Dive Brief:
- Fat Brands will develop 20 new Johnny Rockets units in Texas over the next 10 years in partnership with franchisee Brame Holdings, with the first unit of this batch set to open in 2024, according to a press release.
- Brame is working with Fat to grow several of the company’s brands, including Fatburger, Round Table Pizza and Buffalo’s Express. Per Brame’s website, the first of the Johnny Rockets units covered by this development deal will open in the San Antonio region.
- Fat Brands is pursuing aggressive unit growth following a spate of acquisitions that expanded its brand stable to 17 restaurant concepts.
Dive Insight:
Fat Brands has opened 66 new units so far this year, including 25 in Q2, according to Fat’s latest quarterly release. The company plans to open 175 total units this year. That growth is driven by new franchising agreements, board chair and former CEO Andy Wiederhorn said.
“In 2023, we have signed over 150 new franchise development deals, bringing our total pipeline to over 1,100 signed agreements. This represents over 50% EBITDA growth over the next several years,” Wiederhorn said in the Q2 results announcement.
Taylor Wiederhorn, Fat Brands’ chief development officer and son of Andy Wiederhorn, said Brame was a significant partner in Fat’s growth strategy.
“They are quickly developing many Fatburger and Buffalo’s Express locations in addition to Round Table Pizza locations which is part of an 80-store development deal for the state, the first of these stores are set to open soon in San Antonio,” Taylor Wiederhorn said in the press release.
