NORCROSS Ga. Waffle House Inc., parent company to the 1,600-unit Waffle House family-dining chain, is in talks to purchase 121 restaurants owned and operated by one of its largest franchisees in the Southeast, Northlake Foods, which is in the midst of bankruptcy proceedings.
AWaffle House spokesman would not offer a pending deal value but said court approval for the plan is expected by the end of January.
Northlake Foods of Brandon, Fla., which operated 90 of the restaurants in central Florida and the rest in Georgia and Virginia, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September, on the heels of another Waffle House franchisee's bankruptcy filing.
“Waffle House Inc. is supporting the bankruptcy reorganization plan filed by Northlake Foods that would result in the creation of new company owned by Waffle House Inc.,” the company said in a statement. “The new company would acquire all of the operating assets of Northlake Foods and would run all 121 of its restaurants. Of course there is still a lot of work to do to make this plan a reality, but for now we appreciate everyone’s hard work to get to this point.”
Published reports indicated that Northlake’s Waffle House restaurants generate about $80 million in annual revenue.
