Last year, restaurateur Randy Yamamoto found market research suggesting an old shopping mall in Lake Forest was ripe for a wings eatery.
So Yamamoto struck a franchise deal with Minneapolis-based Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. and opened a restaurant in the Lake Forest Gateway shopping center in October.
Yamamoto, president of Irvine’s Orange County Equity Partners LLC, has a history of running restaurants along the West Coast.
This is his first venture in Orange County. Yamamoto and his partners are hoping to be part of a revival of Lake Forest Gateway, which is being remodeled.
“We represent the first major project in the renovation of this shopping center,” said Louis Shannon, assistant general manager at the new Buffalo Wild Wings.
The restaurant serves chicken wings, sandwiches and other foods and beer in a sports bar-style setting.
“There are other pure sports bars around,” Shannon said. “But we’re not a pure sports bar that just offers drinks and some food. We thought the area could use something more upscale, a good affordable place to eat with a sports theme.”
During the holidays, customers largely were local shoppers, he said.
Now “we’re seeing more people who live in the area and are coming here specifically to dine with us,” Shannon said.
Orange County Equity Partners plans to open more Buffalo Wild Wings this year. The next is already on the drawing board, tentatively set to open in three to four months in Irvine, according to the company.
A site near Heritage Square off Culver Drive and the Santa Ana (I-5) Freeway is being eyed, according to Shannon.
Air Security
Managers at Syagen Technology Inc. are hoping recent developments with airport security screening could open doors for the Tustin-based company.
“We have a lot of irons in the fire,” said Jack Syage, the chief executive at the maker of devices that scan a person’s entire body at airport security checkpoints.
Syagen’s systems blow trace particles off the body and then analyzes them for explosives or other dangerous materials. Syage refers to it as a sort of “air showering” technology.
The company touts its technology as an alternative to traditional full-body scanning devices, which some privacy groups take issue with because the X-ray images show the naked body.
“The final chapter on this privacy issue isn’t over,” said Chris McBee, Syagen’s marketing director.
McBee said he estimates that improved scanning equipment at airports represents around a $1 billion market. Some 16,000 security lanes exist worldwide, according to McBee.
The company is working with Northrop Grumman Corp. on a chemical and biological weapons detection system. Pilot units shipped in late 2009.
Syagen also is developing systems to tackle regulations for cargo on passenger airplanes. By midyear, stiffer regulations are set to double the amount of screening airports will be required to undertake with cargo items on passenger flights, according to Syage.
“The current technologies aren’t sophisticated enough to detect all of the different types of materials that 100% screening is going to demand,” he said.
The company, with 20 full-time employees, saw $4 million in 2009 revenue.
“This year looks like a year of ramping up for the air cargo, air showering and the chemical-biological systems, Syage said. “We’re looking at 2011 as the year when those programs should start producing commercial sales.”
Game Seller Expands
Newport Beach-based Gamer Doc Inc. started in the midst of a slowing economy late in 2007. That wasn’t the video game retailer’s only challenge.
Its big competitor is Texas-based GameStop Corp., according to Jim Belanger, Gamer Doc’s chief executive. GameStop has more than 6,000 stores nationwide.
“They’re the 800-pound gorilla,” he said. “They’re good competition for us and a very good company.”
At stake is a slice of an estimated $21 billion yearly retail video game market, which is being targeted by big retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
Belanger and his partner, David Huether, have been working with local franchisees. Belanger said some franchisees have been hiring employees with past experience at GameStop, which owns its own stores.
It’s more of an effort to find experienced workers than to raid a competitor, he said.
The company now has six stores under the Gamer Doc banner.
It’s building a store in Cherry Hill, N.J., and recently sold franchise rights for two in Katy, Texas, outside Houston, and in Huntsville, Ala.
Another nine franchise licenses have been sold, according to Belanger.
“In three months, we’ll have nine stores open around the country and in Toronto,” he said. “In the third quarter, we expect to have about 17 total stores. In the fourth quarter, we should finish the year with three more.”
Franchising is one way Gamer Doc hopes to compete with GameStop.
“There’s a passion we see in our franchisees that gives us a real advantage,” Belanger said.
Gamer Doc stores also do repairs and servicing.
“That gives us another revenue stream other than video rentals,” Belanger said. “It also provides us with a more loyal customer base.”
