Hedge fund says Buffalo Wild Wings CEO is ‘out to lunch’
An activist hedge fund says Buffalo Wild Wings’ chief executive is “out to lunch” — and should be kicked out of the company for good.
San Francisco-based Marcato Capital, headed by Bill Ackman protege Mick McGuire, blasted CEO Sally Smith and her cozy relationship with the board as it campaigned to replace four directors with nominees of its own.
“Smith and her homegrown team of loyalist executives has been seemingly out to lunch as the business has deteriorated,” McGuire wrote in a Thursday letter to shareholders.
Marcato’s call for the CEO’s ouster sent the sports dining chain’s shares climbing 6 percent to $163.75.
At lunchtime Thursday, a small order of the company’s spicy chicken wings took nearly 20 minutes to reach a Post reporter’s table at a Times Square location — despite the fact that the 15,000-square-foot restaurant was only about 25 percent occupied.
“It could be busier — they have the room,” a guest named “Will” commented, washing down a big plate of wings with a pint of beer.
Since launching its activist battle against Buffalo Wild Wings last July, Marcato, which now has a 6.1 percent stake in the wings purveyor, has pushed the company to franchise more of its 1,200 locations and get more people with restaurant experience on its board.
“Simply put, the financial and operational performance of Buffalo Wild Wings over the past several years has been inexcusable,” McGuire wrote in filed proxy materials with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“I get the worst service out of any restaurant I have gone to,” one guest griped, according to a Marcato presentation released Thursday. “The places are always dirty, the wait staff is absolutely horrible.”
For newcomers, the menu at the Times Square location looked confusing — failing to explain how many wings were in small, medium and large servings, for example. A lengthy list of “signature sauces and dry seasonings” didn’t explain which were sauces and which were seasonings.
Meanwhile, wait staff mentioned at least three different sports-themed “specials” — but couldn’t immediately explain what they were.
Afterward, The Post’s check arrived in a small glass with beer residue on the bottom.
Buffalo Wild Wings reps didn’t immediately comment on the Times Square snafus, but defended Smith’s record in a statement Thursday, pointing to the nearly 1,700 percent gain the stock has achieved since its 2003 initial public offering.
The company continues “to innovate and pursue cost savings initiatives amid difficult market conditions for the sector and remains focused on creating sustainable value for our shareholders,” Buffalo Wild Wings said.