One is adopting a wider perspective as many large restaurant chains concentrate on streamlining their back-of-house processes or giving consumers the most effortless ordering experience.
A further $1 billion in the capital was raised by the food-focused private equity firm Butterfly, which is involved in everything from restaurants to agriculture, increasing the total assets under its stewardship to around $4 billion. The revelation comes days after the company said last Tuesday that it had acquired fast-casual restaurant chain Qdoba, located in San Diego, California, and with over 750 outlets in the United States and Canada.
The fast-casual brand will join the company’s current restaurant group, Modern Restaurant Concepts, which had less than 50 locations across its two brands, Modern Market Eatery and Modern Restaurant Concepts, prior to the closing of this transaction.
This fundraising activity implies that investors are concentrating on restaurant businesses that optimize both front- and back-of-house operations while also aiming to control the whole supply chain. Butterfly includes businesses that concentrate on agricultural and aquafarming, packaged goods, distribution, and more in addition to the restaurant brands.
Adam Waglay, co-founder and co-CEO of Butterfly, said in a statement: “When we launched Butterfly, we knew the opportunity for a specialized focus in the food sector across the seed to fork spectrum was significant, but it has far exceeded what we expected in many ways, and this is just the beginning. The food industry has become one of the most crucial investment sectors in these tumultuous times, and we are honored to be on the cutting edge of this new frontier as a partner of choice working with such incredible food industry leaders, innovators, and disruptors to drive transformational change and growth where it matters the most.
The announcement comes as the sector continues to have issues with its supply chain, forcing many restaurants to contend with delays and shortages as well as reevaluate their partnerships with suppliers.
