USA – Butterfly entered into a definitive agreement with funds managed by affiliates of the Apollo Funds to acquire QDOBA, a San Diego, California-based franchisor in the Mexican fast casual restaurant sector in North America, via a merger transaction with Modern Restaurant Concepts, a fast casual restaurant platform consisting of two brands: Modern Market Eatery and Lemonade.
As part of the transaction, King Street Capital Management, a global alternative asset manager, is investing alongside Butterfly. Terms of the transaction – which is expected to close in Q3 2022 – were not disclosed. QDOBA is a Mexican fast casual franchisor known for its queso and hand-made guacamole, which operates nearly 750 units across North America, about 450 of which are franchised. Upon closing of the merger transaction, the Modern Restaurant Concepts platform will comprise approximately 800 units touching nearly every U.S. state and the combined restaurants will employ nearly 18,000 systemwide. Each of the QDOBA, Modern Market and Lemonade brands will continue to accelerate system growth through company-operated, franchised, and licensed openings. MRC leadership believes that there exists growth potential for more than 3,000 total units across brands.Concurrent with the announcement of the merger transaction, MRC today is also announcing that Modern Market has recently signed a multi-unit franchise development agreement with a leading national franchisee. The franchise development agreement is Modern Market’s first and will bring over 40 new Modern Markets to 7 states. Earlier this year QDOBA announced its largest multi-unit franchise development agreement in company history, and in aggregate has developed a committed pipeline of approximately 300 franchised units to be opened in the next five years.Keith Guilbault, current QDOBA CEO, will continue to lead QDOBA as Co-CEO of MRC along with Rob McColgan, current MRC CEO, who will continue to lead the Modern Market and Lemonade brands as Co-CEO of MRC. Modern Restaurant Concepts is one of the largest fast casual restaurant platforms in North America with nearly 800 units across three brands, QDOBA, Modern Market Eatery and Lemonade. The system operates corporate-owned and franchised units across nearly every U.S. state as well as Canada and Puerto Rico.Modern Market Eatery is a food forward, sustainable fast casual restaurant concept that operates in Colorado, Texas, Arizona and Indiana. Lemonade is a California-based modern fast casual concept serving colorful, seasonal and healthy lunch and dinner options as diverse as California itself. 09/08/2022
