Another eatertainment concept has joined the ranks of publicly traded restaurants.
Pinstripes, which combines bowling, bocce ball and food, completed its acquisition with the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Banyan Acquisition Corp. on Dec. 27.
The company on Tuesday started trading publicly on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker symbol PNST. It was up nearly 9% through mid-afternoon trading.
Pinstripes has 13 locations in nine states but plans to have 23 by the end of this year. It has raised $70 million thanks to the merger with Banyan and a $50 million loan from funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management. Oaktree can loan an additional $40 million to Pinstripes in the coming years if the chain meets certain requirements.
“We have achieved strong results to date, and this transaction will help fuel our growth as we continue to scale and open additional Pinstripes locations,” Dale Schwartz, Pinstripes founder and CEO, said in a statement.
A SPAC is a publicly traded shell company, which raises funds from investors and uses that to invest in a privately held company, taking it public in the process. The method has proven popular in the restaurant industry.
Pinstripes is part of a generation of companies that are combining restaurant service with various games, from pickleball to puzzles or minigolf. The goal is the capture some of the enthusiasm of thriving concepts like Topgolf.
Among current publicly traded companies, only Dave & Busters, which owns its flagship concept along with Main Event, is an eatertainment brand.
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