Blanchette is the founder of Sugarloaf Hospitality, which was named the stalking horse bidder for nine company stores in Maryland (four units) and Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (five units), according to CoStar News.
The brand earned $1.4 billion in systemwide sales in 2023, down 12.5 percent from $1.6 billion in 2022. U.S. sales were $672 million, with $708 million internationally and $67 million from its CPG licensing business. The chain saw a $40 million year-over-year revenue decline in Q1 2024.
Earlier this year, TGI Fridays reached a $220 million acquisition agreement with Hostmore, its largest franchisee based in the U.K. However, the deal collapsed after the brand was replaced as the manager of TGIF Funding, which oversees critical assets like franchisee fees and royalties. According to Bloomberg, TGI Fridays lost control because of delays in submitting essential financial documents to its bondholders. As a result of the failed acquisition, Hostmore was forced into administration, the U.K.’s equivalent of bankruptcy. The franchisee subsequently sold 51 of its locations to private equity firms Breal Capital and Calveton, while closing the remaining 36.
Domino's Pizza Group PLC (LSE:DOM) has settled its long-running dispute with main franchise owners over how the business is funded and profits are split.
The franchisees had complained they weren’t getting enough out of the deal and the new framework will see the takeaway pizza group increase its spending on marketing, store incentives and digitisation by around £3-4m per annum from 2025.
Domino’s said the new agreement underpins its confidence of having 1,600 stores delivering £2.0 billion of systems sales by 2028 and 2,000 stores delivering £2.5bn of system sales by 2033.
“As with other major employers in the UK, the recent UK budget has significantly increased the cost of labour for both DPG and our franchise partners, who are particularly impacted.
“Although we have identified specific mitigation plans, we now believe that the annual impact for DPG will be c.£3m per annum from FY25 onwards.