BY KERRY PIPES
ceoprofile
SERVANT LEADER Building a company , one person at a time
Nader Masadeh didn ’ t like what he saw at one of his franchise locations when he was featured on CBS television ’ s “ Undercover Boss ” a few months ago . So the Buffalo Wings & Rings president and CEO promptly stepped out of his disguise to handle the problem .
“ I will not allow anybody to be bullied ,” he told a kitchen manager during the episode . In fact , he encouraged the local franchise owner to terminate the kitchen employee over things he had said to employees . That ’ s just part of who Masadeh is .
Masadeh was just 14 when his family moved from Jordan to the United States in search of better opportunities . The family settled in the Cincinnati area and began making the adjustment to life in their new country . As a young man , he got his first taste of franchising at a Burger King , washing dishes . He worked alongside his father in restaurants for years before the two bought into the Buffalo Wings & Rings franchise in 2004 . A year later , Masadeh and some partners bought out the franchise concept .
They ’ ve spent more than a decade working together to develop a fast-growing , “ club level ” sports restaurant offering a chef-inspired menu with unique differentiators like serving food on real china plates instead of the paper plates used by competitors .
His servant-leadership style is authentic and effective . He ’ s even taken the brand back to his homeland by opening locations in Jordan , as well as in the UAE ’ s Dubai and Abu Dhabi . The company currently has 67 locations worldwide .
For the past two-and-a-half years , serving as CEO , Masadeh has overseen a new
NAME : Nader Masadeh TITLE : CEO , president COMPANY : Buffalo Wings & Rings UNITS : 67 AGE : 43 YEARS IN FRANCHISING : 20-plus YEARS IN CURRENT POSITION : 2.5
8 Franchiseupdate ISSUE III , 2016