FAT Brands buys Elevation Burger for $10M

FAT Brands Inc. has acquired Elevation Burger for $10 million funded through a combination of sellers’ notes and cash, the franchising company announced Thursday.

Los Angeles-based FAT Brands, which owns the Fatburger concept and others, said the acquisition of Elevation Burger, a Falls Church, Va.-based chain and an early pioneer of the “healthful” organic burger, takes the parent company’s unit count to more than 400 restaurants worldwide. The fast-casual Elevation Burger, which was established in 2002, joins other FAT Brands such as Fatburger, Buffalo’s Café Hurricane Grill Wings and Yalla Mediterranean. In 2017, FAT Brands purchased the Ponderosa and Bonanza steakhouse brands for $10.5 million.

Elevation Burger franchises 44 locations across the U.S. and internationally. And with this acquisition, FAT Brands said its annual systemwide sales will exceed $400 million. FAT Brands struck a deal in January with Steak ‘n’ Shake owner Sardar Biglari’s Lion Fund L.P. and The Lion Fund II L.P. to borrow $20 million for payment on its debt facility. The term loan matures on June 30, 2020, and interest is payable quarterly at an annual fixed rate of 20%.

For the quarter ended March 31, FAT Brands swung to a loss of $710,000, or 6 cents a share, from a profit of $509,000, or 5 cents a share, in the same period last year. Total revenue in the quarter increased 35.9% to $4.9 million from $3.6 million in the year-ago period.