Ranking the biggest franchise owners in the U.S - Townnews
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Ranking the biggest franchise owners in the U.S.
Restaurant franchisees in 2020:
Bump for most, disaster for some
As bad as 2020 was, the largest concept. In 2019, the company had an
franchise operators didn’t see the implied average unit volume of $4.2 mil-
apocalyptic scenario that seemed lion; last year, it sank to $2.3 million, a
The Top 2OO Operators
likely in March of last year. Large, sophis- 45.2 percent decline. Command
ticated and diversified, the top franchise All the chaos didn’t upset the top com-
• $41.8 billion in revenue
operators mostly muscled through the panies that much. Flynn Restaurant
year quite well. Group kept the No. 1 spot, even while • 30,222 restaurants
Overall, the Restaurant 200 dipped taking a $356 million hit to revenue • Top 5 firms combine for $7.45
just 0.6 percent in revenue as the group’s and slipping below the $2 billion mark billion in sales
total pot fell from $42.1 billion in 2019 the company reached last year. NPC
to $41.8 billion in 2020. It’s the first International came in at No. 2 in 2020,
time since the Great Recession that the but that will change next year. The com- a reminder that savvy buyers are coming
Restaurant 200 declined in revenue, and pany filed for bankruptcy in the summer into the space with big goals. The No. 38
back then it dipped by 0.9 percent. of 2020 and its restaurants were sold— group spiked revenue some 92 percent
All the white-knuckle work paid off, mostly to Flynn. to $300 million. (Read more about their
though as the industry saw, nothing Carrols Restaurant Group remained vision on page 16.)
worked quite like already having a drive- at No. 3, growing sales by $75 million Investment bankers and transactional
thru window. That’s where the results to $1.5 billion even as it shed 27 Burger lawyers say 2020 was an exceptionally
from 2020 become asym- King restaurants to end active year. All the new transactions and
metric and we see clearly the year with 1,009 Flynn Restaurant Group’s monster deal
the overall average is By Nicholas Upton Burger Kings and 65 for 937 Pizza Hut and 194 Wendy’s units
made up of two extremes. Research by Matt Haskin Popeyes. At No. 4, MUY will show up next year as the large con-
On the positive end, and Max Wolf Companies crested the $1 tinue to get larger. But the Flynn-NPC
operators with a high billion mark for the first deal is a stark reminder that there is no
portion of quick-service time as it grew sales by 6 “too big to fail” in the restaurant space
concepts thrived. MUY Companies, the percent, or $61 million. It also shed net and diversification is paramount.
No. 4 operator this year, pushed sales 6.2 locations, selling off 15 Pizza Huts and As John Hamburger wrote in Franchise
percent higher. No. 17 on the list, QSR adding two Wendy’s and one Taco Bell. Times sister publication the Restaurant
operator Ampex Brands, grew sales by The No. 5 spot saw a bit of a shakeup. Finance Monitor, a 1 percent sales
10 percent even after selling 32 locations. KBP Investments claimed it this year as it decline pushed a $1.6 billion dollar com-
At the other end, casual dining suffered. grew sales by $62 million to reach $986 pany to the brink.
Summit Restaurant Group, a 360-loca- million in overall sales. “NPC had a millstone around its neck
tion IHOP and Applebee’s franchisee, Two major trends continue: consolida- in the form of a crushing $900 mil-
was hit hard. The operator reported a tion and diversification. The top 10 alone lion debt load (over seven times debt to
sales decline of nearly $300 million or bought or sold 660 restaurants, shuf- EBITDA) and a decade of underperfor-
37 percent. The company sold off 67 fling around more locations than many mance in the Pizza Hut brand,” he wrote.
locations, but casual dining was obvi- operations ever reach. Across the whole The past year will be remembered for
ously a rough segment of the restaurant list, operators grew to 30,222 locations, many reasons in the restaurant space.
space. Golden Corral operator Metro a slowdown from last year’s pace, but All the pain, however, may lead to fur-
Corral (No. 182) shed 15 locations from growth nonetheless. ther growth and sophistication and with
its count; its $41 million in sales reveals Cover subjects Matt Ailey and Matt time, the year will—hopefully—be a soft
some major declines in the buffet-focused Slaine of Quality Restaurant Group are patch.
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August 2021 | Franchise Times 31
15 Summit Restaurant Group
Franchise Times
7
Richardson, TX
$499,000,000
Restaurant 200: Top 20 247 IHOP
113 Applebee’s
17 Sonny’s
16 K-Mac Enterprises Sun Holdings added
1 Flynn Restaurant Group 10 Yadav Enterprises Fort Smith, AR 37 IHOP restaurants
San Francisco, CA Fremont, CA $484,125,000 to the operation at
$1,982,131,000 $545,235,000 294 Taco Bell an odd time, but
444 Applebee’s 213 Jack in the Box 11 YUM! Multi exemplifies the fast-
367 Arby’s 126 Denny’s paced M&A at the top.
280 Taco Bell 53 TGI Fridays 17 Ampex Brands Sun sold 48 Burger
Richardson, TX Kings, 12 Cici’s, 14
2 NPC International 11 Covelli Enterprises $475,000,000 Golden Corrals and
Leawood, KS Warren, OH 196 KFC 18 Krispy Kreme loca-
$1,598,580,000 $536,998,000 115 Pizza Hut
tions. It also added
947 Pizza Hut 282 Panera Bread 23 Long John Silver’s
14 Popeyes and six
393 Wendy’s 6 Dairy Queen Arby’s.
5 O’Charley’s 18 Sizzling Platter
3 Carrols Murray, UT
Restaurant Group 12 Tacala $456,887,000
Syracuse, NY Vestavia Hills, AL 327 Little Caesars
$1,528,351,000 $517,180,000 71 Wingstop
1,009 Burger King 320 Taco Bell 20 Dunkin’ 26 Manna
65 Popeyes 1 KFC Louisville, KY
19 D.L. Rogers Corp. 157 Wendy’s
4* Dhanani Group 13 Meritage Grapevine, TX 83 Fazoli’s
Sugarland, TX Hospitality Group $447,800,000
$1,300,000,000 Grand Rapids, MI 245 Sonic Drive-In 27* Charter Foods
504 Burger King $516,000,000 Morristown, TN
339 Popeyes 340 Wendy’s 20 HAZA Foods 242 Taco Bell
41 La Madeleine Sugar Land, TX 31 YUM! Multi
14 WKS Restaurant Group $425,000,000
5 MUY! Companies Cypress, CA 250 Wendy’s 28* Ampler Group
San Antonio, TX $500,835,000 51 Taco Bell Chicago, IL
$1,041,942,000 124 Denny’s 120 Burger King
358 Pizza Hut 86 Wendy’s 103 Little Caesars
319 Wendy’s 68 El Pollo Loco
81 Taco Bell $325-$425 Million 29 Desert de Oro Foods
Kingman, AZ
6 KBP Investments 173 Taco Bell
Overland Park, KS 89 Pizza Hut
21 Boddie-Noell Enterprises
6
$986,500,000
Rocky Mount, NC 30 Quality Dining
751 KFC
342 Hardee’s Mishawaka, IN
150 Taco Bell
158 Burger King
22 FMI Group 38 Chili’s
7 Sun Holdings
Woodstock, NB, Canada
Dallas, TX
KBP Investments 188 KFC 31 Palo Alto
$919,500,000
grew sales at the fast- 101 Pizza Hut Greenwood Village, CO
242 Burger King
est rate among the 202 Taco Bell
175 Popeyes 23 VantEdge Partners
top 10 operators. In 32 Pizza Hut
105 Arby’s Overland Park, KS
2020, the company
127 Taco Bell 32 JAE Restaurant Group
8 GPS Hospitality added $62 million
93 Jamba Juice Pompano Beach, FL
Atlanta, GA in sales, a 7 percent
217 Wendy’s
$626,742,000 growth rate. The sales 24 Diversified
394 Burger King growth alone would Restaurant Group 33 Cotti Foods Corp.
63 Pizza Hut be enough to come Sonoma, CA Rancho Santa
19 Popeyes in at No. 171 on this 215 Taco Bell Margarita, CA
very list. 22 Arby’s 106 Wendy’s
9 Pacific Bells
85 Taco Bell
Vancouver, WA 25 Border Foods
$579,017,000 New Hope, MN
243 Taco Bell 217 Taco Bell
67 Buffalo Wild Wings
32 Franchise Times | August 2021
$225-$325 Million 47 Sailormen
Miami, FL
55* RPM Pizza
Gulfport, MS
34 Doherty Enterprises
Allendale, NJ
115 Popeyes
24 Burger King
48* Manna
178 Dominos
56* Team Lyders
Brighton, MI
40
89 Applebee’s Development Group 173 Taco Bell
42 Panera Bread Encinitas, CA 3 Arby’s How good was the
130 Panera Bread pizza business in
35 Wendy’s of 57 JK&T Wings 2020? Just ask
Colorado Springs 49* Premier Kings Shelby Township, MI American West
Colorado Springs, CO Montgomery, AL 84 Buffalo Wild Wings Restaurant Group.
181 Wendy’s 184 Burger King The pure-play Pizza
2 Golden Corral 26 Popeyes 58 Out West
Hut operator grew
Restaurant Group
sales by 11 percent
36* Hamra Enterprises 50 The Briad Group San Diego, CA
Springfield, MO last year even as it
Livingston, NJ 89 Outback Steakhouse
91 Wendy’s 108 Wendy’s shed 17 locations.
68 Panera Bread 59 Redberry Group
51 TEAM Schostak Mississauga, ON, Canada
37 Mitra QSR Family Restaurants 111 Burger King
Plano, TX Livonia, MI 23 Pizza Hut
197 KFC 63 Applebee’s
60 JRN 69* Caspers Company
40 Taco Bell 56 Wendy’s
Columbia, TN Tampa, FL
38 Quality Restaurant Group 52* Tasty Restaurant Group 146 KFC 61 McDonald’s
Greensboro, NC Los Angeles, CA 14 YUM! Multi
70 SA Foodservices
190 Pizza Hut 161 Pizza Hut
61* Cave Enterprises Fife, WA
67 Moe’s SW Grill 67 Burger King
Chicago, IL 53 Arby’s
39* Harman 53* EYM Group 166 Burger King 47 Jack in the Box
Management Corp. Irving, TX
62 B & G Food Enterprises 71 Stine Enterprises
Campbell, CA 144 Pizza Hut
Morgan City, LA Phoenix, AZ
115 KFC 36 KFC
148 Taco Bell 85 Jack in the Box
147 YUM! Multi
4 YUM! Multi 11 Denny’s
40 American West
63 Carolina
Restaurant Group
Orange, CA
$175-$225 Million Restaurant Group
275 Pizza Hut Charlotte, NC $150-$175 Million
121 Wendy’s
41* Carlisle Corp. 54 Fugate Enterprises
Memphis, TN Wichita, KS 64 American
Franchise Holdings 72 Celebration
162 Wendy’s 165 Pizza Hut
Atlanta, GA Restaurant Group
75 Taco Bell
42 Ghai Management 75 Taco Bell Celebration, FL
Services 47 Applebee’s 101 Pizza Hut
Livermore, CA 40 Taco Bell
125 Burger King 65* Northwest Restaurants
Woodinville, WA 73 Hospitality
45
40 Taco Bell
115 Taco Bell Restaurant Group
43 Retzer Organization 46 KFC Traverse City, MI
Greenville, MS 95 Taco Bell
103 McDonald’s 66* PJ United
Birmingham, AL 74 Ambrosia QSR
44 RMH Franchise Holdings Fourteen Foods grew 195 Papa John’s Vancouver, WA
Atlanta, GA by another 7 percent 107 Burger King
131 Applebee’s in 2020 to remain 67 Delight Restaurant Group 12 Popeyes
the largest Dairy New York, NY
45 Fourteen Foods 85 Wendy’s 75 The RC Group
Queen operator. Ten
Eden Prairie, MN 26 Taco Bell Annapolis, MD
years ago, the com- 71 Taco Bell
244 Dairy Queen pany had 119 loca-
68 Wendy’s of 22 YUM! Multi
46 BurgerBusters tions and acquired Bowling Green
Virginia Beach, VA much of the rest in Bowling Green, KY 76 CKA Management
153 Taco Bell small M&A deals 97 Wendy’s Hasbrouck Heights, NJ
10 Pizza Hut since then. 69 Wendy’s
12 Taco Bell
* Denotes revenue estimate
August 2021 | Franchise Times 33
77* Meridian Restaurants 99 T.L. Cannon Management 113 Mas Restaurant Group
South Ogden, UT Ponte Vedra Beach, FL Houston, TX
78
120 Burger King
10 Chili’s
Southern Multifoods
82 59 Applebee’s
100 Branded
Management Group
68 Taco Bell
6 YUM! Multi
114* Cowabunga
Jacksonville, TX Worcester, MA Alpharetta, GA
99 Taco Bell San Antonio Wings 90 Dunkin’ 108 Dominos
8 YUM! Multi is one of the more
acquisitive opera- 101 JEM Restaurant Group 115 MBN Brands
79 Toms King tors on the list. It Daniel Island, SC Brookhaven, GA
Palatine, IL added 24 Wingstop 60 Taco Bell 63 Jimmy John’s
131 Burger King locations last year to 33 Pizza Hut 41 Burger King
increase its location
80 The Saxton Group 102* Lemek 116 RBD California
count by nearly 30
Dallas, TX Elkridge, MD Restaurants Limited
percent.
86 McAlister’s Deli 63 Panera Bread Los Angeles, CA
58 KFC
81* RCO Limited 103* Tar Heel Capital 11 YUM! Multi
Columbus, OH Boone, NC
38 Raising Cane’s 78 Wendy’s 117* Quality Restaurant
Concepts
82 San Antonio Wings 104 S & L Companies Birmingham, AL
San Antono, TX 91 TD Food Group Portage, WI 59 Applebee’s
107 Wingstop Honolulu, HI 46 Culver’s
37 Pizza Hut 118 Hallrich
83* Rottinghaus Co. 37 Taco Bell 105 The Rose Group Stow, OH
La Crosse, WI Newtown, PA 124 Pizza Hut
339 Subway 92* ADT Pizza 51 Applebee’s
Westport, CT 119 DRM
84* California Food 174 Pizza Hut 106 Pizza Properties Omaha, NE
Mangement El Paso, TX 97 Arby’s
Beverly Hills, CA 93* Boj of WNC 48 Peter Piper Pizza
133 Burger King Arden, NC 10 Applebee’s 120* The Wolak Group
75 Bojangles Falmouth, ME
107 Summit Restaurant 97 Dunkin’
94 PR Restaurants Group, LLC
$125-$150 Million Framingham, MA Blue Springs, MO
112 Pizza Hut
121* Legacy Apple
Wichita, KS
60 Panera Bread
11 Long John Silver’s 79 Applebee’s
95 Rucker Restaurant
85 Starboard Group Holdings 108* BAJCO Global
Coral Springs, FL Austin, TX Management
100 Wendy’s 63 Jack in the Box Canfield, OH
31 Denny’s 133 Papa John’s
114
86* The Kades Corp. 3 Dairy Queen
Houston, TX 96 Benton Properties
53 McDonald’s Springdale, AR 109* Kazi Management
72 Sonic Drive-In St. Croix
87 Southern Rock Frederiksted, VI
Restaurants 97 Grand Mere 55 KFC Cowabunga in name
Franklin, TN Restaurant Group 23 Burger King and practice, the
92 McAlister’s Deli Overland Park, KS company sold off
135 Pizza Hut 110 KC Bell six Domino’s restau-
88 Wenspok Resources Wichita, KS rants even as pizza
Spokane, WA 39 Taco Bell was the go-to food of
69 Wendy’s 30 Freddy’s the year. The com-
89 Primary Aim $100-$125 Million 111* Janjer Enterprises
pany is among many
Zanesville, OH Restaurant 200 oper-
Silver Spring, MD
76 Wendy’s 38 Popeyes
ators that sold off
98 DORO 38 IHOP restaurants here and
90* Restaurant Eau Claire, WI there to capitalize on
Management Co. 106 Hardee’s 112 Emerald City Pizza high multiples and
Wichita, KS 3 Taco John’s Mukilteo, WA eager buyers. And it
125 Pizza Hut 97 Pizza Hut still grew sales.
6 KFC
* Denotes revenue estimate
34 Franchise Times | August 2021
Bulking Up: The Restaurant 200 in Numbers
The Franchise Times Restaurant 200 keeps growing.
The group now owns over 30,000 restaurants and commands $41.8 billion in revenue.
$42.0 $41.8
Revenue (In Billions) $37.5 $40.4
$39.1
Locations $34.6
$31
30,124 30,222
$28.7 28,642
28,109
26,997
$26.3
25,176
$23.2
21,831
$23.9
23,177
17,887
20,331
18,408
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
The top 5 fastest-growing operators added
more than $433.1 million collectively. The top 20 companies combined
for $15.9 billion in revenue,
Restaurant 200 2020 Sales
Company Sales Y/E 2020 Growth Growth % a decrease of $581.6 million.
Delight
187,000,000 89,700,000 92.2%
Restaurant Group
Quality
Restaurant Group
300,000,000 135,000,000* 81.8%
Legacy brands are the favorite for the
JJB Brands 79,203,857 30,423,610 62.4% Franchise Times Restaurant 200, and large
ADT Pizza 138,000,000* 53,000,000* 62.4%
operators are the favorites of legacy brands.
Ampler Group 375,000,000* 125,000,000* 50.0%
* Denotes revenue estimate % of Total
Franchised
Rank Brand Companies Units Units in US
The average revenue for a Restaurant 200 1 Taco Bell 44 4,482 67%
2 Pizza Hut 31 4,113 77%
operator is now $209.1 million—that’s down 3 Burger King 30 4,102 58%
by more than $1 million this year. 4 Wendy's 28 3,430 62%
The average location count remained,static, but sales slipped on 5 KFC 20 1,862 48%
average even as QSR performed well. 6 Applebee's 16 1,302 85%
7 Arby's 14 972 45%
8 Popeyes 12 859 33%
$210.4 $209.1
$202.0 9 Panera Bread 10 859 78%
$195.5
$187.5 10 Hardee's 4 573 37%
143 151 151
135 141
This table shows a breakdown of the most popular brands in
the Restaurant 200, the number of franchisees operating the
top brands, the number of locations operated by the franchisee
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 companies and the relative percentage of those locations to the
total U.S. franchised locations.
Avg. Revenue (In Millions) Avg. Units
August 2021 | Franchise Times 35
$90-$100 Million 135* Schmidt Family
Restaurant Group
143 Westaco
Scottsdale, AZ
122* Paradise Companies
Portsmouth, OH
50 Wendy’s
5 Buffalo Wild Wings
40 Taco Bell
7 YUM! Multi 164
Natchez, MS 144 Purple Square
39 Applebee’s Management
17 IHOP Tampa, FL Apple Metro got a
one-two punch last
123 MRCO $80-$90 Million 73 Dunkin’
21 Popeyes year. Sales for the
Brentwood, TN New York-based
66 Taco Bell 145* Consolidated Applebee’s opera-
2 KFC 136* Wenco Burger Holdings tor fell 50 percent
Ashland, OH Destin, FL as travel and dine-in
124 Phase Three Brands 63 Wendy’s 62 Burger King demand tanked. Its
Tampa, FL
83 Hardee’s 137 Friendly rank fell from No. 92.
146 Carisch
2 Wingstop Franchisees Corp. Wayzata, MN
La Palma, CA 63 Arby’s
125 Daland Corp. 65 Carl’s Jr.
Wichita, KS 147 BW Management
94 Pizza Hut 138 Strang Corp. La Porte , IN 156 DMAC81
Cleveland, OH 36 Buffalo Wild Wings Van Wert, OH
126 Kumar Management Corp 41 Panera Bread 1 Black Rock 69 McAlister’s Deli
Foster City, CA
54 Taco Bell 139* Schuster Enterprises 157 Bullard
17 Five Guys Columbus, GA Restaurant Group
Raleigh, NC
127 AES Restaurants
68 Burger King
$70-$80 Million 27 Moe’s SW Grill
Carmel, IN 140 Apple Investors Group 19 Burger King
72 Arby’s Chino Hills, CA
45 Applebee’s 148 Potomac Family 158 Awesome Doughnut
128 Rackson Restaurants 19 Pizza Hut Dining Group Long Beach, CA
Bridgewater, NJ Herndon, VA 19 Krispy Kreme
55 Burger King 141 Den-Tex Central 49 Applebee’s 8 The Coffee Bean
1 Popeyes San Antonio, TX
81 Denny’s 149 JJB Brands 159* Oerther Foods
129* Tri-Arc Food Systems Flowood, MS Orlando, FL
Raleigh, NC 142 North Texas Bells 90 Pizza Hut 25 McDonald’s
52 Bojangles Collyville, TX 11 Checkers
58 Taco Bell 160 RoHoHo
130 Southeast 12 Wingstop 150 Genesh Charleston, SC
Restaurant Group Lenexa, KS 56 Papa John’s
New Orleans, LA 51 Burger King 12 Jersey Mike’s
27 Taco Bell 24 Denny’s
25 Wendy’s 161 Roaring Fork
151* Kergan Bros. Sonic Restaurant Group
131 Parrish Restaurants
Dallas, TX
26 McDonald’s
163 Lafayette, LA
56 Sonic Drive-In
Milwaukee, WI
57 Qdoba Mexican Eats
152* Hoogland Foods 162 Serazen
132* Chaac Foods Glenview, IL Newport Beach, CA
Irving, TX How nice was the 101 Marco’s Pizza 71 Papa John’s
115 Pizza Hut drive-thru last year?
1 Applebee’s For Del Taco opera- 153* Marwaha Group 163 Desert Taco
tor Desert Taco, quite Anaheim, CA Scottsdale, AZ
133* Hishmeh Enterprises nice. The company 140 Subway 55 Del Taco
Ventura, CA shed one location 1 Denny’s
89 Dominos but grew sales by
$8 million in 2020, 154 Stellaris Group
134* Fourjay
North Little Rock, AR
an increase of 13 Pacific Palisades, CA $60-$70 Million
percent. 59 Carl’s Jr.
49 Wendy’s
10 Slim Chickens 155 Brodersen
Management Corp. 164 Apple Metro
Milwaukee, WI Harrison, NY
40 Popeyes 23 Applebee’s
2 Pizza Studio
36 Franchise Times | August 2021
165 Heartland 179 Mosaic Management
Restaurant Group
Pittsburgh, PA
Atlanta, GA
40 Arby’s About This Project
57 Dunkin’ 4 Moe’s SW Grill
2 Baskin Robbins
180 Heartland Beef Our annual Restaurant 200 franchisee research,
166 Brumit Restaurant Group Bloomington, IN prepared by sister publication Restaurant
Asheville, NC 38 Arby’s Finance Monitor, includes questionnaires,
61 Arby’s
181 BAC Holdings phone surveys, and in some cases, a review of public
167* JS Fort Group Bloomfield Hills, MI documents such as annual reports, 10Ks and FDDs.
Naperville, IL 33 Five Guys We sincerely thank the companies that responded to
96 Jimmy John’s our surveys, as most of the top 200 companies in this
182 Lehigh Valley year’s ranking provided us with their complete data.
168 JDK Management Co. Restaurant Group Our report consists of ranking companies accord-
Bloomsburg, PA Allentown, PA ing to revenue generated by the company’s franchised
48 Perkins 21 Red Robin restaurants. If the company happens to operate a res-
6 Quaker Steak taurant concept that is not franchised, or is the fran-
183 Las Vegas Pizza
chisor of another concept, we will not include that
169 S-Group Companies Las Vegas, NV
number in the overall revenue or unit count. In some
Sandusky, OH 45 PIzza Hut
29 Wendy’s
cases where an acquisition took place during the year,
we derive pro-forma revenue in calculating the com-
170 Vibe Restaurants pany’s ranking.
For companies that did not respond to our survey,
Dallas, TX
86 Little Caesars
$40-$50 Million we confirmed the number of units operated by their
5 Wingstop company, and then estimated the revenue. In the case
of a tie in the amount of total revenue, we settled the
171 DYNE Hospitality Group 184 J & S Restaurants tie in favor of the company with the most units.
Little Rock, AR Cleveland, TN
If you believe your company might make the
75 Tropical Smoothie 42 Hardee’s
Restaurant 200 list or we’ve missed you (or you know
172 Denco Family 185 Tria Company of another company that should be listed), please con-
Whittier, CA Battle Creek, MI tact Matt Haskin at (612) 767-3205 or mhaskin@
30 Denny’s 30 Burger King franchisetimes.com.
8 Popeyes 7 Arby’s
186* Sterling Restaurants
Atlanta, GA
$50-$60 Million 51 Moe’s SW Grill 189 Blue Ribbon Restaurants 194 Viking Restaurants
Walled Lake, MI Elmhurst, IL
187 Trigo Hospitality
14 Famous Dave’s 27 Burger King
Bridgman, MI
2 Penn Station
173 All Star Management 28 Pizza Hut 195 BMW Management
Bourbonnais, IL 11 Sonic Drive-In 190 Phoenix Organization Temecula, CA
34 Wendy’s Delray Beach, FL 22 Sizzler
188 Tetra Management
21 Burger King
174 Northwest Group Wichita, KS 196 Merbree Holdings
6 Denny’s
Tigard, OR 46 Pizza Hut Ketchum, ID
43 Jack in the Box 191 Metro Corral 19 MOD Pizza
Madison, GA 11 Jersey Mike’s
175 Century Fast Foods
18 Golden Corral
Los Angeles, CA 197 First Sun
33 Taco Bell Management Corp.
176 Ansara Restaurant Group
Farmington Hills, MI
200 $30-$40 Million
Piedmont, SC
19 Wendy’s
22 Red Robin 198 Shamrock TBC
4 Twin Peaks Hinsdale, IL
Freddy’s operator
192 Carolina 23 Taco Bell
177 Creative Foods Corp. OberRoc lands on the Franchise Holdings
Garden City, NY list for the first time. 199 The Restaurant Company
Coral Gables, FL
26 Burger King It’s among many oper- Richmond, VA
36 Burger King
ators growing to new 17 Arby’s
178 Howley Bread Group
heights without 193 Trident Holdings
Westlake, OH 200 OberRoc
legacy QSR. Murfreesboro, TN
28 Panera Bread San Antonio, TX
42 Captain D’s
2 Grandy’s 21 Freddy’s
* Denotes revenue estimate
August 2021 | Franchise Times 37
Kumar RPM Pizza..........................55
Alphabetical Listing Management Corp.............126
Las Vegas Pizza.................183
Legacy Apple....................121
Rucker Restaurant
Holdings.............................95
S & L Companies...............104
Lehigh Valley S-Group Companies.......... 169
Rest. Group......................182 SA Foodservices................. 70
Company............................ Rank Delight Restaurant Group.....67
Lemek..............................102 Sailormen...........................47
ADT Pizza...........................92 Den-Tex Central.................141
Manna................................26 San Antonio Wings...............82
AES Restaurants................127 Denco Family....................172
Manna Development Schmidt Family
All Star Management.........173 Desert de Oro Foods............ 29 Group................................ 48 Rest. Group......................135
Ambrosia QSR.....................74 Desert Taco.......................163 Marwaha Group.................153 Schuster Enterprises......... 139
American Franchise Dhanani Group......................4 Mas Restaurant Group........113 Serazen............................162
Holdings.............................64 Diversified Restaurant MBN Brands.....................115 Shamrock TBC................. 198
American West Group.................................24
Merbree Holdings..............196 Sizzling Platter................... 18
Rest. Group....................... 40 DMAC81..........................156
Meridian Restaurants...........77 Southeast
Ampex Brands.....................17 Doherty Enterprises.............34
Meritage Hospitality Restaurant Group............. 130
Ampler Group..................... 28 DORO................................ 98 Group.................................13 Southern Multifoods........... 78
Ansara Restaurant Group....176 DRM............................... 119 Metro Corral......................191 Southern Rock
Apple Investors Group....... 140 DYNE Hospitality Group.....171 Restaurants........................87
Mitra QSR...........................37
Apple Metro......................164 Emerald City Pizza.............112 Starboard Group..................85
Mosaic Management......... 179
Awesome Doughnut.......... 158 EYM Group.........................53 Stellaris Group..................154
MRCO..............................123
B & G Food Enterprises........62 First Sun Sterling Restaurants..........186
MUY! Companies...................5
BAC Holdings....................181 Management Corp.............197 Stine Enterprises.................71
North Texas Bells...............142
BAJCO Global Flynn Restaurant Group..........1 Strang Corp...................... 138
Northwest Group...............174
Management.................... 108 FMI Group..........................22
Northwest Restaurants.........65 Summit Restaurant
Benton Properties................96 Fourjay.............................134 Group.................................15
NPC International..................2
Blue Ribbon Restaurants... 189 Fourteen Foods...................45 Summit Restaurant
OberRoc.......................... 200
BMW Management............195 Friendly Franchisees Group, LLC.......................107
Oerther Foods.................. 159
Boddie-Noell Enterprises......21 Corp.................................137 Sun Holdings........................7
Out West
Boj of WNC.........................93 Fugate Enterprises...............54 T.L. Cannon Management.... 99
Restaurant Group............... 58
Border Foods.......................25 Genesh............................ 150 Tacala.................................12
Pacific Bells......................... 9
Branded Management Ghai Management Tar Heel Capital.................103
Palo Alto.............................31
Group.............................. 100 Services..............................42 Tasty Restaurant Group........52
Paradise Companies...........122
Brodersen GPS Hospitality.................... 8 TD Food Group....................91
Parrish Restaurants...........131
Management Corp.............155 Grand Mere
Phase Three Brands...........124 Team Lyders........................56
Brumit Restaurant Group....166 Restaurant Group................97
Phoenix Organization........ 190 TEAM Schostak
Bullard Restaurant Group...157 Hallrich........................... 118 Family Rest.........................51
Pizza Properties.................106
BurgerBusters.....................46 Hamra Enterprises...............36 Tetra Management............ 188
PJ United...........................66
BW Management...............147 Harman Management The Briad Group................. 50
Corp.................................. 39 Potomac Family
California Food The Kades Corp...................86
Dining Group.................... 148
Mangement.........................84 HAZA Foods....................... 20
PR Restaurants...................94 The RC Group......................75
Carisch.............................146 Heartland Beef................. 180
Premier Kings.................... 49 The Restaurant Company... 199
Carlisle Corp.......................41 Heartland Restaurant
Primary Aim....................... 89 The Rose Group.................105
Carolina Franchise Group...............................165
Purple Square The Saxton Group............... 80
Holdings...........................192 Hishmeh Enterprises..........133
Management.....................144 The Wolak Group.............. 120
Carolina Restaurant Hoogland Foods.................152
Quality Dining.................... 30 Toms King.......................... 79
Group.................................63 Hospitality Restaurant
Quality Restaurant Tri-Arc Food Systems......... 129
Carrols Restaurant Group.......3 Group.................................73
Concepts..........................117 Tria Company....................185
Caspers Company............... 69 Howley Bread Group......... 178
Quality Restaurant Trident Holdings................193
Cave Enterprises..................61 J & S Restaurants..............184
Group................................ 38 Trigo Hospitality.................187
Celebration Restaurant JAE Restaurant Group..........32
Rackson Restaurants........ 128 VantEdge Partners...............23
Group.................................72 Janjer Enterprises..............111
RBD California Vibe Restaurants.............. 170
Century Fast Foods............175 JDK Management Co......... 168
Restaurants Ltd.................116 Viking Restaurants.............194
Chaac Foods.....................132 JEM Restaurant Group.......101
RCO Limited.......................81 Wenco..............................136
Charter Foods......................27 JJB Brands....................... 149
Redberry Group.................. 59 Wendy’s of
CKA Management................76 JK&T Wings.........................57
Restaurant Bowling Green.................... 68
Consolidated Burger JRN................................... 60 Management Co................. 90 Wendy’s of
Holdings...........................145 JS Fort Group....................167 Retzer Organization.............43 Colorado Springs.................35
Cotti Foods Corp..................33 K-Mac Enterprises...............16 RMH Franchise Holdings......44 Wenspok Resources............ 88
Covelli Enterprises...............11 Kazi Management Roaring Fork Westaco............................143
Cowabunga.......................114 St. Croix.......................... 109 Restaurant Group..............161 WKS Restaurant Group........14
Creative Foods Corp...........177 KBP Investments...................6 RoHoHo........................... 160 Yadav Enterprises............... 10
D.L. Rogers Corp................ 19 KC Bell............................ 110 Rottinghaus Co....................83
Daland Corp......................125 Kergan Bros. Sonic............151
38 Franchise Times | August 2021‘Zees find growth outside Tier 1 brands
By Laura Michaels
Fifteen years ago James Oberg
decided, as he described it, to “put
the parachute on and jump” when
he signed a multi-unit agreement to bring
an upstart burger brand to Texas. Today,
Oberg operates 21 Freddy’s Frozen
Custard & Steakburger locations and his
franchise group, OberRoc, debuts on the
Restaurant 200 at No. 200 with nearly
$31.7 million in sales to finish 2020.
“I was ready for something different,”
said Oberg of being just the seventh fran-
chisee in the system back in 2006 and
the first in Texas, where his territory now
stretches from Austin to San Antonio,
over to Victoria and down to Corpus
Christi. Having spent most of his career
in restaurant operations with concepts Freddy’s was still a start-up when James Oberg brought the brand to Texas in 2006.
including Magic Time Machine, On the
Border Mexican Grill and Sunset Station, is the concept’s food. related dining restrictions and now it
Oberg wanted to get on the ownership “If you really analyze its menu, every needs to fine-tune the infrastructure side.
side. His brother, Ron Oberg, a Quiznos product Freddy’s has is of a higher qual- “We’ve gotta stay up in technology and
franchisee in Kansas where Freddy’s is ity than a lot of our peers,” said Rochelle. have the POS system, the best online app
based, put the brand on his radar. And in 2020, it didn’t hurt that all but for ordering … and, I’ll just say it, the
“I said, why Freddy’s? It’s hamburgers, one of OberRoc’s locations has a drive- Chick-fil-A speed of technology,” said
shakes and fries, it’s been done 3 million thru (only six in the entire system don’t Oberg.
times by 1 million concepts,” recalled have drive-thrus).
Oberg. “My brother said, it’s quality, While sales at OberRoc’s restaurants S&L finds winner in Culver’s
service, everything, and you’ve just gotta were down as much as 40 percent in the Brothers Chad Stevenson and Jeff
come up and taste it.” (Ron Oberg is also early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, Liegel joke that they couldn’t decide
a multi-unit Freddy’s ‘zee.) Oberg said they rebounded what they wanted to do after high school
Taste it he did, and by late spring and have so they convinced their parents to buy
Oberg opened his first been positive since August a Culver’s franchise. It’s a graduation
Freddy’s in the mega 2020. present that’s worked out quite well as
retail center The Forum at “COVID was kind of their S&L Companies finished 2020 with
Olympia Parkway outside a non-paid-for market- $117.3 million in sales from 46 Culver’s
San Antonio in 2006. His ing tool that drove people restaurants and moved 24 spots up the
development agreement to us that might not have Restaurant 200 ranking to No. 104.
calls for OberRoc to open experienced Freddy’s and Based in Portage, Wisconsin, S&L had
another 14 locations. say, why haven’t I tried just four stores in 2010 when Stevenson
As a system, Freddy’s this?” said Oberg. “Now and Liegel bought the business from their
grew to 389 locations to the issue is, we just don’t parents. Their scale—S&L is the largest
finish 2020 and pushed have enough staff. And it’s Culver’s franchisee—is unique within the
systemwide sales up nearly not just us, its national.” system because the franchisor doesn’t
20 percent, to $643 million. James Oberg His Freddy’s typically have sell big development deals. S&L proved
Its average unit volume for about 40 employees per itself a strong operator, the brothers said,
the year was $1.68 million. In March, store but are down to 25 now, a staffing and started signing smaller multi-unit
its founders sold the chain to St. Louis- challenge he thinks will ease in the fall. agreements and acquiring restaurants. It
based private equity firm Thompson Looking ahead, Oberg and Rochelle now has locations in Wisconsin, Indiana,
Street Capital Partners. said they’re ready to see what invest- Michigan and in Florida, where S&L
“It was very successful for us from ments Thompson Street and new CEO signed a five-unit deal in 2015 helping
the start,” noted OberRoc partner Jeff Chris Dull will make in the brand, par- introduce the brand in the state. (Today
Rochelle, who pointed to the group’s ticularly in technology. Like most restau- S&L has 15 locations in Florida.)
“well-placed” locations, including lots rants, Freddy’s was forced to accelerate While opening restaurants remains a
of interstate frontage in the Austin-San online ordering, curbside pickup and
Antonio corridor as one factor. The other delivery efforts because of pandemic-
Franchisee growth c ontinued on 40
August 2021 | Franchise Times 39Franchisee growth continued from 39
big part of the growth strategy—S&L has six under con-
struction—acquisitions are equally important. The com-
pany added seven units since the start of 2021 to bring its
total to 53 and is in the process of purchasing four more.
“We have a lot of existing relationships with franchi-
sees who, when they’re ready to sell, they call us up,” said
Stevenson.
Following the Culver’s strategy (it’s a requirement in
the franchise agreement), S&L puts an owner-operator
in every restaurant, which Liegel said leads to better per-
formance. “Eighty to 90 percent of our owner-operators
started in Culver’s with us in high school and chose that
as their career path,” he said of the benefits of longev-
ity. He and Stevenson are equally “present and engaged,”
Liegel continued, and sales at their stores are up 21 per-
$75,000,000 $52,000,000 cent so far this year.
KC BELL, INC. RMLS HOP, LLC ROMULUS “We’re very aggressive” when it comes to executing on
RESTAURANTS the Culver’s operations manual, put in Stevenson, and
$15,000,000 upsize to their mantra is, “don’t get complacent.”
existing facilities Senior secured credit facilities “And we create that environment for our other own-
Lead arranger and administrative agent Lead arranger and administrative agent ers,” Stevenson continued. “That’s how Culver’s raised us.”
Like Freddy’s, Culver’s benefitted from its drive-thrus
throughout the pandemic and Liegel noted that channel
isn’t slowing down even as dining rooms are back open.
“We’ve almost kept the entire dine-in business and added
the drive-thru on top of it,” he said.
To address the labor shortage, S&L moved all full-time
store employees to a minimum of $15 per hour without
having to take much of a price increase. “We’re able to
staff better, which equals better service, which leads to
$28,000,000 $12,000,000 more sales,” Stevenson said.
As the brand pushes its butterburgers and frozen cus-
AMSN GROUP, ET AL EL POLLO LOCO tard into new markets on the East and West coasts and
PACK-HUYNH, LLC as S&L continues its own expansion, Stevenson expects
Senior secured credit facilities,
refinance, and acquisition Senior secured credit facility Culver’s to benefit from what he called a unique position
in the QSR segment.
Sole arranger Sole arranger “In a good economy, we get a lot of trade up, and when
the economy is down, we get a lot of trade down,” he said.
“We sit right in the middle.”
Systemwide sales for Culver’s hit $1.98 billion in 2020,
HELPING CLIENTS DELIVER RESULTS up from $1.79 billion in 2019; the company finished the
year with 783 locations. Average sales across Culver’s
EVERY STEP OF THE WAY franchise locations were $2.6 million in 2020 and the cost
to open a restaurant ranges from $2.4 to $5.4 million.
More than 100 years of combined experience
Supporting more than 30 brands
National reach
wintrust.com/franchise
Chad Stevenson, left, and Jeff Liegel of S&L Companies
are the largest Culver’s operators with 53 restaurants.
Wintrust Franchise Finance is a division of Lake Forest Bank & Trust Company, N.A., a Wintrust Community
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