EverLine Coatings and Services, a 350-unit provider of road line painting and pavement maintenance, secured an investment from Red Iron Group, a California-based private equity firm. The partnership will include system enhancements and expansion of franchise and service capacity.
Texas Roadhouse acquired 13 restaurants from one of its largest U.S. franchisees in a deal expected to close early next year. Seven of the stores are in Indiana and Ohio and six are in California. The restaurant chain bought eight franchise locations in 2022 for $33.1 million and another eight in 2023 for $39 million. At the end of the last quarter, Texas Roadhouse operated 601 domestic locations with 56 of them franchised. It has another 56 franchised locations in international markets.
Chicago-based Hyatt Hotels signed a joint venture with Spain-based Grupo Piñero, owner of the Bahia Principe Hotels & Resorts and Cayo Levantado Resort brands. The new Hyatt joint venture will own the Bahia Principe brand and manage Bahia Principe-branded hotels and resorts around the world. The deal is expected to close in the coming months. Grupo Piñero will add 23 resorts with a total of more than 12,000 rooms to Hyatt’s Inclusive Collection. Twenty-two of the resorts are under the Bahia Principe brand in Mexico, Jamaica, Spain and the Dominican Republic. The deal also includes Cayo Levantado Resort, which opened last year in the Dominican Republic.
Indoor pickleball club franchise PickleRage signed a deal with private equity firm GreenPeak Venture Partners. The investment will help open 200 new locations throughout the country in the next two years. Founded in 2023, PickleRage is targeting Ohio, Georgia, Illinois, Florida, Texas, North Carolina and Tennessee for new development. GreenPeak is a sibling company to First National Realty Partners.
Pinnacle US Holdings, a subsidiary of PureGym Limited, acquired Blink Fitness’ corporate operations and up to 67 sites from the Blink Fitness portfolio in New York and New Jersey for $121 million at an auction. The outcome of the auction is pursuant to the asset purchase agreement PureGym entered into September 10, as filed with the bankruptcy court and modified in connection with the auction. Blink Fitness filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August.
PureGym operates 600 gyms in six countries, including corporate-owned gyms in the United Kingdom, Denmark, Switzerland and the U.S. It also has 20 sites operated by a franchise partner in Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates under the PureGym Arabia brand. PureGym is jointly owned by Leonard Green & Partners, KKR and over 100 members of the group’s management team. Blink Fitness has more than 80 locations in New York, New Jersey, California, Illinois, Massachusetts and Texas.
Toppers Pizza is expanding into Nebraska and South Dakota with franchisees Ross Lerner and Lori Irvin acquiring four existing stores. Two of the restaurants are in Omaha and the two others are in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Sioux City, South Dakota. The business partners signed an agreement to build four additional Toppers restaurants over the next five years. Founded in 1991 as an alternative to big-box pizza, Toppers has 70 locations.
Five Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers restaurants owned by Paul Hoover in Tennessee and Kentucky were sold to an unnamed buyer. Unbridled Capital provided sell-side advisory services.
Checkmate, a provider of unified ordering solutions for enterprise restaurants, secured $10 million in Series B funding. The fundraising was led by New York-based investment firm Tiger Global Management. With the investment, Checkmate plans to accelerate the adoption of its voice AI and kiosk technologies.
Barre3 acquired Barre Centric’s three studios in Buffalo, New York and plans to convert the locations. Founded in 2008 by Sadie and Chris Lincoln, Barre3 has nearly 200 studios. Last year, the company acquired The Barre Code, a Midwestern barre fitness brand.
Six Wingstops in the Mid-Atlantic Region were sold by franchisee Dan Remaklus to an unnamed buyer. Unbridled Capital provided sell-side advisory services.
Prakrut Bhavsar is the new owner of a Metal Supermarkets store in Nashville, Tennessee. Opened in 2002, Metal Supermarkets Nashville was owned and operated by now retired franchisee Henry Niedzwecki.
Steven Chmielewski took ownership of a Pet Butler franchise in Tacoma, Washington. Pet Butler provides pet waste removal and pet care services such as pet sitting, dog walking and pet shuttles. Spring-Green Enterprises acquired its franchise system in 2017; it has 39 locations in 28 states.
Wild Eggs is converting a Crazy Bowls & Wraps store in Jefferson, Kentucky, into a virtual kitchen for the brand. In March, Wild Eggs acquired St. Louis brand Crazy Bowls & Wraps, a healthy fast-casual concept. Wild Eggs CEO Andy Abbajay said the plan is to expand the CBW Brand into the Louisville market and add a few stand-alone Crazy Bowls locations in the next 16 months. PG Growth Opportunities Fund acquired Wild Eggs, a breakfast, brunch and lunch restaurant chain headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2023. It was founded in 1994 in the St. Louis metro area and operates 16 stores in that market.
Apexgraphix, a 30-year-old printing business in Columbia, South Carolina, was sold by retiring owner John Runy to Ken Holloway. The business will operate as Minuteman Press.
Houston-based JCP Investment Management and Jumana Capital Investments purchased stock in restaurant chain Red Robin Gourmet Burgers. Red Robin has more than 500 locations in the United States and Canada.
First-time franchisees Ryan and Ashley Mitchell took over ownership of Always Best Care Senior Services in Terre Haute, Indiana. Founded in 1996, Always Best Care Senior Services has more than 225 franchised territories in the U.S. and Canada.