Fat Brands is preparing to take Twin Peaks public next year, with plans to significantly expand the 103-unit “sports lodge” concept through both conversions and new builds.
The company aired its IPO plans in June and confirmed them Thursday. The exact size and timing of the offering will depend on the market, Fat Brands Chairman Andy Wiederhorn said. The company plans to remain the majority owner of the brand.
The bulk of the IPO proceeds will be used to pay down Fat Brands’ debt, Wiederhorn said, as well as develop new company-owned Twin Peaks locations.
Fat Brands acquired Twin Peaks in 2021 for $300 million and has continued to expand the concept since then. It expects to open 18 to 20 new locations this year for a total of 115, and believes it can grow the brand to 200 stores over the next several years.
To speed that growth, Fat Brands will look to acquire similar concepts and convert the restaurants to Twin Peaks signature “lodges,” shaving 1.5 years off the normal development process.
“If we're able to convert some of these second-generation restaurants—and we've done a bunch of conversions in the past quite successfully, a whole bunch of them in the Twin Peaks portfolio—then we think it'll dramatically accelerate the opening,” Wiederhorn said, according to a transcript on financial service site Sentieo/AlphaSense.
He estimated 33% to 50% of new openings over the next few years could be conversions. “We have our eye on a number of those opportunities and hope to announce those in the near future,” he added.
It also plans to open more franchised Twin Peaks, increasing the mix of franchised stores from 70% to 80%. And the bigger the restaurant, the better.
“In the fast-casual business, you want to build smaller restaurants,” Wiederhorn said. “In the polished-casual business, you want to build bigger restaurants. Because if you can manage the throughput, you really take advantage of that and, especially, having a second bar.”
Twin Peaks was founded in 2005 by restaurateurs Randy DeWitt and Scott Gordon in Texas. It serves sports-bar fare in cabin-like restaurants with scantily clad female waitstaff.
The brand is somewhat unique within Fat Brands’ portfolio, which consists mainly of QSR concepts like Fazoli’s, Johnny Rockets and Fatburger. But the company has been pleased with its performance since the acquisition. Unit volumes grew 8.3% last year to about $6 million, according to data from Restaurant Business sister company Technomic, and system sales grew 22.6%.
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