Restaurant Deals In Development Courtesy of Franchise Times

The restaurant segment portion of the franchise industry is booming according to the latest two Franchise Times development deal trackers.  This great resource published by Frnachise Times covers all deals they are hearing about in the industry.  it's clear that the restaurant broker's favorite subject was also on the mind of buyers inking contracts to develop additional units or acquire busiensses.  .  

Out with the old and in with the... old (or retro, in this case).  Wayback Burgers has signed a master lease agreement to place the retro-hamburger restaurants into U.S. Walmart stores.  Wayback is opening in both new locations and taking over locations that were formerly leased to McDonald's, according to the report by Franchise Times.  

PizzaRev, a fast-casual pizza concept backed by Buffalo Wild Wings, signed a franchise agreement with Southern Restaurant Holdings, LLC, to develop at least 16 restaurants across Tennessee and northern Georgia. Southern Restaurant Holdings is led by Robby Stewart, Andres Bolivar and Chip Hackett, who are also franchisees with eight Steak n' Shake restaurants in Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee. The group is one of the largest franchisees in the Steak n' Shake system and maintains the highest average unit volume in that system.

Persona Wood-Fired Pizzeria, the build-your-own pizza franchise, is expanding into the Southwest through an area development agreement with Dallas, Texas-based 4Slices, LLC, to open three restaurants in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex by early 2016.Currently, Persona Pizzeria has 12 locations in development nationwide.

My Pie Pizza, the fast-casual pizza brand that serves "New York-style pizzas in a New York minute," signed a multi-unit agreement with Blair Horner, a veteran of the food production industry, to open five locations in the Omaha, Nebraska, area over the next three years.

Pieology Pizzeria's franchise partner, Arizona Front Star, has opened its second Arizona location, in Chandler. Franchisee Kris Olson opened the first unit in his multi-unit contract in Avondale.

Hurricane Grill & Wings, a tropical-themed restaurant with wings and "pub grub," inked an eight-store deal with CRAVE Management for Wichita, Overland Park and Kansas City, Kansas. CRAVE is headed up by Austin Kinzle, a local developer in Wichita.A second California deal was struck with Abu Syed, a multi-unit IHOP franchisee, for the San Diego area. Hurricane's first franchisee in California, David Nguyen, will be opening his first unit in Antioch, California, in December.

Pie Five, a fast-casual pizza chain based out of Texas, has signed several significant franchise agreements: Jeff and Christine Steiner plan to open up to 30 Pie Five locations in North Carolina. The first markets to open will be Metro Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham and Greensboro-Winston Salem. Farther south, DP5 Investments will add 28 locations in South Florida from Melbourne to Miami. Possible locations include Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Wellington and West Palm Beach. And then heading West, franchise partner, Umar Ibrahim, has signed on to build eight to 10 Pie Five locations in the San Antonio area. The first location will open mid-2016.  

Father-son team Scott and Kevin McPhee opened the second unit in their area development agreement with Freshii for the state of Minnesota, on the third floor of the Mall of America in Minneapolis. The McPhees were franchisees of a tire franchise before selling their stores and looking into getting into the restaurant business. Matthew Corrin, CEO of Freshii based in Toronto, Canada, also signed a deal with Target Corporation to open nine test units in stores in Minneapolis and Chicago, with California on the horizon. Millennials account for 65 percent of Freshii's franchisees, according to Corrin.

 Uncle Maddio's Pizza is continuing its expansion in the Northeast with the opening of its first Maryland restaurant in Frederick, Maryland, across from the Frances Scott Key Mall. Doug Sellers and Kane Wright signed on to open 10 Uncle Maddio's locations throughout the greater Washington, D.C., area, making them one of the largest Uncle Maddio's franchisees.  

Satyen Shah, Mohammad Amar Chaudhry and Harmeet Singh have agreed to develop PizzaRev, a fast-casual pizza concept backed by Buffalo Wild Wings, across New Jersey, including the cities of Wayne, Clifton, Secaucus and Jersey City, plus Bergen County. Managing Partner Satyen Shah has been in the restaurant industry for more than 20 years and previously owned and operated nine quick-service concepts in the greater New York area. There are more than 100 PizzaRev locations in various stages of development across the country, and will also open its first international location in Mexico in Q1 2016.

The Deal Tracker also noted the following acquisitions which have recrnyly occurred.   

Doherty Enterprises Inc., No. 12 on the Restaurant Finance Monitor's Monitor 200, a listing of the largest U.S. restaurant franchisees,has acquired 10 Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar locations in the Miami area from Fort Wayne, Indiana-based Apple Sauce Inc. The acquisition increases Doherty's 

Applebee's locations to 109, for a company total of 164 restaurants within four states. Doherty is also a franchisee of seven other brands, including Panera Bread, Noodles & Company IHOP, Quaker Steak & Lube and Chevys Fresh Mex. The newly acquired Applebee's are in Coral Springs, Cutler Bay, Doral, Florida City, Hialeah, Margate, Pembroke Pines, Sawgrass, South West Ranches and Tamarac. The deal also adds more than 550 new team members to Doherty Enterprises' existing workforce of nearly 10,000 employees...