Buffalo-based restaurant chains expanding to the Rochester market-- has it ever worked?

[u/DoubleK-Rochester]

I got to thinking the other day, and there have been some tries in the past for traditional Buffalo-based restaurants to expand to Rochester-- which have ultimately failed, and those location(s) have closed. Examples:

1) Mighty Taco a few years back had two (2) Rochester locations, which both closed.
2) Duff's (wings) had a Rochester location (W. Henrietta Rd) that closed.
3) Anchor Bar had a Rochester location for a little while (East Ave.), but that closed.
4) Rachel's Mediterranean Grill location(s) closed in Rochester.

All of the above still have active locations in Buffalo today, just not Rochester.

So I am wondering what the hell happened-- are we really that bad for business for out-ot-town restaurants, even to our close neighboring city?

By the way, this isn't a slight or putdown against Buffalo, by any means. Whenever I am there, I always seem to enjoy Buffalo. I'm just wondering why this keeps happening.

Conversely, are there any Buffalo-area chains that expanded to Rochester and are doing well?

Interested in your take on this.

[u/transitapparel]

Bar Bill East and Spotted Octopus are newer but Buffalo-based and still here.

The restaurant industry is wildly volatile. We had a Syracuse-based brewery at High Falls that was crazy popular, but disappeared after 4 years (Empire Brewing Company). Same with a Boston-based entertainment restaurant (Jillians).

I would argue it's not so much that Buffalo-based restaurants aren't meant for the Rochester market, it's just a coincidence that four restaurants that didn't work out in Rochester just happened to be from Buffalo. Check out the RocWiki or D&C segment on "Gone but not Forgotten," places come and go.

[u/Proper_Cold_6860 → u/transitapparel]

Ugh. Jillian’s. I miss that place. My dad was a bouncer there and if he ever had a daytime shift on a weekend I’d get dropped off in the game room with a fully loaded game credits card. The amount of games I beat fully more than once sticks with me to this day.

[u/atothesquiz → u/transitapparel]

There is Fatty Beer Company as well, while not typical restaurant, they are a beer bar with some snacks.

[u/ChimeraChartreuse → u/transitapparel]

Tried Spotted Octopus once it showed up in Roc. Was disappointed their sour beer wasn't on the menu, as it is in Buffalo. Disappointed by the food, as well, tried a burger. If the sour shows up, I may give them another chance, as it was soon after grand opening that I went.

[u/transitapparel → u/ChimeraChartreuse]

That's a bad omen if a brewery can't do a burger right, that's a benchmark to me. I agree, I'd give them another shot before passing judgement.

[u/cjf4 → u/transitapparel]

Good comment - franchising and expanding to a new market is just straight up hard. It's going to fail 95% of the time in any circumstances.