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The leading global restaurant franchisor is growing rapidly thanks in part to its diverse portfolio of brands, allowing franchisees to scale seamlessly with multiple complementary investments.
Multi-brand restaurant franchisor FAT Brands is already one of the most successful operators in foodservice franchising, with more than 2,300 restaurant locations open in markets around the world. Now, after five years of acquiring and developing some of the most sought-after fast casual, QSR, casual and polished casual dining brands in franchising, FAT Brands is leveraging its diverse portfolio to support widespread franchisee growth, aiming to add 125 new units to its system just this year.
“We’ve spent years building and refining one of the strongest multi-brand franchisor models in the industry, and now we are shifting our focus to franchisee growth,” said FAT Brands CEO Andy Wiederhorn. “We have strategically acquired brands that allow franchise owners to quickly grow their business across multiple brands, often within a single market, and we are extremely well-positioned to help franchisees take advantage of the wealth of white space available to them right now.”
Wiederhorn purchased Fatburger — the burger franchise that FAT Brands would eventually spin out from — through a financing deal in 2003. At the time, Fatburger was a 50/50 corporate-owned/franchised chain, but Wiederhorn saw an opportunity to grow the brand further through the franchising model. That vision proved successful, with Fatburger now boasting approximately 200 units.
Following the successful launch and growth of Fatburger’s franchise opportunity, Wiederhorn established FAT Brands with the goal of replicating Fatburger’s growth across multiple new restaurant franchise acquisitions.
“I’m a finance guy in the restaurant industry,” Wiederhorn admits, “so I’ve always been growth-oriented. Our success as a franchisor has always been about identifying the opportunities available to us and figuring out how to take full advantage of them.”
In 2017 FAT Brands went public and started acquiring franchise brands at a rapid clip. Five years later, the company has 17 fast casual, QSR, casual, and polished casual restaurant brands in its portfolio, including Johnny Rockets, Great American Cookies, Round Table Pizza, Marble Slab Creamery and Twin Peaks, to name just a few of its more recent acquisitions.
“Last year alone, we spent nearly a billion dollars on new acquisitions,” Wiederhorn said. “Now, we are at a place where we can offer a range of diverse and complementary investments that will allow franchisees to grow rapidly without cannibalizing each other or their own business.”
As FAT Brands shifts into a new phase of growth — one focused on franchisee expansion rather than brand acquisition — Wiederhorn says his team is determined to ensure franchisee success across brands.
“The franchisee is our customer, and the service we provide to them is every bit as critical as the service they provide to their customers at the store level,” he said. “We have developed an incredible suite of support and coaching tools, which I believe is unrivaled in this industry. We offer dedicated tools, resources and personnel to support virtually every aspect of running a business, including real estate selection, marketing and financing. Our operators, like most restaurant owners, are focused on service and the quality of the food, so they don’t have a lot of bandwidth to focus on profits and losses. That’s where our support becomes invaluable. That’s how we take care of our customer.”
That support system is buoyed by one of the most experienced leadership teams in franchising, a critical benefit of strategic brand acquisition, Wiederhorn says.
“One of the great things about bringing so many excellent, established franchise brands into our system is that we get the insight and experience from their leadership teams and can cross-apply that knowledge to all of our brands,” he said. “Any challenge we encounter for any of our brands, we have someone who has faced and overcome that challenge before.”
The cross-application of resources is key to FAT Brands’ early growth and its ambitious expansion goals.
“Franchisees in our system are small business owners, but they get the purchasing power, marketing muscle and resources of a multi-billion-dollar brand,” Weiderhorn said. “It’s an incredibly rare and valuable opportunity in any industry.”
Those shared resources extend even to the store level, where co-branded franchise opportunities allow franchisees to, essentially, offer two restaurants in one unit, with one streamlined operational model, potentially doubling revenue without increasing overhead.
Further taking advantage of the co-branded restaurant model, FAT Brands also pioneered a lucrative twist on the ghost kitchen model that rose to popularity throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Wiederhorn calls it the “virtual restaurant” model.
“Our virtual restaurant model, which the savvier brands in our industry are starting to replicate, allows franchise owners to leverage the existing kitchen at their store to offer delivery and takeout under branding for a separate restaurant,” he said. “It’s like a ghost kitchen, but they don’t have to rent out space and all sales supplement the existing store business.”
FAT Brands already has around 100 virtual kitchens in operation, and Wiederhorn says franchisees are eagerly adopting the model.
As FAT Brands looks to expand the footprint of its stable of restaurant brands, it is seeking passionate and growth-oriented operators in markets across the country, starting with the Southeastern U.S. from Texas to Florida in addition to Arizona and Northern California.
“We have tremendous growth opportunities in front of us, and we are perfectly positioned to take advantage of them,” Wiederhorn said. “Now, it’s just a matter of finding franchisee candidates who appreciate the value of this opportunity and can execute the playbook we’ve perfected for each of our brands.”
Investment ranges for FAT Brands franchises range from $349,000.00 to $5,107,000.00. Learn more about franchising opportunities at https://www.fatbrands.com/.
FAT Brands Company Profile
FAT Brands, Inc operates as a leading global franchising company that strategically acquires, markets, and develops fast casual, quick-service, casual dining, and polished casual dining concepts around the world. The Company currently owns 17 restaurant brands: Round Table Pizza, Fatburger, Marble Slab Creamery, Johnny Rockets, Fazoli’s, Twin Peaks, Great American Cookies, Hot Dog on a Stick, Buffalo’s Cafe & Express, Hurricane Grill & Wings, Pretzelmaker, Elevation Burger, Native Grill & Wings, Yalla Mediterranean and Ponderosa and Bonanza Steakhouses
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