Focus Brands is an American company that is an affiliate of the American

private equity firm A private equity firm is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of startup or operating companies through a variety of loosely affiliated investment strategies including leve ...

Roark Capital Group Roark Capital Group is an American private equity firm with over $33 billion in assets under management. The firm is focused on leveraged buyout investments in middle-market companies, primarily in the franchise/multi-location, restaurant and fo ...

that currently owns the

Schlotzsky's Schlotzsky's is an American franchise chain of restaurants, specializing in sandwiches and pizza. The company is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Schlotzsky's has more than 330 franchised and company-owned locations throughout the United Sta ...

, Carvel, Cinnabon, Moe's Southwest Grill, McAlister's Deli,

Auntie Anne's Auntie Anne's is an American franchised chain of pretzel shops founded by Anne F. Beiler and her husband, Jonas, in 1988. Auntie Anne's serves products such as pretzels, dips, and beverages. They also offer Pretzels & More Homemade Baking Mix fo ...

and Jamba brands. It is located in

Sandy Springs, Georgia Sandy Springs is a city in northern Fulton County, Georgia and an inner ring suburb of Atlanta. The city's population was 108,080 at the 2020 census, making it Georgia's seventh-largest city. It is the site of several corporate headquarters, i ...

, and operates over 5,000 stores.

History

Focus Brands began as a holding company for Carvel Corporation after Roark Capital bought controlling interest in the ice cream franchisor from

Investcorp Investcorp is a global manager of alternative investment products, for private and institutional clients. Founded in Bahrain in 1982, the firm has offices in United States, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, India, China, ...

in November, 2001. Roark purchased Cinnabon and the international operations of

Seattle's Best Coffee Seattle's Best Coffee is a brand of wholesale coffee, ground coffee, and K-cup coffee that is owned by Nestlé. While Seattle's Best Coffee used to have coffeehouses in the United States, they appear to have closed down or have been converted to ...

from

AFC Enterprises Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Inc., also known as Popeyes and formerly named Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits and Popeyes Famous Fried Chicken & Biscuits, is an American multinational chain of fried chicken fast food restaurants that was formed in 1972 ...

in November 2004, combining the three brands under its Focus Brands affiliate. Focus Brands purchased Schlotzsky's from Bobby Cox Companies in 2006, less than two years after Bobby Cox had purchased the brand from bankruptcy. On August 11, 2007, Focus Brands announced that it purchased the Moe's Southwest Grill brand from Raving Brands. In October 2010, Focus Brands acquired the mostly mall-based franchiser

, a maker of pretzels. In June 2017, Kat Cole was named Chief Operating Officer. On August 2, 2018, Focus Brands announced that it would acquire Frisco-based smoothie-maker Jamba, formerly known as Jamba Juice. The acquisition was completed on September 14, 2018. In February 2020, Jim Holthouser was named Chief Executive Officer.

References

External links

Company homepage
Companies based in Sandy Springs, Georgia Restaurant groups in the United States Restaurants established in 2001 American companies established in 2001 Private equity portfolio companies {{food-company-stub