18-unit Bartaco is part of the Barteca deal for Del Frisco’s Restaurant Group. Bartaco, Mosaic in Merrifield, Va. Photo by Bartaco.
casuals in the last twelve months at 19.6 times enterprise value while quick-service brands were historically high in 2017 at 16.4 times. Two of the more notable acquisitions by private equity firms this year were Roark Capital’s acquisition of Sonic Corp. for $2.3B through its Inspire Brands subsidiary, and High Bluff Capital’s acquisition of Taco Del Mar and Quiznos’ parent, QCE LLC, for undisclosed amounts. Roark Capital, through Focus Brands, also finalized its acquisition of Jamba Juice for $200M in September and Buffalo Wild Wings (BWW) for $2.9B in February, the same time it created BWW’s parent, Inspire Brands (also parent of Arby’s Restaurant Group), led by Arby’s former head, Paul Brown.
German investment firm JAB Holding Company, through Krispy Kreme, strengthened its bakery foothold with the acquisition of Insomnia Cookies, and most certainly planned for Insomnia’s expansion abroad through Krispy Kreme’s current infrastructure. 2018 has otherwise been a quieter year for JAB, which acquired Panera Bread and Au Bon Pain last year, in addition to the Bruegger’s Bagel chain through JAB’s ownership of Caribou Coffee. JAB is massively consolidating the U.S. coffee production and bakery & coffee chain subsectors through acquisitions that could last for decades to come.
RESTAURANT C-SUITE 17
