Pearl Street Equity, a family office investment firm out of New York, on Wednesday said it has acquired Famous Brands International, the parent company of Mrs. Fields and TCBY. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The company said that the two brands operate more than 350 franchised locations. Most of those locations are in the U.S. but the brands have locations in Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, Morocco, Panama, Taiwan and the Bahamas.
TCBY, which at one point was the country’s largest frozen yogurt brand, operates 168 franchised locations in the U.S. Mrs. Fields operates 125 locations. Both brands have shrunk in recent years, however.
Mrs. Fields, which sells primarily cookies, has seen unit count decline by 29% over the past five years. At TCBY, which operates 168 locations, unit count has declined 42% over that period.
Famous Brands recently hired Joe Lewis as president and chief operating officer. Lewis has more than 25 years of leadership experience at various brands such as Smoothie King, Twist Brands and Smalls Sliders.
Lewis called Pearl Street “the ideal strategic partner” for the company and said the deal “will take our franchisee support to the next level while enabling investment to grow both brands globally.”
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