SPB Hospitality, the owner of Krystal, Logan’s Roadhouse and other mostly full-service restaurant chains, sold a group of brewery concepts it acquired out of bankruptcy in 2020.
The buyer is Kelly Companies of Southern California, which owns Champps, Claim Jumper and other bar-and-grill concepts. The brands changing hands are Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery, Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant, ChopHouse & Brewery, Ragtime Tavern and Seven Bridges Grille & Brewery.
Together they account for a total of 16 locations, some of which are in airports. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
In a press release, SPB said offloading the breweries would allow it to focus more on its core concepts: quick-service burger chain Krystal, Logan’s, Old Chicago Pizza, J. Alexander’s and Stoney River Steakhouse, as well as the recently acquired Amada Vino + Tapas and Village Whiskey.
“This marks a transformational chapter for SPB Hospitality as we double down on the growth of our flagship brands and the integration of our recently acquired concepts from Chef Jose Garces,” said Josh Kern, CEO of SPB Hospitality, in a statement.
Kelly, meanwhile, gets a batch of complementary brands that will expand its portfolio, which also includes Fox and Hound, Craft Republic, Lucky Bastard Saloon and Whiskey River Saloon. Founded in 1993, Kelly at one point operated 60 restaurant locations in 27 states, according to its LinkedIn page.
SPB, an affiliate of the investment firm Fortress Investment Group, acquired the breweries, along with Logan’s and Old Chicago, when it bought CraftWorks Holdings in 2020 for $93 million. At the time, the group consisted of 261 restaurants.
Last year, Houston-based SPB acquired 293-unit Krystal.
In an interview last June, Kern said the company planned to grow Krystal and some of the CraftWorks brands like Logan’s and Old Chicago. But he noted that the large, complex brewery concepts were in a challenging spot because of how expensive they are to operate.
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