Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza & Wings has a new owner.
The 51-unit chain was sold out of bankruptcy by parent company BurgerFi International Inc. first to lender TREW Capital Management in a credit bid for $44 million, as previously announced. TREW now has sold the pizza chain to Florida Burger Inc. Principals of the company include Kuljeet Singh and his wife Jessica Singh, who are also franchisees of both the Round Table Pizza and Burger King brands, said Jeff Crivello, the former Famous Dave’s CEO who leads TREW Capital and acquired BFI’s debt earlier this year.
Crivello did not disclose the sale price, but said it was in the ballpark of the $44 million credit bid.
The deal splits Anthony’s from its sister-brand BurgerFi, which TREW also acquired in the bankruptcy auction for a credit bid of $10 million—and which may also soon have a new owner.
Crivello said a sale of the fast-casual burger chain is also in the works, and that deal could be announced by the end of the week. The buyer has not yet been disclosed. BurgerFi has 93 units, of which only 17 are company-owned.
The now-former parent company BFI filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sept. 11 after four rocky years as a public company. To some, bringing the better-burger concept under the same roof as the full-service pizza chain was an unlikely pairing.
BurgerFi was acquired first by a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, that took the chain public in 2020 and became BFI. The next year, BFI acquired the then 61-unit Anthony’s for $161 million in stock and assumed debt. At the time, the Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based Anthony’s was entirely company-owned and mostly operated in Florida.
Under BFI, Anthony’s launched franchising, but only one franchised location opened. It is also the only dual-branded Anthony’s/BurgerFi location.
Under BFI, however, both brands struggled, with a number of executive changes, rapidly declining sales and turnaround efforts that fell flat.
During the bankruptcy, 10 underperforming Anthony’s locations were shuttered, along with more than 30 BurgerFi units over the past two years.
Carl Bachmann, the former CEO of BFI, left the company on Nov. 15 and has joined the new owner of Anthony’s, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. His role with Anthony’s was not made clear.
Singh did not immediately respond to requests for more information.
Last year, Singh was the owner of DC Burger, which acquired 37 Burger King locations in Virginia for $22 million from Toms King Holdings. At the time, court documents indicated Singh and his wife Jessica Singh also owned 80 Round Table Pizza locations in Northern California, Oregon and Washington.
Crivello, meanwhile, had also acquired the 79-unit fast-casual Rubio’s chain out of bankruptcy earlier this year. TREW Capital also owns the 11-unit Cowboy Jack’s and the one-off concept Sally’s Saloon.
Those brands will remain under Chicago-based TREW, though run independently, he said. And there may be more coming.
Once the integration is complete, those brands will be positioned for growth, both organically and via mergers and acquisitions, Crivello said.
UPDATE: This story has been updated to clarify that the acquisition was by Florida Burger Inc., of which Kuljeet Singh is a principal.
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