Madison1118web

MEET
BILL
HALL
Dani Edmonson
Football season elicits visions
of hearty snacks, frothy beverages,
and good-natured arguments about
which team and player is best.
A popular place to meet these days
is the neighborhood sports bar. Since
Mother’s Day 2001, Buffalo Wild Wings
in Ridgeland has been the “Cheers” of
the community, and has since opened
in Flowood. Founding owner, Bill Hall,
brought with him an enormous amount
of restaurant business experience to
ensure Madison and Rankin county residents
had an entertaining alternative to
eating out.
“I started out in the restaurant business
in Columbus, Ohio, in 1971 as a manager
trainee at Burger King,” Hall said. “We
had two young girls and I just needed a
job.” He said he was fortunate to have
served in the military and played college
football because “being in good
shape is required in this business.”
The highly successful Hall has done
it all to make his businesses thrive. “I
came in early and stayed late. I cooked,
cleaned inside and outside, including
the bathrooms and parking lot. I always
believed that ‘If it’s to be, it’s up to me.’”
He then found the perfect location to
open a 24-hour waffle restaurant
in Portsmouth, Ohio. “There was this
abandoned restaurant right across
from a McDonald’s that I knew would
be a great location to open a business,”
he said. With his father’s assistance,
Hall was able to open Hall’s Waffles
within one month—“because I knew
how to do it,” he added. “These places
make money from day one. They are
small enough to manage. We did real
well in a small town.” But eight years
doing the on-call-24-hours-a-day thing
became tiring. “I would have to fill in
for any of the four shifts when someone
called in.”
At the same time, a friend from high
school was interested in opening up
a franchise. “I mentioned Burger King,
and he liked the idea. But where do we
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