McDonald’s bought out Caspers Company, a third-generation family-owned business run by (from left) Blake Casper, his sister, Allison Casper Adams, and her spouse, Robby Adams.
Item 9 Labs will rebrand 43 Sessions Cannabis locations as Unity Rd. after acquiring the Canadian concept.
Senior editor of Franchise Times
Anand Gala’s investment strategy is rooted in American culture. “We want things that are deeply ingrained in American consumers’ lives and routines,” said Gala, founder and managing partner of Gala Capital.
That focus led to Gala Capital’s purchase in 2017 of Mooyah Burgers, its buy last year of pizza buffet concept Cicis and its most-recent move, the acquisition of 59-unit Dunn Brothers Coffee. “Pretty much everyone eats burgers, and pizza, I don’t know anyone who hasn’t eaten pizza,” said Gala. “So that’s something we think of coffee.”
Gala Capital, based in Costa Mesa, California, pursued several brands in the coffee segment in recent years, noted Gala, and while it was “unsuccessful in all of those,” the research reinforced its desire to enter the category. “What is more interesting about coffee to me is how you can take the concept of omnichannel … and add the concept of omnipresent.”
Dunn Brothers, which started in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1987 and is 100 percent franchised, wasn’t looking for a buyer, but after identifying the brand as “one where we could add value,” Gala reached out to President Kim Plahn. “And we’re probably more tenacious than most and just continued to pursue and follow up,” he said.
The sale closed in June and Gala Capital took control July 1. Plahn and the rest of the leadership team will all stay on. —L.M.
Tucker’s Farm buys into VIO Med Spa
VIO Med Spa attracted a minority investment from Tucker’s Farm Corp., a Bermuda-based goat farm and artisan cheese-maker with an investment arm run by the founder’s son, Kyle Tucker.
Tucker “is a young Wall Street guy, and they worked for Apollo Management, the second-largest private equity firm. They broke off a few years ago and started to do their own thing,” said Ryan Rose, CEO of VIO Med Spa, referring to Tucker and his business partner.
Tucker’s Farm also owns QSR franchise Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken, and one of the largest European Wax Center franchisees. Tucker and VIO Med Spa’s chief development officer, Ryan Rao, met at an industry conference earlier this year.
“They had known that they were ready to take their beauty and aesthetic strategy, from European Wax Center, into the med spa industry. They spent months” researching brands, Rose said, referring to Tucker’s Farm, and had plans to become an area developer for VIO.
“They went out to dinner and basically Kyle said, what if we thought bigger about this? We had just turned down an equity investment in January; they wanted more control than we wanted to give,” Rose said.
“So we said no, politely. Fortunately, three weeks later the med spa event happened, and the dinner happened,” and VIO accepted a minority investment, all cash. “It’s more strategic advisory with a board seat,” Rose said.
Four months of due diligence followed. “Operations and legal and financial. We passed all of them with what I think flying colors, and closed on July 1, which happened to be the two-year anniversary after I took over as CEO.” —B.E.
McDonald’s bought out Caspers Company, a third-generation family-owned business run by (from left) Blake Casper, his sister, Allison Casper Adams, and her spouse, Robby Adams.
McDonald’s buys franchisee Caspers
McDonald’s is buying out Caspers Company, one of its oldest franchisees and the largest in Florida. Blake Casper and his family are planning to retire as third-generation McDonald’s owners on October 1, 2022, and have agreed to sell their 60 locations in Tampa and Jacksonville to the franchisor.
In addition to being a large multi-unit franchisee, Casper also helped form the independent McDonald’s National Owners Association in 2018 and served as chairman of the advocacy group, which was the first franchisee association in McDonald’s history.
Neither the details of the deal nor future plans for the 60 stores were disclosed.
Casper and his sister, Allison Casper Adams, and her husband, Robby Adams, joined the family business in 1996 and served as restaurant shift and salary managers and area supervisors before being approved in the McDonald’s Registered Applicant Program in 1999.
Robby Adams bought and built five restaurants, and in 2000, Casper bought all the restaurants in the Tallahassee market and built it to 27 locations, plus doubled sales before returning to Tampa, according to a message from a McDonald’s field office obtained by Franchise Times. —C.E.
Item 9 Labs will rebrand 43 Sessions Cannabis locations as Unity Rd. after acquiring the Canadian concept.
Item 9 Labs buys top Canadian cannabis franchisor
One of Canada’s top cannabis franchisors is being acquired by Arizona-based Item 9 Labs Corp., a producer expanding its retail franchise concept Unity Rd. across the United States.
Sessions Cannabis, founded in 2019, has 43 stores throughout the province of Ontario. Coincidently, the lawyer representing Sessions CEO Steven Fry also works with Item 9 Labs, which led to the two sides meeting.
“I really liked how Steve runs his company and what he’s been able to do in Canada,” said Mike Weinberger, chief franchise officer for Item 9 Labs. “From a franchising perspective, he’s really built a killer team. His franchisees really believe in his ethos, too, so for me it was a no-brainer.”
The purchase comes a year after Item 9 acquired One Cannabis Group, the parent company of retail dispensary Unity Rd. According to Weinberger, the new agreement with Sessions makes Item 9 the largest cannabis franchisor in the world.
“Us joining forces is really telling that story of where cannabis and franchising go together,” Weinberger said. —M.L.
New firm Conscious Capital invests in Main Squeeze
Two franchise veterans, Heather Elrod and Christo Demetriades, formed Conscious Capital Growth and invested in their first firm: Main Squeeze Juice Co.
Elrod is the former CEO of Amazing Lash Studio who left the eyelash extension brand in November 2021, after building it from 70 units to 260 and orchestrating its sale in 2018 to KSL Capital, the private equity firm that backs WellBiz Brands.
“Christo and I have known each other for about six years, and we knew very early on after meeting that we had similar values about people and business and were like-minded in our leadership style,” Elrod said. “Our goal after investment is to support the founders and the C suite to really grow the culture that they created, that made their brand so special.”
Demetriades has been in franchising for more than 30 years, growing up in South Africa and moving to the United States in 2018. That’s when he met Debi Lane, the founder of hair removal waxing brand LunchboxWax, which had 18 units at the time. He put together an investment group to buy the business, with Lane staying on, and sold to WellBiz in July 2021.
Main Squeeze started franchising in 2017 and has 30 units open. —B.E.
Greene Turtle adds Clark Crew BBQ to holdings
The Greene Turtle, a Maryland-based sports bar franchise with more than 30 locations, has reorganized under a new holding company and made its first acquisition. The new ITA Group Holdings bought Clark Crew BBQ, an award-winning barbecue restaurant based in Oklahoma City and founded by BBQ Grand Champion and pitmaster Travis Clark.
Greene Turtle CEO Geo Concepcion was chief operating officer at Famous Dave’s of America in 2017 when he met Clark, who developed the full-service Clark Crew BBQ in 2012 in partnership with Famous Dave’s parent, BBQ Holdings.
The two remained close over the years and began hatching the plan for this deal about six months ago, “as we started to think about what the futures would hold for our respective organizations,” Concepcion said. —C.E.
CMG buys 21 Ace stores under Bolster Hardware flag
Al Bhakta and CMG Cos. like to stay busy. The Texas-based multi-unit operator started the year with the purchase of eight Sonic Drive-Ins as part of a roll-up play in that brand, followed by two deals for 20 restaurants that marked CMG’s entry into Little Caesars. Its latest move adds another retail brand to the mix.
CMG formed Bolster Hardware, its eighth portfolio company, and acquired 21 Ace Hardware stores in Kentucky and Tennessee as it further diversifies outside of restaurants. CMG bought 99 Rent-A-Center stores from corporate in late 2020 to become that brand’s largest franchisee. The entry into Ace, said Bhakta, is a continuation of CMG’s strategy to expand with tier one multi-unit brands that have “weathered the storm in multiple economic cycles” and emerged stronger.
Ace, he noted, is approaching its 100th anniversary and continues to drive same-store sales growth. The company reported a 1.4 percent increase in U.S. retail same-store sales during the first quarter of 2022; Ace is ranked No. 4 on the Franchise Times Top 400. —L.M.
The Lost Cajun’s new owner wants to re-start growth
Why did Executive Decisions Group Inc. buy The Lost Cajun, the restaurant chain founded by Raymond “Griff” Griffin that emerged from bankruptcy protection last December with debts shed? “Oh my goodness, for so many reasons,” said new owner Robert Stidham of the 24-unit chain that began franchising in 2015.
“The food is great, the people are terrific, I love the culture of please and thank you and you’re welcome,” added Stidham, founder and CEO of Summa Franchise Consulting, an affiliate of Executive Decisions.
In its first outright buyout after taking minority stakes in a handful of other concepts, Executive Decisions bought 100 percent of The Lost Cajun Enterprises, the franchise company, and The Lost Cajun Spice Company, which provides products to franchisees as well as packaged goods to retailers.
He called the latter “a huge, huge missed opportunity. We’re working right now to move into wholesale distribution for retail sale, for things like our Swamp Salt and our Hot Sauce.” They also acquired The Lost Cajun Slidell, Louisiana, location, which will be used as a training center. —B.E.
Intrigued by fascinating founder stories and quirky business ideas, Callie takes the lead on any executive moves and emerging brands in franchising, plus merger and acquisition news for our monthly Dealmakers e-newsletter.
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Senior editor of Franchise Times
Well-versed in legal and public policy issues, Beth is quick to dissect a lawsuit or court ruling, and her M&A expertise yields fascinating content for FT’s Dealmakers program.
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Matthew Liedke is the senior writer for the Franchise Times. He has a decade of experience in journalism and has extensively covered business and economic development as a reporter.
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Laura leads the overall editorial direction of Franchise Times. Her special emphasis on international franchise development provides a behind-the-scenes look at franchisees operating U.S. brands on a global scale.
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