Pollo Tropical has about 140 restaurants open in Florida.
Primanti Bros. parent company Authentic Restaurant Brands finalized its purchase of Pollo Tropical.
The acquisition, in the works for about six months, pays Pollo Tropical franchisor Fiesta Restaurant Group’s stockholders $8.50 per share. A wholly owned subsidiary of Authentic Restaurant Brands acquired all outstanding Fiesta shares.
Shareholders approved the acquisition October 24. This deal makes Pollo Tropical the first franchise brand for Authentic Restaurant Brands.
Fiesta Restaurant Group Chairman and Garnett Station Partners partner Alex Macedo
“We created Authentic Restaurant Brands was to build a portfolio of some of the strongest regional brands in America,” said Alex Macedo, chairman of Authentic Restaurant Brands and partner at Garnett Station Partners, the parent of Authentic.
Pollo Tropical, a chicken bowl chain, has a strong presence in Florida, with about 140 stores open in the Sunshine State. Authentic Restaurant Brands looks for brands with high volumes and high margins to grow in their designated regions. “We look for brands that have fans, more than guests,” Macedo said.
The chicken category has a lot of competition as hot chicken and chicken wings get more popular. There are major players like KFC and Chik-Fil-A, with $31.1 billion and $19.3 billion in systemwide sales in 2022, respectively. There are smaller, but still prominent, brands, too, like Bonchon, El Pollo Loco and Bojangles’, all of which ranked within the top 200 of the Franchise Times Top 400 list this year.
Fiesta’s leadership team is staying the same, with CEO Dirk Montgomery heading Fiesta Restaurant Group. “He was a big part of the process and we really enjoyed working with him,” Macedo said.
Authentic will put more emphasis on digital initiatives, like an improved mobile ordering platform and utilizing third-party delivery, Macedo said. Accomplishing this will “drive the top line through better data analytics and digital,” he said. Other goals include increasing Pollo Tropical’s footprint in Florida and, eventually, neighboring states.