These Restaurant Chains Are About to Open 900 New Locations as Parent Company Plans Major Growth
While some restaurant chains have struggled in their recovery from the effects of the pandemic and in mitigating current inflation pressures, one restaurant operator is looking at a major expansion.
Fat Brands has recently said it plans to add 900 additional restaurants—all of which have been signed and paid for, according to Restaurant Dive.
Fat Brands, which now owns 17 brands, is eyeing aggressive growth. Last year, the company acquired Twin Peaks, Native Grill & Wings, Fazoli's, and Global Franchise Group, owner of Great American Cookies, Hot Dog on a Stick, Round Table Pizza, Great American Cookies, Marble Slab Creamery, and Pretzelmaker.
"As we integrate the eight new restaurant concepts that we acquired in 2021 within the Fat Brands portfolio, we are seeing robust demand from our existing and new franchise partners to add a variety of our brands to their portfolio of restaurants," CEO Andy Wiederhorn said during an earnings call on July 28.
Additionally, the company had a great year last year with a 1,141% increase in total revenue over 2021. With the welcoming of the new brands to the "fat family," there will now be 17 restaurant chains operating under it.
As a whole, Fat Brands has 2,350 locations across its portfolio. The planned growth over the next five years would take it to 3,250. And some of the brands are growing more rapidly than others.
For example, "breastaurant" chain Twin Peaks is looking to add over 130 locations, with about 15 a year on average—starting now. Currently, it has 83 locations, so it would be doubling in size. Other older brands under Fat Brand's umbrella, like Ponderosa and Bonanza Steakhouses, will see much slower growth.
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The company is also converting all of the locations of recently acquired Nestlé Toll House Cafes into Great American Cookies, with the first unit transitioning by September of this year. The move will effectively close the former chain for good.
"These stores will fold seamlessly into our quick-service division and provide us the opportunity to increase the capacity of our manufacturing business, a key growth objective," said Wiederhorn in a statement.
This article has been updated on Aug. 5 to reflect the Toll House Cafe conversions will not be complete by September but will start converting at that time.
