Ruby Tuesday has announced plans to acquire Lime Fresh Mexican Grill for a purchase price of $24 million. The transaction, which represents the brand’s intellectual property rights and the assets of seven company-owned restaurants as well as the royalties from five franchised restaurants, is expected to close in the fourth fiscal quarter.
During its third quarter, Ruby Tuesday opened two Lime Fresh inline restaurants. Another opened subsequent to the quarter end. The company now has four Lime Fresh locations open.
Commenting on the planned acquisition, Ruby Tuesday Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Sandy Beall, said:
“From a growth standpoint, we are very excited about our upcoming acquisition of the Lime Fresh Mexican Grill brand as it aligns well with the Ruby Tuesday focus on fresh, high-quality ingredients and is well positioned in the fast casual sector as it offers a combination of the best of casual dining and fast casual. We believe this brand has significant growth potential given its low capital requirements and strong EBITDA margin potential and we tentatively have plans to add 20 Lime locations in Fiscal 2013 and 30 in Fiscal 2014. Additionally, we are very excited that John Kunkel, Lime’s founder, will be joining our Board of Directors following completion of the acquisition. John’s entrepreneurial background, strong operations experience, and in-depth knowledge of the fast casual sector will be instrumental to us as we grow the Lime brand in the future.”
Ruby Tuesday, Inc. has Company-owned and/or franchise Ruby Tuesday brand restaurants in 45 states, the District of Columbia, 14 foreign countries, and Guam. As of February 28, 2012, the Company owned and operated 740 Ruby Tuesday restaurants, while domestic and international franchisees (including Hawaii and Guam) operated 39 and 46 Ruby Tuesday restaurants, respectively. Ruby Tuesday, Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (Symbol: RT).
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