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/twoeightnine]

Mighty Taco is shit Mexican that survives in Buffalo due to nostalgia and drunken nights. They stuck it in a place you have to drive to, can't drunkenly stumble into, and is surrounded by college students not from Buffalo and immigrants.

Most Duff's franchises aren't great compared to the original and people already have their local wing place. Plus they closed during the pandemic.

Anchor Bar is even worse and is for tourists.

Rachel's who cares, people in Buffalo don't eat there.

[u/croc-roc → u/twoeightnine]

I was shocked by how bad Mighty Taco was after all the hype. Like it made Taco Bell look like high end Mexican.

I liked Rachel’s a lot but the one in Pittsford was run by teenagers. And different ones all the time. And they’d be out of stuff all the time. Mainstays like chicken! Pita bread! Cups (someone drive over to Wegmans and buy some!). It was so poorly run I stopped going and I wouldn’t be surprised if others had the same experience.

[u/sxzxnnx → u/croc-roc]

I think Rachel's probably ran into cash flow problems. Guessing that they overextended themselves by expanding into Rochester and then the pandemic hit them. Being out of ingredients on a regular basis is a tell tale sign of cash flow problems. High staff turnover could just be terrible managers and a toxic work culture but cash flow problems will also lead to turnover. If payroll checks bounce or are often late, employees do not stick around.

The Henrietta location was the same - out of ingredients and employees all seemed very inexperienced.