Mod Pizza is selling an unspecified number of its corporate stores through National Franchise Sales, a franchise brokerage firm, according to a press release issued Thursday.
The sale of company-owned stores is a “comprehensive refranchising effort of their locations nationwide,” undertaken by Mod’s new owner, Elite Restaurant Group, which bought the ailing brand in July for an undisclosed sum. According to the press release, this is part of a growth and restructuring plan for the brand.
Mod’s store base is mostly company owned. At the end of 2023 it had 465 company-owned units, though that number has shrunk due to the closure of underperforming stores, and just 87 franchised units. The refranchising drive marks a significant sale of restaurants.
“NFS’s expertise in refranchising, asset recovery reorganization, and franchise sales makes them the ideal partner to help us optimize MOD Pizza’s market presence and operational efficiency,” Michael Nakhleh, ERG’s president and owner, said. “We are confident that their strategic approach will be instrumental in identifying the right franchise partners to grow the MOD Pizza brand.”
NFS regularly brokers the sale of large groups of restaurants, like the 12 Denny’s stores it helped sell in February, or 20 Zaxby’s units it assisted in selling in April.
Franchising partly shifts the capital expenditure for new growth from brands to operators. But franchise systems are far from immune to downturns: Burger King recently saw a wave of multi-unit operators file for bankruptcy, and earlier this week a Dickey’s Barbecue franchisee filed for Chapter 11.
