One of the fastest-growing restaurant companies in the United States has just bought a nine-state block of 17 Chili's restaurant franchises, including the five Chili's Southwestern Grill restaurants in Utah.
The Sydran Group bought the franchises from Chili's franchiser, Brinker International, along with some real estate in the Dallas area for $35 million.This makes The Sydran Group one of the largest franchisees of Chili's, which this year had 497 restaurants in 44 states.
Sydran also has negotiated a separate agreement with Brinker that lets it develop 30 more franchises in a 14-state area over the next seven years.
Sydran owns more than 160 restaurants, including more than 140 Burger King outlets, which makes it one of the three largest Burger King fanchisees.
The Sydran Group, a firm based in northern California, wanted part of the Chili's franchise to diversify its offerings, work with other cuisine and expand into a new geographic area. This is the first time it has moved from the fast food world into casual dining.
There will be no layoffs and no change in the theme of Chili's, according to Cindy Peterman, vice president of marketing for Sydran Services, the parent company of The Sydran Group.
"We've hired everyone from the company," Peterman said.
"We also have a very aggressive growth plan. We plan on building a minimum of five restaurants a year and we're going to concentrate in the major areas such as Salt Lake City, Des Moines and Omaha because they are very under served right now," she said.
The Chili's restaurants in Utah are located in the Fort Union area, Riverdale, Orem, Salt Lake City, Sandy and St. George.
"This is new for the company and it's part of the direction we're trying to take," Peterman said. "We have been seeking to diversify and try to get into more types of (dining) segments. We can't get into other hamburger-type restaurants because we don't want to compete with our own Burger Kings."
Peterman said the company did considerable research before venturing into the world of casual dining restaurants.
"We try to get the top one or two in the industry and Chili's is the flagship of the Brinker system. Brinker's is one of the largest casual dining entities there is," she said.
"Chili's is recognized, it's a name that's out there, which helps our expansion quite a bit," she said.