Acquisition Includes Partnership with Existing Management, Aiming to Bolster Zaxby’s Market Presence
Guernsey Holdings LLC has acquired 20 South Carolina units of Zaxby’s, a chicken-focused fast-food restaurant brand. Guernsey Holdings owns and operates a wide-ranging portfolio of franchise businesses. Zaxby’s is a major player in the fast-food industry, with 922 locations, according to a news release about the acquisition of Performance Management Group, which previously owned the 20 Zaxby’s units.
Established more than three decades ago, Zaxby’s restaurants are best-known for chicken fingers, wings, sandwiches, salads and tasty sauces. The brand’s menu also offers fried shrimp, veggie rolls, funnel cakes, chocolate chip cookies and beverages. Zaxby’s restaurants emphasize drive-through orders and value pricing, and it has exceeded $2.4 billion in system-wide sales, the news release stated.
Guernsey Holdings partnered with the restaurant franchises’ existing managers, Candice Anderson and Chad Ham, to acquire Performance Management Group from licensees Jim and Britt Poston, who started the business 27 years ago. National Franchise Sales Inc., a mergers and acquisitions company specializing in franchise restaurant resales, represented Performance Management in the transaction.
Reaction from Companies’ Leaders
Mike James, founder and CEO of Guernsey, said his holding company looks forward to partnering with the Performance Management leadership team and its employees. In the news release, James also said Guernsey Holdings would use its expertise in multi-unit restaurant franchise ownership to drive the growth of the newly acquired units. “We look forward to leveraging that experience to continue Zaxby’s success,” he stated.
Also in the news release, Anderson, vice president of administration for Performance Management, praised Guernsey’s “proven track record of helping companies build long-term value. In recent years, we have made meaningful progress that has resulted in above-average same-store sales growth. With Guernsey as our partner, we look forward to accelerating this trend.”
About Guernsey and Performance Management
The portfolio of Guernsey Holdings, which is privately owned, is made up of diverse consumer-facing franchise businesses. It has owned other Zaxby’s units as well as Little Caesars, Meineke, 7 Brew drive-through coffee, Sonic Drive-In and Take 5 Oil Change brands.
Performance Management Group was one of the original franchisees in the Zaxby’s brand in 1997. The Postons, founders of Performance Management, established a reputation for customer service, developing employees and operational excellence, the news release said.
Photos: Zaxby’s
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