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Arby's parent company buys Sandwiches from Jimmy John, hoping to reverse the chain's sluggish sales.
Atlanta-based Inspire Brands announced Wednesday that the acquisition would make it the fourth largest foodservice company in the US, with annual sales of $ 14 billion and 11,200 restaurants. Inspire also owns Sonic, Buffalo Wild Wings and Rusty Taco.
Jimmy John's founder and president, Jimmy John Liautaud, will retire and become an Inspire board advisor. James North, President and CEO of Jimmy John, will assume the role of President and report to Paul Brown, CEO of Inspire.
Like Papa John's founder, John Schnatter, who was forced to leave his presidential job in 2018 because of racist rhetoric, Liautaud has been a handicap for Jimmy John's in recent years. Actor Mark Hammill is one of those who called for a boycott of Jimmy John's on Twitter after social media photos showed Liautaud posing with an elephant and a leopard that he had killed during hunting trips.
Jimmy John's sales reached $ 2.15 billion in 2018. This figure is stable compared to 2017 and up 1% from 2016, although Jimmy John's added 156 stores during this period, according to Technomic, a company specializing in data recovery. Jimmy John has 2,800 facilities in 43 states and employs 84,000 people. The chain was founded in 1983 in Illinois.
Inspire said he could help Jimmy John's in product development, marketing and scaling up purchases. The company said Jimmy John's also had a strong potential for international expansion.
"We are more interested in the growth of the brand and the support of Jimmy John's system than in the past, by the personal hobbies of any individual," Inspire said in an email about Liautaud.
Roark Capital, the private equity firm that owns Inspire Brands, had already acquired a controlling interest in Jimmy John's in 2016.
The transaction should be finalized by the end of October. The terms have not been disclosed.
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