FAT (Fresh. Authentic. Tasty.) Brands Inc. has announced that it has agreed to acquire Native Grill & Wings, an Arizona-based restaurant chain known for its cult-like following and 20 wing flavors that guests can order by the individual wing, for $20 million from Wingtime, LLC, a subsidiary of Cybeck Capital Partners, LLC. Marking FAT Brands’ third chicken wing concept, the acquisition of Native Grill & Wings will be funded with cash from the issuance of new notes from the Company’s securitization facilities and is expected to close in mid-December 2021.
With the acquisition of Native Grill & Wings, FAT Brands will have more than 2,300 franchised and corporate-owned stores around the world with a combined annual system-wide sales of approximately $2.3 billion. The addition of the chicken wing concept, including the new stores due to open and under development, is expected to increase the Company’s post-COVID normalized EBITDA by approximately $3 million in 2022. The Native Grill & Wings transaction follows FAT Brands’ planned acquisition of Fazoli’s announced in early November, and marks the Company’s fourth acquisition in 2021, including Global Franchise Group in July and Twin Peaks in October.