Twin Peaks, the sports-bar chain known for its lodge-like atmosphere and scantily clad waitresses, went public Thursday in a spinoff from owner Fat Brands.
Shares in the newly created Twin Hospitality Group opened at $17.45 on the Nasdaq stock exchange under ticker symbol TWNP. They were trading slightly higher as of late morning.
It's the first restaurant IPO since bowling-and-food chain Pinstripes went public last January.
Fat Brands, which still owns 95% of Twin Peaks after the spinoff, plans to use proceeds from the IPO to pay down debt. Twin Peaks, meanwhile, hopes the capital infusion will help it quickly open more restaurants. It plans to open as many as 16 new units in 2025 and believes there is room for up to 650 Twin Peaks in the U.S. and 250 internationally. On Wednesday, it announced a five-unit franchise deal in three Western states and a new location in Algonquin, Illinois.
Dallas-based Twin Peaks is still relatively small. It ranked as the 30th-largest full-service chain in the country by sales in 2023, according to Technomic. It expects to generate $580 million to $590 million in sales this year, CEO Joe Hummel said at the ICR conference this month. But it believes it will eventually hit the $1 billion mark, which would put it among chains like P.F. Chang’s and rival Hooters today.
It has an estimated equity value of $1.04 billion to $1.28 billion, according to a Fat Brands investor presentation.
In 2023, systemwide sales rose 11% on 12% unit growth, according to Technomic. The chain has average unit volumes of $5.3 million, and in some markets, such as Florida, it generates as much as $13 million per location.
Nearly half (48%) of its sales come from alcohol, including beer, which is served at 29 degrees in frozen mugs. Live sports are a major traffic driver; restaurants boast as many as 80 TV screens. About 70% of its locations are franchisee-operated.
Twin Peaks was founded in Lewisville, Texas, in 2005 by restaurateurs Randy Dewitt and Scott Gordon. Fat Brands, the owner of 16 other restaurant brands including Fat Burger and Fazoli’s, acquired the chain in 2021 for $300 million.
In 2023, Fat acquired 60-unit casual-dining chain Smokey Bones with plans to convert many of those restaurants into Twin Peaks. Smokey Bones will be part of Twin Hospitality Group and remains a key part of Twin Peaks’ development pipeline.
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