Fat Brands Is Acquiring Fazoli’s for $130 Million

Fat Brands announced today it’s acquiring Fazoli’s from Sentinel Capital Partners for $130 million, marking its foray into the Italian quick-service category and adding to its stack of recent multimillion-dollar deals.

With over 200 stores open and a development pipeline of over 100 units expected to open in the next several years, the acquisition of Fazoli’s will increase Fat Brands’ footprint to around 2,300 franchised and corporate-owned stores. The deal is expected to close by mid-December and puts Fat Brands’ expected systemwide sales for 2022 at $2.1 billion, according to the company.

“Fazoli’s has a great growth story, in particular, over the last year. They continue to surpass sales expectations across the board,” says FAT Brands CEO Andy Wiederhorn in a press release. “We have been eyeing this category for some time; however, we were waiting for the right brand, one that is high-growth, with almost all restaurants having drive-thru access, in addition to the synergies that we will achieve adding Fazoli’s to our portfolio of brands.”

The deal comes following two other large acquisitions since this summer. In July, Fat Brands acquired Global Franchise Group for $442.5 million from Serruya Private Equity and Lion Capital. The move resulted in Fat Brands gaining five new restaurant concepts—Round Table Pizza, Great American Cookies, Hot Dog on a Stick, Marble Slab Creamery and Pretzelmaker.

And, in September, Fat Brands acquired Twin Peaks from the New-York based investment firm Garnett Station Partners for $300 million. Fat Brands’ other recent acquisitions include Johnny Rockets in 2020 and Elevation Burger in 2019.

With the purchase of Fazoli’s, Fat Brands will own 16 restaurant brands.