Buffalo Wild Wings 2014 Annual Report Download - page 18

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We may not be able to attract and retain qualified Team Members and key executives to operate and manage our
business.
Our success and the success of our individual restaurants and business depends on our ability to attract, motivate,
develop and retain a sufficient number of qualified key executives and restaurant employees, including restaurant managers,
and hourly Team Members. The inability to recruit, develop and retain these individuals may delay the planned openings of
new restaurants or result in high employee turnover in existing restaurants, thus increasing the cost to efficiently operate our
restaurants. This could inhibit our expansion plans and business performance and, to the extent that a labor shortage may force
us to pay higher wages, harm our profitability. The loss of any of our key executive officers could jeopardize our ability to meet
our financial targets.
We may not be able to obtain and maintain licenses and permits necessary to operate our restaurants.
The restaurant industry is subject to various federal, state, and local government regulations, including those relating to
the sale of food and alcoholic beverages. In addition, we are subject to gaming regulations with respect to our gaming
operations within our nine company-owned restaurants in Las Vegas. The failure to obtain and maintain these licenses, permits
and approvals, including food, liquor and gaming licenses, could adversely affect our operating results. Difficulties or failure to
obtain the required licenses and approvals could delay or result in our decision to cancel the opening of new restaurants. Local
authorities may revoke, suspend, or deny renewal of our food and liquor licenses if they determine that our conduct violates
applicable regulations.
The sale of alcoholic beverages at our restaurants subjects us to additional regulations and potential liability.
Because our restaurants sell alcoholic beverages, we are required to comply with the alcohol licensing requirements of
the federal government, states and municipalities where our restaurants are located. Alcoholic beverage control regulations
require applications to state authorities and, in certain locations, county and municipal authorities for a license and permit to
sell alcoholic beverages on the premises and to provide service for extended hours and on Sundays. Typically, the licenses are
renewed annually and may be revoked or suspended for cause at any time. Alcoholic beverage control regulations relate to
numerous aspects of the daily operations of the restaurants, including minimum age of guests and employees, hours of
operation, advertising, wholesale purchasing, inventory control and handling, storage and dispensing of alcoholic beverages. If
we fail to comply with federal, state or local regulations, our licenses may be revoked and we may be forced to terminate the
sale of alcoholic beverages at one or more of our restaurants. Further, growing movements to change laws relating to alcohol
may result in a decline in alcohol consumption at our restaurants or increase the number of dram shop claims made against us,
either of which may negatively impact operations or result in the loss of liquor licenses.
In certain states we are subject to “dram shop” statutes, which generally allow a person injured by an intoxicated person
the right to recover damages from an establishment that wrongfully served alcoholic beverages to the intoxicated person. Some
dram shop litigation against restaurant companies has resulted in significant judgments, including punitive damages.
Changes in consumer preferences or discretionary consumer spending could harm our performance.
The success of Buffalo Wild Wings depends, in part, upon the continued popularity of our Buffalo, New York-style
chicken wings, our boneless wings, other food and beverage items, and appeal of sports bars and casual dining restaurants. We
also depend on trends toward consumers eating away from home. Shifts in these consumer preferences could negatively affect
our future profitability. Such shifts could be based on health concerns related to the cholesterol, carbohydrate, fat, calorie, or
salt content of certain food items, including items featured on our menu. Negative publicity over the health aspects of such food
items may adversely affect consumer demand for our menu items and could result in a decrease in guest traffic to our
restaurants, which could materially harm our business. In addition, we will be required to disclose calorie counts for all food
items on our menus, due to federal regulations, and this may have an effect on consumers’ eating habits. Other federal
regulations could follow this pattern. In addition, our success depends to a significant extent on numerous factors affecting
discretionary consumer spending, including economic conditions, disposable consumer income and consumer confidence. A
decline in consumer spending or in economic conditions could reduce guest traffic or impose practical limits on pricing, either
of which could harm our business, financial condition, operating results or cash flow.
A regional or global health pandemic could severely affect our business.
A health pandemic is a disease outbreak that spreads rapidly and widely by infection and affects many individuals in an
area or population at the same time. If a regional or global health pandemic were to occur, depending upon its duration and
severity, our business could be severely affected. We have positioned our brand as a place where people can gather together.