Restaurants: Roark Capital Raising $5 Billion; What Could it Acquire Next?

By Ryan D. Lavender Published on January 31, 2021 at 3:10 PM

In a document dated January 28th filed with the SEC, privately-held Roark Capital indicates that it plans to raise $5 billion for its latest fund, Roark Capital Partners VI (T) LP. Roark already owns 20+ restaurant concepts, and that excludes its strategic investment in The Cheesecake Factory (CAKE; Neutral, $44.97). What restaurant concept or concepts might Roark acquire next?

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Updating our Q4E Kalinowski Quick-Service Pizza Same-Store Sales Index

By Mark Kalinowski Published on January 11, 2021 at 12:00 AM

With this report, we update our data-driven Kalinowski Quick-Service Pizza Index for Q4E to +12.1%. This figure is based on our latest proprietary checks/data as regards same-store sales performance for this segment during October, November, and December. We believe that December same-store sales were likely the best month of the quarter, while October was helped by arguably the busiest Halloween ever for pizza delivery/carryout.

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Look to Popeyes to Learn about Domino’s and Papa John’s

By Mark Kalinowski Published on December 1, 2020 at 12:00 AM

Both Domino’s (DPZ; Buy, $392.57) and Papa John’s (PZZA; Buy, $80.36) begin lapping very difficult year-over-year domestic same-store sales comparisons in Q2 2021. What can we learn about the recent history of restaurant concepts that have lapped difficult comparisons, in this regard? And, what might Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen (owned by Restaurant Brands International [QSR; Not Rated]) teach us about what to expect for Domino’s and Papa John’s domestic same-store sales in 2021? Our bottom line is that Domino’s and Papa John’s could end up lapping these tough numbers better than the Street currently anticipates.

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