The Dirty Buffalo founder Russell Gilbert and family
The Dirty Buffalo, owned Â鶹´«Ã½ alumnus and entrepreneur Russell Gilbert, recently won the 2019 Regional Small Business of the Year Award from the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce.
Gilbert is the CEO and founder of the Western New York-themed sports grill and bar in Norfolk. He received his bachelor's degree in marketing from Â鶹´«Ã½ in 2010. Shortly after, he opened his first restaurant.
The Dirty Buffalo started as a small kitchen with four employees in 2012. In the past seven years, it has grown to two full-service locations with more than 100 employees. The two locations, on Colley Avenue and East Little Creek Road, serve more than 13,000 pounds of chicken wings a week. A third restaurant is expected to open in Virginia Beach in August.
The judges chose The Dirty Buffalo as the overall winner out of seven nominated businesses throughout the region because of its controlled growth in the unstable restaurant market.
"The whole thing has been a learning experience, we teach each other and we are a family who push each other every day," Gilbert said.
The business has received other recognition, including three first-place awards for its proprietary wing sauces at the 2018 National Buffalo Wing Festival. It also has been featured on the Food Network's "Diners, Drive-ins & Dives" and Travel Channel's "Food Paradise."
