Shareholders of Frisch’s Restaurants Inc. approved its acquisition by private-equity fund NRD Partners I, taking the family restaurant company private, Frisch’s said Monday.
NRD now owns and operates 95 company-owned and 26 franchised Frisch’s Big Boy restaurants across Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. The $174.5 million acquisition, which was announced in May, came after Frisch’s had been pursuing some type of deal for close to two years.
"This is an exciting day for Frisch's and we are very pleased that our stockholders, through the exercise of their vote, have shown substantial support for the Board's decision to accept NRD's offer," said Frisch's CEO Craig Maier.
Frisch’s is a holdover of the Big Boy system of restaurants, which originally allowed franchisees to localize their units by adding an operator’s name before the brand. It once operated as Frisch’s Big Boy but later dropped the latter half of the name.
The company was run by the Maier family since Craig’s grandfather opened the first unit in 1939. Craig and his sister, Karen, who serves as vice president of marketing for the company, are set to retire but will continue as franchisees.
"We are delighted to have the acquisition finalized and we are looking forward to taking one of America's most iconic and adored family restaurant brands into a very bright future,” said NRD CEO Aziz Hashim.
Frisch’s net income for the 2015 fiscal year was $9.9 million, a 5 percent increase from 2014.
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