Fat Brands bets on quick-service with major expansion plansFat Brands bets on quick-service with major expansion plans

Joanna Fantozzi

Fat Brands announced Wednesday 20 new store development deals for its newly acquired quick-service restaurant brands, including Round Table Pizza, Great American Cookies, Marble Slab Creamery, Hot Dog on a Stick and Pretzelmaker. The deals will total more than 50 new store units, with 30 locations set to open their doors by the end of the year.

Over the past two years, Fat Brands has garnered attention for its robust portfolio growth, but has largely slowed its acquisition spree in 2022, focusing instead on development. The company’s quick-service category was created after the acquisition of the above Global Franchise Group brands from Serruya Private Equity, Inc. and Lion Capital LLP last summer.

"Today’s consumer is not just looking for food — they want an experience, and all of these brands are iconic in their own right and also category innovators for that matter," Jenn Johnston, President of Fat Brands’ quick-service division told Nation's Restaurant News. "Franchisees recognize this and we have seen an increase in demand, in particular, from franchisees that were already in the system pre-acquisition of Global Franchise Group to expand their portfolio of FAT Brands’ concepts."

Most of the brands are known as snack or food court brands and have traditionally done well in mall spaces. With this new development deal in place, Fat Brands will focus on building up the Great American Cookies and Marble Slab Creamery co-branded restaurant model in the Southeast, mainly in the Nashville, Houston and Louisiana markets, with more cobranding opportunities to come in the future. Round Table Pizza, is set to open nine locations in California, and in total the quick-service division has over 150 units in the pipeline, while Pretzelmaker also has plans to expand in the Houston area and FAT Brands is looking at the Las Vegas market for Hot Dog on a Stick.

“The quick-service brands have been a strong addition to the FAT Brands portfolio,” Taylor Wiederhorn, chief development officer of Fat Brands, said in a statement. “In just nine months, we have made incredible traction in not only integrating the brands, but also in signing new development deals. We look forward to continuing to broaden the division’s presence on a global level in the years to come.”

Federal authorities are currently investigating Fat Brands CEO Andy Wiederhorn on allegations of securities and wire fraud, money laundering and attempted tax evasion. In March, Wiederhorn addressed these allegations, calling it “a derivative suit” based on the 2020 merger of Fat Brands with Fog Cutter Capital and saying, “I look forward to putting these matters behind us.”

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