FAT Brands has added nine new brands to its dossier over the past year and added the iconic cookie stores this week as part of a restaurant acquisition spree.
The business has increased by 600% over the last year and a half, especially during the Pandemic, starting with Johnny Rockets, CEO Andy Wiederhorn told FOX Business Maria Bartiromo Thursday.
He continued that this year, 2022, is just about integration and swallowing and digesting everything that we acquired last year, but we're growing like crazy. NESTL TOLL HOUSE CAF On Mornings with Maria, Wiederhorn detailed the company's plan to transform Nestl's nearly 85 stores into Great American Cookies locations.
The CEO said it was a great opportunity to add them to our portfolio and cross-sell different brands to our franchise partners. The cookie brand's sales have gone up 7 to 8% quarter-over-quarter.
In the next few years, FAT Brands is expected to build 860 new franchise locations nationwide, according to Wiederhorn.
He said that the demand for people to own their own businesses is proof of how strong the demand is for restaurant business coming back from such an awful 2020.
Sales and customer demand have gone up anywhere from seven to 20% at franchise stores, despite an inflationary environment.
The CEO said that there was very strong demand for customers to get out of restaurants and not be stuck at home whenever they can. There are all kinds of increases in delivery and to-go. The restaurant operators have worked hard to keep their margin open, because of rising prices, and keeping their margin open, according to the business leader.
I'm hopeful that things will calm down here as we get into Q 3 and Q 4, Wiederhorn said. Maybe there's going to be a pause in this rate shock that we're going through.