High Bluff Capital Partners is adding Church’s Chicken to its growing roster of restaurant brands under its REGO Restaurant Group platform, established in 2018.
The company has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Church’s from FFL partners for an undisclosed amount. FS Investments led a structured capital investment in support of the acquisition out of its FS Tactical Opportunities Fund along with other affiliated investment funds. The transaction is expected to be completed in Q3.
Atlanta-based Church’s Chicken has more than 1,500 locations in 25 countries and territories. The nearly 70-year-old brand generated systemwide sales of about $1.2 billion in 2020, including its most profitable performance in “many years,” by leveraging a strong demand for chicken and bundled meals, as well as drive-thru and off-premise channels.
This momentum is what attracted High Bluff founder Anand Gowda to the brand.
“At a time when the entire restaurant industry has faced unprecedented challenges, Church’s has stood out as a notable bright spot, having emerged from the pandemic with considerable tailwinds that strongly position the brand for tremendous growth geographically as well as in the overall chicken category,” he said.
Despite those tailwinds, however, Gowda acknowledges that Church’s needs a bit more agility to better compete in an intensifying space.
“My perspective is that situations that appear to be challenged on the outside–like having a dated brand–have tremendous loyalty from the customer base and if you can invest some capital in the physical assets and technology, that’s interesting,” he said. “Church’s has performed very well through Covid, but there is still so much untapped value here. It’ll take some simple blocking and tackling to energize the customer base and that’s what we intend to do.”
Those blocking and tackling efforts include bringing innovative menu offerings to market more quickly, elevating the tech platform, improving the point-of-sale system and getting a loyalty program in place as soon as possible.
Essentially, Gowda wants to bring a faster mindset to the system, which has been under the same ownership since 2009.
“They took a long time to make decisions like implementing price changes. They were late to the chicken sandwich wars. It shouldn’t take two years to develop a loyalty program,” he said. “You have to be quick in this industry–especially now. We have a small group of owners and that gives us the ability to make decisions quickly. Our ownership is narrow and I think that will be a strategic advantage with the brand.”
Taking over a legacy brand at a sprint’s pace has its risks, however. Namely, it could turn off loyal franchisees who have been with the system for a long time. Gowda isn’t worried about this so much, however.
“We all have the same goals. If we’re not working to increase their margin, we shouldn’t be in the market. Our objective is to bring more sales to franchisees in a more agile way and give them more opportunities at growth and more flexibility with technology. They’re in acute alignment with that objective,” he said.
If that alignment is sustained, Gowda expects big things for the Church’s brand. He wants to grow its footprint, including in nontraditional ways such as ghost kitchens–a plan he’s deploying with REGO’s other brands.
Further, consumers have proven their appetite for chicken is boundless and he believes there is plenty of room for Church’s Texas-style chicken alongside the Kentucky-style chicken of KFC and the Louisiana-style chicken of Popeyes (both of which are on a significant upswing, by the way). He also likes the momentum Church’s has with its international business, its strongest driver of growth throughout the past two years.
“We have this wonderful international business and we can take all the flavors that we put into those businesses and import them here that are in high demand. International is one of our strongest assets and it will help us bring forward great products that will generate great sales. Our operators are thirsty for this type of innovation,” Gowda said. “We recognize we’ll fail sometimes but we’ll win big sometimes. In two or three years, we’ll be leading this category versus following in this category.”
With the acquisition of the chicken chain, REGO Restaurant Group diversifies its portfolio that already includes sub chain Quiznos and Mexican concept Taco Del Mar. Gowda would like to get to at least 10 brands and double its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) to north of $100 million in the next few years. REGO plans to continue taking advantage of the mergers & acquisitions market while it remains hot.
“It took us a little while to get the snowball going, but now we have a scalable platform with Church’s. That was our goal–scale to get to scale. Now we focus on buying bigger assets, financing them in a cost efficient way and accelerate opportunities that are either undermanaged, poorly capitalized or growing well but in the mid-to-early stages of growth that we can accelerate,” Gowda said. “We’re just getting started.”
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was down more than 200 points in late-morning trading, weighed down by losses in the technology, base metal and energy sectors, while U.S. stock markets also fell.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 239.24 points at 22,749.04.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 312.36 points at 40,443.39. The S&P 500 index was down 80.94 points at 5,422.47, while the Nasdaq composite was down 380.17 points at 16,747.49.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.80 cents US compared with 74.00 cents US on Thursday.
The October crude oil contract was down US$1.07 at US$68.08 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up less than a penny at US$2.26 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was down US$2.10 at US$2,541.00 an ounce and the December copper contract was down four cents at US$4.10 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 150 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in technology, financial and energy stocks, while U.S. stock markets also pushed higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 171.41 points at 23,298.39.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 278.37 points at 41,369.79. The S&P 500 index was up 38.17 points at 5,630.35, while the Nasdaq composite was up 177.15 points at 17,733.18.
The Canadian dollar traded for 74.19 cents US compared with 74.23 cents US on Wednesday.
The October crude oil contract was up US$1.75 at US$76.27 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up less than a penny at US$2.10 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$18.70 at US$2,556.50 an ounce and the December copper contract was down less than a penny at US$4.22 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2024.
The crypto market has recently experienced a significant downturn, mirroring broader risk asset sell-offs. Over the past week, Bitcoin’s price dropped by 24%, reaching $53,000, while Ethereum plummeted nearly a third to $2,340. Major altcoins also suffered, with Cardano down 27.7%, Solana 36.2%, Dogecoin 34.6%, XRP 23.1%, Shiba Inu 30.1%, and BNB 25.7%.
The severe downturn in the crypto market appears to be part of a broader flight to safety, triggered by disappointing economic data. A worse-than-expected unemployment report on Friday marked the beginning of a technical recession, as defined by the Sahm Rule. This rule identifies a recession when the three-month average unemployment rate rises by at least half a percentage point from its lowest point in the past year.
Friday’s figures met this threshold, signaling an abrupt economic downshift. Consequently, investors sought safer assets, leading to declines in major stock indices: the S&P 500 dropped 2%, the Nasdaq 2.5%, and the Dow 1.5%. This trend continued into Monday with further sell-offs overseas.
The crypto market’s rapid decline raises questions about its role as either a speculative asset or a hedge against inflation and recession. Despite hopes that crypto could act as a risk hedge, the recent crash suggests it remains a speculative investment.
Since the downturn, the crypto market has seen its largest three-day sell-off in nearly a year, losing over $500 billion in market value. According to CoinGlass data, this bloodbath wiped out more than $1 billion in leveraged positions within the last 24 hours, including $365 million in Bitcoin and $348 million in Ether.
Khushboo Khullar of Lightning Ventures, speaking to Bloomberg, argued that the crypto sell-off is part of a broader liquidity panic as traders rush to cover margin calls. Khullar views this as a temporary sell-off, presenting a potential buying opportunity.
Josh Gilbert, an eToro market analyst, supports Khullar’s perspective, suggesting that the expected Federal Reserve rate cuts could benefit crypto assets. “Crypto assets have sold off, but many investors will see an opportunity. We see Federal Reserve rate cuts, which are now likely to come sharper than expected, as hugely positive for crypto assets,” Gilbert told Coindesk.
Despite the recent volatility, crypto continues to make strides toward mainstream acceptance. Notably, Morgan Stanley will allow its advisors to offer Bitcoin ETFs starting Wednesday. This follows more than half a year after the introduction of the first Bitcoin ETF. The investment bank will enable over 15,000 of its financial advisors to sell BlackRock’s IBIT and Fidelity’s FBTC. This move is seen as a significant step toward the “mainstreamization” of crypto, given the lengthy regulatory and company processes in major investment banks.
The recent crypto market downturn highlights its volatility and the broader economic concerns affecting all risk assets. While some analysts see the current situation as a temporary sell-off and a buying opportunity, others caution against the speculative nature of crypto. As the market evolves, its role as a mainstream alternative asset continues to grow, marked by increasing institutional acceptance and new investment opportunities.
