The Atlanta-based private-equity firm is one of the most prolific investors in the restaurant industry. Roark is a current investor in 19 restaurant brands, from small chains such as Naf Naf Grill to large concepts including Jimmy John's and CKE Restaurants, the owner of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s.
Now, Roark is upping its investments again. It set a target to raise $5 billion, it said in its SEC filing in October. And it’s clearly making more moves. Roark made a lot of noise by engineering Arby’s acquisition of Buffalo Wild Wings—creating a new multibrand company in Inspire Brands. That company is designed to bring in more concepts, meaning Roark is likely to continue to be active in the space.
As far as its strategy, Roark, much like JAB, keeps its investments for a long time. The company then benefits from its concepts’ growth.
Roark's restaurant holdings totaled $17.2B in U.S. sales in 2018, according to Technomic's Digital Resource Library.