Owners of 8-unit bakery chain La Boulangerie and 28-unit Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh have acquired 6-unit Loving Cup, a dessert concept based in San Francisco. According to an article in Nation’s Restaurant News, James Park and Michael Staenberg, in partnership with Nicolas Bernadi and Pascal Rigo, made the acquisition because Loving Cup, popular for its frozen yogurt, was well-aligned with the niche brands in their portfolio.

“We bought Loving Cup because it fits nicely into our strategy of curating intimate, local brands that are very aspirational and we believe [have] a lot of ability to expand with a healthy footprint and strong unit-level economics,” Park said, adding, “We thought there was wonderful opportunity to curate these brands that we believe have a lot of growth potential and leverage the talent across all these brands.”

La Boulangerie became a household name when Starbucks acquired the brand for $100 million in 2012, only to shut them down in 2015, selling five units back to Bernadi and Rigo.

Read the full story here.

Photo courtesy of Loving Cup’s Facebook page.

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Madeline Lena

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Madeline Lena

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Maddie has spent her career in the media industry, serving in various editorial roles before migrating into a hybrid content strategy and PR role with No Limit Agency. Her passion for storytelling and love of writing help her create meaningful content on behalf of her clients and fulfill No Limit Agency’s mission to tell people-driven stories. 

Maddie is a graduate of Saint Louis University, where she studied Communications with a focus in journalism and media studies as well as Sports Business. In her spare time, Maddie can be found exploring Chicago’s food scene, watching an NBA game or lamenting over her middling fantasy baseball team.