Five years ago, Diversified Restaurant Holdings Inc. chief executive Michael Ansley was looking to complement his successful Buffalo Wild Wings franchise business with locations of Five Guys Burgers and Fries. But at the last minute, he decided to forge his own path into the exploding better-burger segment by developing Bagger Dave’s Legendary Burger Tavern.

Diversified opened the first Bagger Dave’s more than a year later, debuting the burger concept with a full bar in Berkley, Mich., in January 2008. The create-your-own and specialty burgers were meant to attract the office crowd that had traditionally flocked to fast-casual burger brands, Ansley said, but the full bar with 90 craft beers from Michigan breweries, the table service and the local-tavern decor were intended to appeal to families.

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