Dive Brief:
- Le Pain Quotidien, The Little Beet and Table by Little Beet have formed a new operating platform called Convive Brands, the companies announced Friday.
- Convive Brands, which is in the process of building a leadership team and developing strategies and tools to grow these restaurants, will be led by CEO Jon Weber.
- The restaurant brands were previously operated by Aurify Brands, which bought Le Pain Quotidien in 2020 after the cafe chain filed for bankruptcy.
Dive Insight:
Platforms with several brands can build more seamless processes and benefit from purchasing power, and Convive’s backers worked to make its component brands stronger before combining them. Eldridge Industries, a private equity firm that financed the Le Pain Quotidien acquisition, helped create Convive Brands. Months after Aurify bought Le Pain Quotidien in 2020, it purchased Maison Kayser entities in New York City and converted these locations to Le Pain Quotidien locations.
Weber brings over 25 years of experience in the restaurant industry to Convive Brands. He previously served as CEO and president of NPC International, a former Wendy’s and Pizza Hut franchisee that went bankrupt in 2020, according to his LinkedIn profile. He has also worked at several casual dining chains during his career, including Applebee’s, Cheddar’s, Hard Rock International, and Uno Chicago Grill.
In the last few years, other companies have formed to join several restaurant brands together, including Saladworks parent Woworks, which houses six brands after two years of acquisitions. JAB combined Panera, Einstein Bros. Bagels and Caribou Coffee to form Panera Brands last year. This August, Butterfly Equity acquired Qdoba with the intent to fold it into its existing brand platform, Modern Restaurant Concepts.
