Duff’s looks to future in franchising
Amherst restaurant has three namesakes
More than a decade ago, Rob Erlich stood in line outside Duff’s restaurant on Sheridan Drive, waiting for a steaming bowl of its acclaimed chicken wings. As a wholesaler who often trekked to Buffalo on business, he, like many other Canadians, always made time to stop at the historic Buffalo wing landmark.
Realizing the potential of a brand that had already crossed the border and penetrated the Toronto market, Erlich and his identical twin brother Hy asked for a piece of the action.
“We said, ‘We’d really like to bring Duff’s to Toronto,’ ” Erlich said. “We knew there was a following from Toronto to Buffalo. We knew people would come.” Erlich said.
Duff’s owners Jeff Feather and Ron Duff sold the Erlichs Duff’s Canadian rights in exchange for an undisclosed upfront fee and a percentage of sales revenue. The twins spent six months in Buffalo learning the restaurant trade and Duff’s trademark recipes.
When paperwork delayed the first Toronto restaurant’s opening for a week, customers lined up outside, anxiously questioning the holdup.
Nearly ten years later, Duff’s Famous Wings of Toronto has two locations, is scouting a third, and is toying with the idea of a Canadian franchise. On Tuesday “Wing Nights,” Erlich said, the dining room and patio are filled to capacity with an additional 100 customers waiting up to an hour and a half in line for seats.
“It has been very successful, and we are looking toward the future, but we are not 100 percent sure of our next move,” Erlich said, of the roughly 90-employee company. “We want to do what’s best for the business. We want to be around a long time like Jeff and Ron.”
Feather and Duff granted another licensing agreement to Nick and George Pitas to open Duff’s Famous Wings of Orchard Park in 2002.
“I’m not sure [the additional restaurants] have helped increase volume. But, we’ve been so successful here, anyways. It’s great,” Feather said of the original 50-employee location on Sheridan Drive. “It helps to have our name out there.”
Though licensing was the most cost-effective option in the beginning, Feather said the future of Duff’s growth is in franchising. Though it is more time-consuming, heavily regulated and expensive, Feather is looking forward to the increased quality control that franchising brings.
Duff’s has been in talks with a group in Texas that is interested in buying into a franchise, but, thanks to widespread U. S. money woes, Feather said things are still up in the air.
Though the National Restaurant Association is expecting restaurant sales in 2008 to be up 4.4 percent over 2007, record high energy and food prices have left many investors skittish. Feather said Duff’s will proceed with caution, but proceed nonetheless.
“The economy is kind of on hold, but we’re exploring a few different options,” he said.
