Parasole Restaurant Holdings, the Minneapolis-based multiconcept operator of 14 full-service restaurants, has signed an agreement to be purchased by FS Funds, a private-equity firm, the company announced Tuesday.
Parasole, which has been in business for more than four decades as the operator of Manny’s Steakhouse, Chino Latino, Good Earth, Burger Jones and others, said it does not expect to make any significant operating changes under the deal.
“We’ve met with our chefs and GMs and corporate staffs,” Kip Clayton, Parasole’s vice president of marketing, told Restaurant Business. “The big message is continuity. The FS Fund people are not operators. They are investment people. They acquire companies to leave the restaurant team in place.”
Details of the transaction were not released. Clayton said it would take several months to finalize the deal because each restaurant is its own limited-liability corporation.
The principals of Minneapolis-based FS Funds also own four Original Pancake Houses in the Minneapolis suburbs.
“Their M.O. is to purchase iconic brands, to purchase things they feel have staying power,” Clayton said. “They’re very much ‘buy and hold’ as opposed to ‘buy and flip’ in two years. That’s one of the things that was critical for a us, a buyer who wanted to keep it together rather than break it up. It’s good for the staff, good for the employees.”
Parasole co-founder Phil Roberts will stay on as CEO.
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