called KATAR Holdings Inc. and had seven BWW sports bars. The former college keystone combination was as smooth in the hospitality management game as they were on the baseball diamond, and, over the years, they had a lot to navigate: The brand name changed, and ownership also changed, more than once. Perhaps most notably, the brand format was transformed from counter service to full service.
Brown said the growing use of technology in the business over the years was a particular challenge and noted the work their restaurants did to try to help the system as it grew was challenging as well. “We tested a lot of products,” he said. “We had our philosophical battles [with the franchisor] about direction. What we tried to do was make sure that if the franchisor was going to make changes, we wanted them to validate those changes with data and trial and error …. It got a little challenging and heated sometimes, but we all had the best interests of the franchisees in mind.”
Through it all, Kajganich provided vision and guidance that moved things forward and made a positive environment that was good for employees as well as guests. “He is no question a leader,” Brown said. “He was captain of the team. Dave is without question the entrepreneur as it’s described. The dude takes risks. He’s been successful at a lot of things, and he’s failed at some. He’s constantly intrigued about new concepts and ideas. Dave went through the whole John Maxwell and Zig Ziglar leadership training programs. He connected with managers. It was about leading them in life and not so much the restaurant industry. That’s been his passion.
“Our employees came first. They were always important to us,” Brown added. “We tried to help them where we were allowed to help them, and we always tried to do things the right way. Quality and character were big drivers for us.”
Last fall, the time was finally right for the pair to exit the business. Selling to Steve Grube of Grube Inc. ensured that the BWW sports bars and their employees would be going to a good, capable operator who valued the work and community trust that had been built by Kajganich and Brown over nearly 30 years.
Brown is now semi-retired with some commercial real estate interests and vacation rental property. He also volunteers time with a nonprofit workforce development startup program.
Kajganich and his wife are tending to vacation rental real estate holdings in Destin and Miramar Beach, Florida, and, true to their entrepreneurial nature, considering new business opportunities. They are thankful for their time and experience with the Buffalo Wild Wings brand.
“The experience was invaluable and was exactly what we needed to get started in this business. There is no way we would have succeeded had we tried to do it by ourselves without the guidance of Jim Disbrow, Scott Lowery, Mark Lutz, John Skeins, Dan Smart and Larry Podlogar,” Kajganich said. “Because of that, I am able to look at business opportunities more critically and understand the franchisor motives better and what to look out for as a franchisee.”
He remains proud of his designation as the first BWW franchisee and relishes the success of the franchise system in its four decades. He credits its growth to his fellow franchisees, all hard working and dedicated to seeing their enterprise succeed together. “The most rewarding part of owning the restaurants was the positive impact we were able to make with the people we employed and the communities we served,” he added.
“We spent almost half our lives as part of the BW-3/Buffalo Wild Wings family. We will cherish the memories forever.” S
