Kevin Bush, 33, bought Fresh Dining Concepts in 2019 and recently grew the unit count by 73 Auntie Anne’s stores in an add-on acquisition.
A new wave of investors is storming the franchise mergers and acquisitions game, all with one thing in common: they’re only in their 30s.
Kevin Bush, chief strategy officer at Fresh Dining Concepts, is Exhibit A. He partnered with private equity firm Boathouse Capital to acquire Fresh Dining Concepts in 2019. At the time the Focus Brands snacks franchisee had about 50 stores. In February, Fresh Dining bought 73 Auntie Anne’s pretzel stores and became the No. 2 operator in the system.
Bush is 33. He spent 10 years at Fidelity Investments in Boston, doing public markets investing.
“I always had a more entrepreneurial bug. I got really intrigued with this concept that’s been called entrepreneurship through acquisition.” When he turned 30, he said, “Do I want to stay here, or do I want to try to build something? I felt it was the right time for me to go out on my own and be a part of a business, and actually operating. That was the one part of my job I always yearned for.”
Luis San Miguel, CEO of Fresh Dining Concepts, immigrated to the U.S. from Cuba when he was 9 years old, then worked at a Big 8 accounting firm for years and served as a finance executive at Burger King. San Miguel said he was approached in 2013 to buy 22 Auntie Anne’s. Initially a skeptic, he’s now a convert to Focus Brands snack chains, which include Carvel, Cinnabon, Jamba Juice and Auntie Anne’s.
Bush describes his role vs. San Miguel’s this way: “Those guys run the day-to-day. I like to learn and be involved, but they keep the train on the tracks and I just try to add parts to the train.”
At the annual Entrepreneurship through Acquisition Conference—yes, there is such a thing—a few years ago, Bush met two friends since childhood, Matt Perelman and Alex Sloane. Today in their mid-30s, they formed Garnett Station Partners in 2013 and the next year backed North Carolina operator Ray Meeks to buy his ailing 23-unit Burger King operation and pursue a roll-up strategy.
By 2019, Perelman, Sloane and Meeks had built Cambridge Franchise Holdings to 165 Burger King and 55 Popeyes restaurants, and sold the firm to Carrols Restaurant Group.
Garnett Station in March 2019 backed Twin Peaks CEO Joe Hummel in a management buyout that also retained founder Randy DeWitt in a board role. Garnett invested $130 million at the time, Hummel said; FAT Brands paid $300 million in August 2021 to buy Twin Peaks, which now has 88 restaurants.
“They have a different way of thinking. They’re very inclusive when it comes to the team,” Hummel said about the men.
Quality Restaurant Group, formed by childhood friends Matt Ailey and Matt Slaine, went from zero restaurants to 350 as of July 2021, purchasing Pizza Hut, Sonic Drive-in, Moe’s Southwest Grill and Arby’s stores. Both still in their 30s, Slaine heads up operations and Ailey raises the capital.
“I think our flexibility in approaching these deals is critical; no two deals are the same, no two families are the same. There’s always various pieces that are different, nothing is ever clean,” Ailey told Franchise Times last year.
The Krumholz brothers—Rich, 37, and Andrew, 35—are two others in the club. Starting five years ago, they acquired their first market from Wendy’s corporate. Now they have 155 restaurants.
“One of the best things about starting Delight Restaurant Group was doing it with Andrew,” said Rich Krumholz. “We’re brothers, best friends, and the journey of building restaurants from zero to 155, with much greater growth to come—we do everything together, from the business to interviews, and it’s more fun that way.”
But don’t think everyone’s scared of the young investors, at least not at Princeton Equity Group. Jim Waskovich and Doug Kennealey met while in their 20s at a Boston investment firm, then struck out on their own a couple of decades later. They figure they’ve got a nice head start on their younger brethren.