Delight Restaurant Group bought more than five dozen Wendy’s stores in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Rich and Andrew Krumholz have bought portfolios that required a lot of effort to turn around, but their April acquisition of 65 Wendy’s stores is the opposite.
“Our primary goal is to keep operations at these restaurants running as smoothly as possible with minimal changes for the employees and customers,” Managing Partner Rich Krumholz said.
The brothers run Delight Restaurant Group, which operates 226 Wendy’s and Taco Bell units. Delight purchased 65 stores from Primary Aim LLC in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.
Rich Krumholz
These Wendy’s stores have above-average sales volumes. Primary Aim “build a great culture with terrific people,” Andrew Krumholz said. “We look forward to continuing their strong legacy with this market.”
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The franchisees financed the deal with a mix of equity and bank debt from its lending partners.
“We find that while banks may have pulled back a bit overall compared to prior years, there’s still very strong interest and capital available for franchisees that have a demonstrated track record of success,” Andrew Krumholz said.
DRG is always looking toward the future, which includes preparing for large acquisitions such as this. In fact, the company made a checklist it calls the “T-Minus schedule” for acquisitions. This way, staff know what needs to be done and when to be properly prepared for new stores.
Andrew Krumholz
“There are always moments where there’s so much to do that it can feel overwhelming, especially for employees going through it for the first time, so we go back to the mantra of ‘Trust the T-Minus schedule,’” Rich Krumholz said. “We know that as long as we are staying up to date on that, then we are setting our team up for a very successful transition.”
DRG is keeping the existing staff on board. Since buying the Long Island, New York, market about three years ago, Delight’s upper management team for the area hasn’t seen a single turnover, Rich Krumholz said. Now, the group intends to see a similar pattern following this acquisition, he said.
“We always try to grow internally so restaurant leaders within this portfolio now have the opportunity to grow into larger roles as we continue building Delight,” Rich Krumholz said.
Friendly competition comes into play at times, with Delight trying to keep its stores operating as some of the best in the country. Now, the company has 65 more stores—and all the district managers, store managers and employees that came with them—competing to “be the best of the best,” he said.
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Delight takes a long-term approach to its acquisitions. The Krumholzes plan to keep the five-plus dozen units in their portfolio for decades, Andrew Krumholz said.
Keeping that long-term planning in mind, the brothers said their people-first mentality could help them grow Delight to one of the largest restaurant franchisees. “The focus is always in that order: operational excellence first and growth as a result,” Andrew Krumholz said.