DALLAS — This article was originally published by our content partners at the Dallas Business Journal. You can read the original article here.
Trive Capital Management LLC is looking to take a fast-growing Hawaiian cuisine restaurant chain to new heights with its latest investment.
The Dallas-based private equity giant announced on Oct. 22 that it has completed a buyout of Mo' Bettahs Hawaiian Style Food, a fast-casual restaurant chain based in Bountiful, Utah, that serves Hawaiian plate lunches. Trive partnered with Bethesda, Maryland-based Blue Martin Partners in the acquisition of the majority stake from Savory Fund, a Lehi, Utah-based private equity.
Both Savory and Mo' Bettahs' founders, Hawaii-born brothers Kimo Mack and Kalani Mack, will retain "significant" minority stakes, according to the announcement.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Trive, which has more than $7 billion in assets under management, typically writes checks between $10 million and $250 million for control positions in larger companies, according to its website. The firm targets companies with $40 million to $1.5 billion of annual revenue for control transactions.
Since being founded by the Mack brothers in 2008, Mo' Bettahs has grown to 56 stores across seven states, including eight in Dallas-Fort Worth. Mo’ Bettahs finished 2023 with about $80 million in sales or just over 40% year-over-year sales growth, Nation's Restaurant News reported in June.
Under the leadership of CEO Rob Ertmann, who joined Mo' Bettahs in 2021, the chain's revenue has grown 178%, according to its announcement.
The Mack brothers, two former city bus drivers from Hawaii, said in a statement the partnership with Trive and Blue Marlin will help them continue to "share good food and 'spread da aloha' across the mainland for years to come."
Chris Zugaro, a partner at Trive, said in a statement Ertmann and the Mack brothers "have done an incredible job building and expanding the Mo' Bettahs brand and delivering an authentic Hawaiian experience to their customers."
"We look forward to partnering with the company to support its next phase of growth," he said.
Trive has remained active despite challenges for private equity due to inflation and high interest rates. The firm grew its assets under management by almost 43% in 2023 despite the difficult fundraising environment, the Dallas Business Journal previously reported. In June, Trive bet on the strength of a Crunch Fitness franchisee when it invested in JF Fitness of North America.
Harrington Park Advisors served as exclusive financial adviser to Mo' Bettahs in the deal with Trive and Blue Marlin. Mayer Brown LLP provided legal advice to Mo' Bettahs and Savory Fund. Gibson Dunn was legal adviser to Trive. Benesch, Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff LLP was legal adviser to Blue Marlin.
