54 Franchise Times | August 201754 Franchise Times | August 2017

It’s getting harder and harder to get on the coveted Restaurant 200 list— these A-list operators generated $37.5 billion

in revenue last year and operated just under 27,000 restaurants.

When the Restaurant Finance Monitor first calculated the list of the top restaurant operators back in 1989, there were just 13 companies that topped $100 million in revenue. And 10 years later the Wall Street Journal referred to the list in an article about

“mega-franchisees.” Back then, that meant an operator with 50 locations picking up a second brand.

Compared to the average today of $187.5 million in annual sales and 135 restaurants, it’s plain to see the term “mega” was a little premature—and at the rate the strongest operators keep growing, it may be still. This year eight companies added $100 million or more to their revenue. Altogether, the top 200 operators by revenue added $2.9 billion in top line rev-enue with the addition of 1,817 restaurants.

Three groups reported more than $1 billion in top line revenue in 2016. Flynn Restaurant Group reported $1.8 billion from 485 Applebee’s, 232 Taco Bells and 97 Panera Bread restaurants. NPC International hit $1.2 billion with 1,236 Pizza Huts and 184 Wendy’s (it’s already added 202 Wendy’s in 2017 as well). And at No. 3 on the list, Dhanani group added $229 million to eke into the billion-dollar club. It reported $1.1 billion in sales from 501 Burger Kings and 240 Popeyes.

The Restaurant 200 is roughly 5 percent

of the overall restaurant industry revenue. While that seems a small sliver, the group is beating the industry in growth. Revenue among the 200 operators has grown at a compound annual rate of 8 percent since 2009, compared to 4 percent for the overall industry.

What has propelled these massive opera-tions to such astonishing heights? There have been four key things: Refranchising, capital, technology and culture.

Few, if any, operators are on the Restaurant 200 today that built all their restaurants. The largest operators took advantage of a massive refranchising push that became

the norm during the reces-sion. Certainly there were refranchising programs and restaurant sales before, but when interest rates plum-meted and Wall Street put a premium on royalty income, brands played along.

Historically low interest rates also meant ample capi-

tal to buy all those refranchised restaurants. Banks enjoy lending to operators buying companies with a track record especially, fueling both refranchising and a current flurry of M&A activity. Private equity is pouring into franchise operations as well and the groups need acquisitions to keep growth on the right track for funds and investors.

“Since the recession, restaurant fran-chisees have had greater access to capital than at any point I’ve seen in in my 37 years in the restaurant business,” wrote John Hamburger, president of Franchise Times and the Restaurant Finance Monitor.

To keep tabs on everything, the most

As definition of ‘mega’ franchisee keeps growing, so do operators

By Nicholas UptonResearch by Matt Haskin and Dan Schierman

Each year, our sister publication, the Restaurant Finance Monitor, surveys the largest restaurant franchisees in the country and pores over publicly available data to prepare this exclusive listing: a ranking of the top 200 franchised restaurant owners in the United States.

As it has been every year since the recession, the numbers get bigger and bigger. Flynn Restaurant Group maintains its No. 1 spot. The Applebee’s, Taco Bell and Panera giant is closing in on $2 billion—it sits at $1.82 billion right now. But groups across the list are catch-ing up fast. Maryland’s The RC Group (No. 86) and Four Foods Group (No. 116) out of Utah both added 91 percent to topline revenue.

Read on to see how the best operators are growing at a break-neck pace. Hint: it’s not luck.

August 2017 | Franchise Times 55August 2017 | Franchise Times 55

sophisticated operators turn to technology. Since the list began, the internet has trans-formed restaurant operations. End-to-end digital infrastructure and sophisticated point of sale systems have made it easy to track sales, ticket times, labor and food costs in nearly real time from anywhere with a cell signal.

Having access to capital and a cutting edge technology, however, don’t automatically make for a successful restaurant operator. To keep from getting “too big,” the best create a culture that ensures each location is run like it’s the only restaurant.

“That’s where the challenge lies: How do you maintain operating discipline that is critically important to the small and mid-size franchisee—how do you avoid losing that culture to a bureaucratic monster you need to run 600 stores,” said Chris Kelleher, managing director at Auspex Capital.

An owner-operator mentalityOperators like Tom Garrett at GPS

Hospitality (No. 28) have all but proven the model works for brands and investors. This year, the top 200 added 7.2 percent in total units but added 8.4 percent in revenue, showing that with the right system, efficien-cies emerge. The key to a strong culture is keeping it like it was when it was small, but with systems. To get big, huge franchise systems need to maintain an owner-operator mentality in each unit.

“Our approach and our culture has been

pushing decision-making as far down as you can. Make sure you have a culture that re-wards decision-making and leadership,” said Garrett. “If you don’t have a good system or good people and then you try to central-ize everything, all you do is get farther and farther away from the business, farther and farther away from the customer.”

Now, as all but two of the top 15 opera-tors run multiple brands, getting that culture in place is all the more important. While synergies emerge, each brand still has to operate like its own entity.

“Operations have to be separated as much as possible. Different concepts have different expectations,” said Greg Hamer of B&G Food Enterprises (No. 85). “Dedicated teams have to be assigned to each. Some functions

like safety and accounting functions can be combined but operations has to be specific to the particular concept.”

Where the Restaurant 200 will go next is pretty clear: upward and onward with more capital, stronger cultures and more sophisti-cated technology. This year has already seen an uptick in deal activity. Operators across the list keep buying restaurants and becom-ing more and more efficient. Watch for a few more billion-dollar operations next year.

— John Hamburger, David Farkas and Dennis Monroe also contributed

to this report

Wells Fargo Restaurant Finance provides financing to corporate restaurant brands, restaurant franchisees, experienced commercial real estate investors who own restaurant properties, private equity firms, and other investors in restaurant concepts. Our loan products include: syndicated corporate senior financing, fixed and floating rate term loans, acquisition facilities, sale-leaseback financing, bridge/development financing, working capital revolvers, and interest rate risk management. For more information, visit www.wellsfargo.com/restaurants.

SPONSORED BY:

by Franchise Times’ sister publication, the Restaurant Finance Monitor

RANKING THE TOP 200 FRANCHISED RESTAURANT OWNERS IN THE U.S.

$37.5 BILLION IN REVENUE NEARLY 27,000 RESTAURANTS 8 PERCENT ANNUAL GROWTH RATE SINCE '09

THE TOP 200 OPERATORS COMMAND:

56 Franchise Times | August 201756 Franchise Times | August 2017

FRANCHISE TIMES’ RESTAURANT 200: TOP 20

1 Flynn Restaurant Group San Francisco, CA $1,822,698,000 485 Applebee’s 232 Taco Bell 97 Panera Bread

2 NPC International Overland Park, KS $1,236,568,000 1226 Pizza Hut 184 Wendy’s

3 Dhanani Group Sugarland, TX $1,100,000,000 501 Burger King 240 Popeyes

4 Carrols Restaurant Group Syracuse , NY $943,583,000 753 Burger King

5 Manna Louisville, KY $820,000,000 261 Wendy’s 125 Chili’s 17 Fazoli’s

6 Summit Restaurant Group Richardson, TX $820,000,000 294 IHOP 124 Applebee’s

7 MUY! Companies San Antonio, TX $803,619,000 323 Pizza Hut 259 Wendy’s 77 Taco Bell

8 Sun Holdings Dallas, TX $730,000,000 296 Burger King 112 Popeyes 68 Arby’s

9 Covelli Enterprises Warren, OH $645,000,000 283 Panera Bread 9 Dairy Queen 6 O’Charley’s

10 Yadav Enterprises Fremont, CA $575,000,000 218 Jack in the Box 72 TGI Friday’s 38 Denny’s

11 KBP Foods Overland Park, KS $525,000,000 342 KFC 70 Taco Bell 9 First Watch

12 Doherty Enterprises Allendale, NJ $480,863,000 106 Applebee’s 43 Panera Bread 5 Noodles & Co.

13 Tacala Birmingham, AL $474,958,000 281 Taco Bell 64 Sonic Drive-In

14 The Briad Group Livingston, NJ $442,060,000 104 Wendy’s 59 TGI Friday’s

15 Boddie-Noell Enterprises Rocky Mount, NC $439,753,000 338 Hardee’s

16 K-Mac Enterprises Fort Smith, AR $436,540,000 251 Taco Bell 17 KFC 6 Golden Corral

17 RMH Franchise Holdings Atlanta, GA $410,000,000 175 Applebee’s

18 Pacific Bells Vancouver, WA $394,000,000 154 Taco Bell 39 Buffalo Wild Wings

19 United States Beef Corp. Tulsa, OK $364,161,000 341 Arby’s 6 Taco Bueno

20 Pilot Travel Centers Knoxville, TN $357,453,000 216 Subway 160 Cinnabon 72 Wendy’s

$250-$350 MILLION

NPC International added just $13 mil-lion in 2016, but keeps the No. 2 spot. The largest Pizza Hut operator demon-strates how the big-gest operators are fi-nally hitting a point where brands are wary to allow more lo-cations. So to keep growing, the opera-tor jumped into the Wendy’s system in a big way. It added 40 restaurants in 2016, but for a preview of next year, the com-pany already added 202 Wendy’s restau-rants in 2017, making it the largest Pizza Hut and Wendy’s franchisee.

Flynn Restaurant Group is No. 1 for the sixth year running, and it shows no sign of slowing down. The firm added $167.7 million in top line rev-enue in 2016 by add-ing one Applebee’s, 53 Taco Bells and 15 multi-brand Yum lo-cations. It’s among a select group of eight Restaurant 200 op-erators that added $100 million or more year-over-year.

#2

#1

21 Falcon Holdings Westlake, TX 150 Church’s Chicken 45 Long John Silver’s

22 Sizzling Platter Murray, UT 250 Little Caesars 32 Dunkin’ Donuts

23 Cedar Enterprises Columbus, OH 215 Wendy’s

24 Harman Management Corp. Los Altos, CA 116 KFC 180 YUM! Multi

25 D.L. Rogers Corp. Grapevine, TX 236 Sonic Drive-In

26 Ampex Brands Dallas, TX 190 KFC 58 Long John Silver’s

27 Quality Dining Mishawaka, IN 152 Burger King 45 Chili’s

August 2017 | Franchise Times 57August 2017 | Franchise Times 57

$200-$250 MILLION

$175-$200 MILLION

Texas-based Dhanani Group added the most revenue in 2016 and joined the billion-dol-lar club for the first time. The Burger King and Popeyes giant added $229 million in top line revenue and acquired an additional 11 Burger Kings and 61 Pop-eyes in 2016. Princi-pal Shoukat Dhanani said 2017 might not be as aggressive; prices are high and he has plenty to do. He also has opera-tions in gas delivery and convenience stores.

GPS Hospitality is still pushing to join the billion-dollar club in its first 10 years of operations. And with years like 2016, it’s easy to see how it will get there. The family office-backed acquir-ing juggernaut added 200 Burger Kings and eight Popeyes to the operation. That put another $82.6 million on the revenue board and pushed the group up from No. 36 in last year’s ranking.

Yadav Enterprises dipped a position this year but CEO Anil Yadav isn’t worried. As many seasoned operators are in this era of high business prices, he’s harvest-ing a chunk of the business and pivot-ing into new brands. He sold 24 thriving Denny’s locations and picked up four Corner Bakery Cafes and two El Pollo Loco restaurants. Expect more new brands for operators like Yadav and his peers going forward.

#3 #28

#10

* Denotes revenue estimate

28 GPS Hospitality Atlanta, GA 422 Burger King 8 Popeyes

29 Border Foods New Hope, MN 180 Taco Bell 3 Au Bon Pain

30 JAE Restaurant Group Pompano Beach, FL 177 Wendy’s

31 American West Restaurant Group Orange, CA 300 Pizza Hut

32 Starboard Group Coral Springs, FL 184 Wendy’s

33 Hamra Enterprises Springfield, MO 90 Wendy’s 55 Panera Bread

34 ADF Restaurant Group Fairfield, NJ 271 Pizza Hut 15 Panera Bread

35* WendPartners Cortland, NY 177 Wendy’s

36 Desert de Oro Foods Kingman, AZ 161 Taco Bell 58 Pizza Hut

37 Sailormen Miami, FL 132 Popeyes 22 Burger King

38* Gold Coast Holdings Coral Gables, FL 79 TGI Friday’s

39 Meritage Hospitality Group Grand Rapids, MI 175 Wendy’s

40 Franchise Management Woodstock, NB, Canada 139 Pizza Hut 88 KFC

41 Frauenshuh Hospitality Group Minneapolis, MN 206 Dairy Queen

42 Apple Investors Group Chino Hills, CA 89 Burger King 54 Applebee’s

43 Fugate Enterprises Wichita, KS 170 Pizza Hut 75 Taco Bell

44 Apple Gold Group Raleigh, NC 121 Applebee’s

45 DavCo Restaurants Crofton, MD 145 Wendy’s

46* Sundance Brighton, MI 153 Taco Bell 8 KFC

47 MarLu Investment Group Elk Grove, CA 50 Arby’s 40 Church’s Chicken

48 SSCP Management Dallas, TX 68 Applebee’s 53 Sonic Drive-In

49 JRN Columbia, TN 137 KFC 17 YUM! Multi

50 Wendy’s of Colorado Springs Colorado Springs, CO 118 Wendy’s 9 Golden Corral

51* Rottinghaus Co. La Crosse, WI 395 Subway

52 Cotti Foods Corp. Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 81 Taco Bell 46 Wendy’s

53* Valenti Management Tampa, FL 119 Wendy’s 15 Chili’s

54 PR Restaurants Newton, MA 64 Panera Bread

55 WKS Restaurant Group Lakewood, CA 62 El Pollo Loco 29 Krispy Kreme

56* Ghai Management Services Livermore, CA 106 Burger King 30 Taco Bell

57 The Rose Group Newtown, PA 56 Applebee’s 9 Corner Bakery Cafe

58 Franchise Times | August 201758 Franchise Times | August 2017

58 Celebration Restaurant Group Celebration, FL 132 Pizza Hut 33 Taco Bell

59* Northwest Restaurants Woodinville, WA 81 Taco Bell 29 KFC

60 TEAM Schostak Family Restaurants Livonia, MI 66 Applebee’s 5 MOD Pizza

61* Caspers Company Tampa, FL 54 McDonald’s

62 Mitra QSR Dallas, TX 147 KFC

63* Century Management Memphis, TN 69 McDonald’s

64* Cerca Trova Restaurant Concepts San Diego, CA 55 Outback Steakhouse

65* Cafua Management Methuen, MA 284 Dunkin’ Donuts

76 AFC Brands Greenwich, CT 55 Applebee’s 30 Taco Bell

77 Apple-Metro Harrison, NY 36 Applebee’s 2 Pizza Studio

78 Carolina Restaurant Group Charlotte, NC 89 Wendy’s

79 Luihn Food Systems Morrisville, NC 76 Taco Bell 10 KFC

80 Holm Restaurants Winter Park, FL 31 Golden Corral 4 Krispy Kreme

$150-$175 MILLION

$135-$150 MILLION

$125-$135 MILLION

66 BurgerBusters Virginia Beach, VA 93 Taco Bell 9 Steak ‘n Shake

67 Parikh Network Edison, NJ 126 Popeyes

68* RPM Pizza Gulfport, MS 189 Domino’s

69 Diversified Restaurant Holdings Southfield, MI 64 Buffalo Wild Wings

70 Palo Alto Denver, CO 114 Taco Bell 35 Pizza Hut

71 T.L. Cannon Management Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 62 Applebee’s

72 Romulus Restaurant Group Phoenix, AZ 89 IHOP 1 Slim Chickens

73* Manna Development Group Encinitas, CA 74 Panera Bread

74 Cambridge Franchise Holdings Bartlett, TN 115 Burger King

75 PJ United Birmingham, AL 149 Papa John’s

81 QK Holdings Holbrook, AZ 94 Denny’s 7 Del Taco

82 DORO Eau Claire, WI 122 Hardee’s 4 Taco John’s

83 Restaurant Management Co. Wichita, KS 134 Pizza Hut 6 KFC

84* Carlisle Corp. Memphis, TN 97 Wendy’s

85 B & G Food Enterprises Morgan City, LA 92 Taco Bell 12 YUM! Multi

86 The RC Group Annapolis, MD 59 Taco Bell 23 YUM! Multi

87 Retzer Organization Greenville, MS 57 McDonald’s

88 The Saxton Group Dallas, TX 67 McAlister’s Deli

WendPartners “lost” $65 million and dipped 11 spots on the Restaurant 200 list. But don’t worry about the New York operator that was once the largest fran-chisee in the Wendy’s system. The group picked the right time to capitalize on the great prices restau-rants were fetching. It sold 27 restaurants in 2016 to various operators (a few of which grace the Res-taurant 200).

The Frauenshuh Hos-pitality Group shows that the large single-brand operators keep getting bigger, too. The largest Dairy Queen operator with locations across the country added an-other 36 Dairy Queen units and $30 mil-lion in revenue. The Minnesota-based op-erator (right in Dairy Queen corporate’s back yard) thrives by acquiring middling restaurants and goos-ing efficiency.

At $185 million in top line sales, Val-enti Management is the closest to the exact Restaurant 200 average of $187 million. Valenti has 119 Wendy's and 15 Chili's restaurants in its arsenal.

#35

#41

#53

August 2017 | Franchise Times 59August 2017 | Franchise Times 59

BULKING UP: THE RESTAURANT 200 IN NUMBERS

The top 5 fastest-growing operators added more than $325 million collectively.

CompanyFT200 Sales

Y/E 20162016 Sales

Growth Growth %

Southern Rock Rest. 109,523,40 64,523,470 143.4%

The RC Group 135,621,09 64,621,019 91.0%

Four Foods Group 106,700,00 50,838,000 91.0%

Border Foods 300,000,000 107,000,000 55.4%

McClain Sonics 115,000,000 40,000,000 53.3%

EIGHT OPERATORS ON THE RESTAURANT 200 ADDED $100 MILLION OR MORE IN REVENUE YEAR-OVER-YEAR.

The average revenue for a Restaurant 200 operator is now $187.5 million—that’s up by more than $10 million this year.The additional nine locations on average helps grow revenue; the average operator now has 135 locations.

The Franchise Times Restaurant 200 keeps growing.

Legacy brands are the favorite for the Franchise Times Restaurant 200, and large operators are the favorites of legacy brands.

Rank Brand Companies # of Units Franchise %

1 Pizza Hut 30 4,054 69%

2 Burger King 22 3,027 43%

3 Wendy's 26 2,955 55%

4 Taco Bell 38 2,910 51%

5 Applebee's 23 1,758 95%

6 KFC 23 1,446 37%

7 Subway 6 990 4%

8 Panera 14 872 79%

9 Arby's 9 776 35%

10 Popeyes 9 719 35%

This table shows a breakdown of the most popular brands by the number of companies in the top brands, the num-ber of locations operated by the Restaurant 200 and the relative percentage of those locations to the franchised locations.

The group now owns just under 27,000 restaurants and commands $37.5 billion in revenue.

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Revenue (In Millions)

Locations

$19.9

16,03016,915 16,489 16,715

17,88718,408

20,331

21,83123,177

25,176

26,993

$21.5 $21.3 $21.8$23.2

$23.9

$26.3

$28.7

$31 $34.6

$37.5

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

$143.5$131.5

$155

$173$187.5

102 109116

126135

Avg. Revenue (In Millions) Avg. Units

60 Franchise Times | August 201760 Franchise Times | August 2017

113 Strang Corp. Cleveland, OH 40 Panera Bread

114 JEM Restaurant Group Charleston, SC 79 Pizza Hut 33 Taco Bell

115 Southern Rock Restaurants Franklin, TN 64 McAlister’s Deli

89 SERVUS! Jasper, IN 87 Long John Silver’s 35 Wendy’s

90 Potomac Family Dining Group Herndon, VA 65 Applebee’s

91 Pennant Foods Knoxville, TN 87 Wendy’s

92 Meridian Restaurants Ogden, UT 87 Burger King 11 Chili’s

93* Lemek Elkridge, MD 60 Panera Bread

94* Paradise Companies Natchez, MS 42 Applebee’s 15 Pizza Hut

95* PacPizza San Ramon, CA 154 Pizza Hut

96 Janco Cranston, RI 91 Burger King 2 Popeyes

97 Quality Restaurant Concepts Birmingham, AL 60 Applebee’s

98 Southern Multifoods Jacksonville, TX 74 Taco Bell 19 YUM! Multi

99 Paradigm Investment Group San Diego, CA 103 Hardee’s 8 Jersey Mike’s

100* BAJCO Group Canfield, OH 144 Papa John’s

101 Pizza Properties El Paso, TX 49 Peter Piper Pizza

102* Summit Restaurant Group, LLC Blue Springs, MO 130 Pizza Hut 13 Long John Silver’s

$115-$125 MILLION

$105-$115 MILLION

105 Serazen Newport Beach, CA 73 Papa John’s 50 Hardee’s

106 TD Food Group Honolulu, HI 44 Pizza Hut 37 Taco Bell

107 Primary Aim Zanesville, OH 73 Wendy’s

108 Kazi Management St. Croix Frederiksted, Virgin Islands 63 KFC 24 Burger King

109 America’s Pizza Company Lafayette, LA 129 Pizza Hut

110 Emerald City Pizza Mukilteo, WA 105 Pizza Hut

111* Jackmont Hospitality Atlanta, GA 40 TGI Friday’s

112* McClain Sonics Ridgeland, MS 93 Sonic Drive-In

116 Four Foods Group American Fork, UT 44 Kneaders

117* RGT Management Memphis, TN 55 Taco Bell 27 KFC

118 Stine Enterprises Phoenix, AZ 72 Jack in the Box

$95-$105 MILLION

119 AJP Enterprises Fife, WA 47 Jack in the Box 26 Arby’s

120 OCAT Modesto, CA 56 Taco Bell

121* R.E.E. Beaumont, TX 47 McDonald’s

Southern Rock Restaurants rocketed from 194 to 115 on the list this year. It grew revenue by a staggering 143 percent with a full year of revenue from a major acquisition in 2015. Since being founded in 2011, the Tennessee-based op-erator has purchased 64 McAlister’s Deli restaurants across the South. It now re-ports $109.5 million in top line revenue.

Pizza Properties cashed in on strong M&A activity last year, selling 39 Burger Kings in 2016.

Four Foods Group nearly doubled its revenue, adding nearly $51 million to the top line. The com-pany was founded by Silicon Valley entrepreneur Andrew Smith and represents a trend on the list: operators from other industries bringing fresh insights into the restaurant business. It added 12 Kneader’s Bakery & Café loca-tions and acquired non-franchised R&R BBQ, adding to each location what Smith calls “the algorithm” that pushes efficiency in all Four Foods restaurants.

#115

#101 #116

103 Wisconsin Hospitality Group Waukesha, WI 72 Pizza Hut 35 Applebee’s

104 Golden Gate Bell Pleasanton, CA 84 Taco Bell

August 2017 | Franchise Times 61August 2017 | Franchise Times 61

Our annual Restaurant 200 franchisee research includes questionnaires, phone sur-veys, and in some cases, a review of public documents such as annual reports, 10Ks and FDDs. We sincerely thank the companies that responded to our surveys, as most of the top 200 companies in this year’s ranking provided us with their complete data.

Our report consists of ranking companies according to revenue generated by the company’s franchised restaurants. If the company happens to operate a restaurant concept that is not franchised, or is the franchisor of another concept, we will not include that number in the overall revenue or unit count. In some cases where an acquisition took place during the year, we derive pro-forma revenue in calculating the company’s ranking.

For companies that did not respond to our survey, we confirmed the number of units operated by their company, and then estimated the revenue. In the case of a tie in the amount of total revenue, we settled the tie in favor of the company with the most units.

If you believe your company might make the Restaurant 200 list or we’ve missed you (or you know of another company that should be listed), please contact Liz Olson at (612) 767-3200 or lolson@franchisetimes.com.

Our ranking of the top 200 franchisees can be ordered at www.restfinance.com, or contact Lucas Wagner, lwagner@franchisetimes.com.

ABOUT THIS PROJECT 122 KC Bell Wichita, KS 64 Taco Bell 13 Freddy’s

123 Hospitality Restaurant Group Traverse City, MI 47 Taco Bell 21 Pizza Hut

124 Den-Tex Central San Antonio, TX 77 Denny’s

125* Hielan Restaurant Group Highland Village, TX 43 Chili’s

126 Treadwell Enterprises Springfield, MO 84 KFC 2 Taco Bell

127 Benton Properties Springdale, AR 67 Sonic Drive-In

133 Platinum Corral Jacksonville, NC 26 Golden Corral

134 McEssy Investment Co. Lake Forest, IL 30 McDonald’s

135 Original Bread Wichita, KS 34 Panera Bread

$85-$95 MILLION

$75-$85 MILLION

128 Friendly Franchisees Corp. La Palma, CA 71 Carl’s Jr.

129 Daland Corp. Wichita, KS 106 Pizza Hut

130* Neighborhood Hospitality/Woodland Group Hazard, KY 36 Applebee’s 15 Wendy’s

131 Brodersen Management Corp. Milwaukee, WI 55 Popeyes

132 Rackson Restaurants Bridgewater, NJ 54 Burger King

* Denotes revenue estimate

136 Hallrich Stow, OH 108 Pizza Hut

137* Breads of the World St Louis, MO 38 Panera Bread

138* Great American Chicken Corp. Santa Monica, CA 67 KFC 5 YUM! Multi

139* Schuster Enterprises Columbus, GA 66 Burger King

140 Rucker Restaurant Holdings Austin, TX 58 Jack in the Box

141* The Bistro Group Cincinnati, OH 25 TGI Friday’s 5 McAlister’s Deli

142 Genesh Lenexa, KS 54 Burger King 16 Denny’s

143* Cowabunga Alpharetta, GA 103 Domino’s

144 VKC Group Sugar Land, TX 102 Subway 15 Great Am. Cookies

145 High Plains Pizza Liberal, KS 85 Pizza Hut

146 Howley Bread Group Westlake, OH 29 Panera Bread

147 The Kades Corp. Pasadena, TX 31 McDonald’s

148 United Restaurant Group Glen Allen, VA 27 TGI Friday’s

149* JDK Management Co. Bloomsburg, PA 33 Perkins 8 Quaker Steak

150* Boj of WNC Arden, NC 47 Bojangles

$65-$75 MILLION

151 FourCrown Oakdale, MN 55 Wendy’s

152 Fowler Foods Jonesboro, AR 50 KFC 1 Taco Bell

153 MRCO Brentwood, TN 35 Taco Bell 13 YUM! Multi

62 Franchise Times | August 201762 Franchise Times | August 2017

166 KFK Group New Orleans, LA 23 TGI Friday’s 8 Taco Bell

167 BMW Management Temecula, CA 22 Sizzler

168 Capitol Dough Westlake, OH 28 Panera Bread

169* Kergan Bros. Sonic Youngsville, LA 52 Sonic Drive-In

170* Goldco Dothan, AL 46 Burger King

174* Fourjay North Little Rock, AR 48 Wendy’s

175 J & A Food Service Redding, CA 13 Burger King 11 Applebee’s

176 DiPasqua Enterprises Winter Park, FL 120 Subway

177* Sasnak Management Wichita, KS 25 Applebee’s

178* J.S. Ventures Wichita, KS 24 Applebee’s 6 Pie Five Pizza

179 RoHoHo Charleston, SC 54 Papa John’s 11 Jersey Mike’s

180* Westaco Scottsdale, AZ 44 Taco Bell

181 Phase Three Star Odessa, FL 42 Hardee’s

182 S-Group Companies Sandusky, OH 33 Wendy’s

183 Wendco Group Pensacola, FL 43 Wendy’s

184* Ocedon Westerville, OH 46 Burger King

185* Metz Group Dallas, PA 11 TGI Friday’s 2 Krispy Kreme

186 PJ Holdings KY Lexington, KY 62 Papa John’s

187* Beavers Fort Walton Beach, FL 50 Arby’s

$55-$65 MILLION

$45-$55 MILLION154 Ansara Restaurant Group Farmington Hills, MI 22 Red Robin 2 Twin Peaks

155 DRM Omaha, NE 73 Arby’s

156 Bullard Restaurant Group Raleigh, NC 30 Moe’s SW Grill 18 Burger King

157 Lehigh Valley Restaurant Group Allentown, PA 21 Red Robin

158* Oerther Foods Orlando, FL 24 McDonald’s

159 Carisch Wayzata, MN 68 Arby’s

160* Apple Core Enterprises Minot, ND 25 Applebee’s

161* Wendy’s of Bowling Green Bowling Green, KY 54 Wendy’s

162* Marwaha Group Buena Park, CA 147 Subway

163 Verlander Enterprises El Paso, TX 11 Village Inn 11 Applebee’s

164 C & P Restaurant Co. Macon, GA 12 Captain D’s 10 Cheddar’s

165 West Quality Food Service Laurel, MS 38 KFC 18 YUM! Multi

171 Parrish Restaurants Dallas, TX 23 McDonald’s

172* Denco Family Whittier, CA 25 Denny’s 16 Popeyes

173 Janjer Enterprises Silver Spring, MD 28 Popeyes

188 S & L Companies Portage, WI 23 Culver’s

189 Creative Foods Corp. Garden City, NY 28 Burger King

190* Apple Gilroy San Jose, CA 16 Applebee’s

191* Staab Management Co. Grand Island, NE 65 Pizza Hut

192 Vasari Irving, TX 75 Dairy Queen

193 U.S. Restaurants Blue Bell, PA 32 Burger King

194* STP JJ Team I Oakdale, MN 59 Jimmy John’s

195* Brumit Restaurant Group Asheville, NC 47 Arby’s

MRCO, which adorned last year’s Restaurant 200 cover, showed what great operators in on-trend concepts can do. Even without the acquisitions that fueled the largest players, it added $5.6 million in revenue with new efficiencies and upticks from remodeling.

Michigan’s Trigo Hos-pitality, a longtime multi-brand opera-tor in Pizza Hut and Sonic, is looking for a new kind of chal-lenge and likely won’t sit at No. 200 long. CEO Joyce Lunsford is betting on a major 51-unit deal with emerging (15-unit) healthy-lifestyle fran-chise brand CoreLife Eatery.

#153

#200

August 2017 | Franchise Times 63August 2017 | Franchise Times 63

ADF Restaurant Group ........................ 34AFC Brands ....................................... 76AJP Enterprises.................................119America’s Pizza Company ................. 109American West Restaurant Group .........31Ampex Brands ................................... 26Ansara Restaurant Group .................. 154Apple Core Enterprises ..................... 160Apple Gilroy ..................................... 190Apple Gold Group ............................... 44Apple Investors Group......................... 42Apple-Metro ....................................... 77B & G Food Enterprises....................... 85BAJCO Group ................................... 100Beavers ............................................187Benton Properties .............................127BMW Management ............................167Boddie-Noell Enterprises .................... 15Boj of WNC ...................................... 150Border Foods ..................................... 29Breads of the World ...........................137Brodersen Management Corp. ............131Brumit Restaurant Group .................. 195Bullard Restaurant Group .................. 156BurgerBusters .................................... 66

C & P Restaurant Co. ........................ 164Cafua Management ............................ 65Cambridge Franchise Holdings .............74Capitol Dough .................................. 168Carisch............................................ 159Carlisle Corp. ..................................... 84Carolina Restaurant Group .................. 78Carrols Restaurant Group ...................... 4Caspers Company ................................61Cedar Enterprises ............................... 23Celebration Restaurant Group ............. 58Century Fast Foods............................197Century Management.......................... 63Cerca Trova Restaurant Concepts ........ 64Cotti Foods Corp. ............................... 52Covelli Enterprises................................ 9Cowabunga ...................................... 143Creative Foods Corp. ........................ 189D.L. Rogers Corp. ............................... 25Daland Corp. .................................... 129DavCo Restaurants ............................. 45Den-Tex Central ............................... 124Denco Family ...................................172Desert de Oro Foods ........................... 36Dhanani Group ..................................... 3

DiPasqua Enterprises ........................176Diversified Restaurant Holdings ........... 69Doherty Enterprises ............................ 12DORO ............................................... 82DRM ............................................... 155Emerald City Pizza ............................110Falcon Holdings ..................................21Flynn Restaurant Group ........................ 1Four Foods Group ..............................116FourCrown ........................................151Fourjay .............................................174Fowler Foods ................................... 152Franchise Management ....................... 40Frauenshuh Hospitality Group ..............41Friendly Franchisees Corp. ................ 128Fugate Enterprises ............................. 43Genesh.............................................142Ghai Management Services ................. 56Gold Coast Holdings ........................... 38Goldco ............................................ 170Golden Gate Bell .............................. 104GPS Hospitality.................................. 28Great American Chicken Corp. ........... 138Great Circle Family Foods ................. 198Hallrich ........................................... 136

ALPHABETICAL LISTING196 Northcott Hospitality Chanhassen, MN 22 Perkins 3 Houlihan’s

197 Century Fast Foods Los Angeles, CA 33 Taco Bell

198 Great Circle Family Foods Long Beach, CA 17 Krispy Kreme 7 The Coffee Bean

199 Tetra Management Wichita, KS 41 Pizza Hut 3 Freddy’s

200 Trigo Hospitality Stevensville, MI 31 Pizza Hut 10 Sonic Drive-In

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64 Franchise Times | August 201764 Franchise Times | August 2017

Hamra Enterprises.............................. 33Harman Management Corp. ................. 24Hielan Restaurant Group ................... 125High Plains Pizza ............................. 145Holm Restaurants .............................. 80Hospitality Restaurant Group............. 123Howley Bread Group ......................... 146J & A Food Service ............................175J.S. Ventures .................................... 178Jackmont Hospitality .........................111JAE Restaurant Group ......................... 30Janco ................................................ 96Janjer Enterprises ............................. 173JDK Management Co. ....................... 149JEM Restaurant Group .......................114JRN ................................................... 49K-Mac Enterprises .............................. 16Kazi Management St. Croix ............... 108KBP Foods .........................................11KC Bell ............................................ 122Kergan Bros. Sonic ........................... 169KFK Group....................................... 166Lehigh Valley Restaurant Group ..........157Lemek ............................................... 93Luihn Food Systems ........................... 79Manna ................................................. 5Manna Development Group ................. 73MarLu Investment Group......................47Marwaha Group ................................ 162McClain Sonics .................................112McEssy Investment Co. ..................... 134Meridian Restaurants.......................... 92

Meritage Hospitality Group .................. 39Metz Group ...................................... 185Mitra QSR ......................................... 62MRCO ............................................. 153MUY! Companies ................................. 7Neighborhood Hospitality/Woodland ........................ 130Northcott Hospitality ........................ 196Northwest Restaurants ....................... 59NPC International ................................. 2OCAT .............................................. 120Ocedon ........................................... 184Oerther Foods .................................. 158Original Bread .................................. 135Pacific Bells ...................................... 18PacPizza ........................................... 95Palo Alto ........................................... 70Paradigm Investment Group ................ 99Paradise Companies ........................... 94Parikh Network .................................. 67Parrish Restaurants ...........................171Pennant Foods ....................................91Phase Three Star ...............................181Pilot Travel Centers ............................ 20Pizza Properties ................................101PJ Holdings KY ................................ 186PJ United .......................................... 75Platinum Corral ................................ 133Potomac Family Dining Group .............. 90PR Restaurants .................................. 54Primary Aim ......................................107QK Holdings .......................................81

Quality Dining .................................... 27Quality Restaurant Concepts ................97R.E.E. ..............................................121Rackson Restaurants ........................ 132Restaurant Management Co. ............... 83Retzer Organization ............................ 87RGT Management ..............................117RMH Franchise Holdings ......................17RoHoHo .......................................... 179Romulus Restaurant Group ................. 72Rottinghaus Co. ..................................51RPM Pizza ......................................... 68Rucker Restaurant Holdings .............. 140S & L Companies ............................. 188S-Group Companies ......................... 182Sailormen ...........................................37Sasnak Management .........................177Schuster Enterprises ........................ 139Serazen ........................................... 105SERVUS! ........................................... 89Sizzling Platter ................................... 22Southern Multifoods ........................... 98Southern Rock Restaurants ................115SSCP Management ............................. 48Staab Management Co. ......................191Starboard Group ................................. 32Stine Enterprises .............................. 118STP JJ Team I .................................. 194Strang Corp. .....................................113Summit Restaurant Group ..................... 6Summit Restaurant Group, LLC ......... 102Sun Holdings ....................................... 8

Sundance .......................................... 46T.L. Cannon Management .....................71Tacala ............................................... 13TD Food Group ................................. 106TEAM Schostak Family Restaurants ............................. 60Tetra Management ............................ 199The Bistro Group ...............................141The Briad Group ................................. 14The Kades Corp. ................................147The RC Group .................................... 86The Rose Group .................................. 57The Saxton Group ............................... 88Treadwell Enterprises ........................ 126Trigo Hospitality ............................... 200U.S. Restaurants .............................. 193United Restaurant Group .................. 148United States Beef Corp. .................... 19Valenti Management ........................... 53Vasari .............................................. 192Verlander Enterprises ........................ 163VKC Group ....................................... 144Wendco Group ................................. 183WendPartners .................................... 35Wendy’s of Bowling Green ..................161Wendy’s of Colorado Springs ............... 50West Quality Food Service ................. 165Westaco .......................................... 180Wisconsin Hospitality Group .............. 103WKS Restaurant Group ....................... 55Yadav Enterprises ............................... 10

FRANCHISE TRIVIA ANSWERS:1. CorePower Yoga carries the dancer’s clothing line.

2. Jimmy John’s, Dunkin’ Donuts and Enterprise had their logos on the boards.

3. The latest version in the franchised Dummy series is Franchise Management for Dummies. Michael Seid of MSA Worldwide tapped attorney Joyce Mazero of Gardere Wynne Sewell, who had helped edit the legal sections of the previous book.

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