Cape location named Buffalo Wild Wings franchise of the year

Two weeks ago, Bill Zellmer took his first family vacation in two years -- sort of. Zellmer, his wife, Shelley, their daughter, Larissa, and his mom, Pat, all hopped a plane to Orlando. While the ladies enjoyed the mild Florida winter and Disney World, Zellmer spent a lot of his week inside at meetings. However, he brought back a souvenir that made it all worth while.

The reason Zellmer was able to tear himself away from his consuming duties as owner/operator of the Cape Girardeau Buffalo Wild Wings Bar and Grill was to attend the corporate convention. At that event, his store was named New Franchise of the Year for 2003.

"When I went down there, I knew we were nominated," Zell-mer said. His store had been nominated by the regional franchise consultant. The nomination was based on sales, operations, store appearance and the quality of food.

Zellmer's was the 134th Buffalo Wild Wings store opened nationwide. Today there are over 250 in 29 states.

Zellmer opened his store in the Town Plaza Shopping Center in Cape Girardeau in August 2002 as an aspiring restaurateur with a passion for the company product.

"I had the idea since 1998," he recalled. "I had been operating Garfield's restaurants in Ohio and Indiana, where they had Buffalo Wild Wings. Every Tuesday night was wing night for me. I was just addicted."

The decision to locate the franchise in Cape Girardeau was made for family reasons. His parents live here, and he knew that with the schedule of a business owner/operator he would need some support to help raise his family.

"I went to college here," Zell-mer said. "Cape's a great place and it's been very good to us."

So good in fact that Zellmer is working on plans to expand, both internally and externally.

"We're working on opening a back room to this place, adding 100 more seats and a couple more TVs," he said. "We're also keeping our eyes out for another location, trying to expand our markets."

trehagen@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137