Guernsey Holdings, a franchisee that operates a wide range of consumer businesses, has acquired 20 Zaxby’s restaurants in South Carolina, the company said this week.
Guernsey is working with existing management, Candice Anderson and Chad Ham, to buy the restaurants from the original operators, Performance Management Group, which started the business 27 years ago.
Guernsey operates Sonic Drive-In, Little Caesars and 7 Brew locations, along with auto franchises Meineke and Take 5 Oil Change.
“We have particular expertise in building multi-unit franchised restaurant platforms and then driving growth,” Mike James, CEO of Guernsey Holdings, said in a statement.
Zaxby’s is one of the largest quick-service chicken brands in the U.S., generating $2.5 billion in system sales from 941 locations, according to data from the Technomic Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report. Technomic is a sister company of Restaurant Business.
The mergers and acquisitions firm National Franchise Sales represented Performance Management Group on its sale of the restaurants.
Sales of franchisees have normalized over the past year, despite interest rates, as industry profitability has improved. Yet buyers, and lenders, have focused on brands with healthy sales and profit performance.
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