Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Hurricane Grill & Wings joining FAT Brands
Twenty-two years after it was founded as a beachside beer-andwings hangout in Fort Pierce, the West Palm Beach-based Hurricane Grill & Wings brand is joining a new corporate family.
The chain — with locations in Coral Springs, Sunrise, Boynton Beach, Miami, Palm Beach Gardens and Jupiter — will become a sibling, of sorts, to several wellknown restaurant brands, including Fatburger, Ponderosa and Bonanza.
FAT Brands, a franchising company headquartered in Los Angeles, announced on Nov. 15 that it signed a definitive agreement to acquire Hurricane Grill & Wings for $12.5 million, to be funded with cash on hand and third-party fi-
nancing. The deal is expected to close later this year, subject to customary closing conditions including receipt of the financing, FAT Brands announced.
The acquisition will mark the latest chapter in a two-decade history marked by fits and starts, including lofty expansion efforts that have fallen short of goals, retreats from five states since 2015, and the 2015 opening of an Italy location that was supposed to be followed by 25 more in Europe but instead closed within two years.
But that’s in the past. Today, the tropical-themed chain is readying the expansion of its new fast-casual concept, Hurricane BTW (stands for Burgers, Tacos and Wings), following a successful test of a prototype in Fort Lauderdale. New locations will soon open in West Palm Beach, Gainesville and Skokie, Ill., according to its website.
FAT Brands is best known as owner of Fatburger, an iconic West Coast burger chain with franchises in such far flung locations as Cairo, Egypt, Beijing and Winnipeg.
In October, FAT Brands announced it had acquired once-ubiquitous American steakhouse chains Ponderosa and Bonanza for $10.5 million.
In all, FAT Brands owns five chains with about 300 locations. Its other brands are Buffalo’s Cafe and its fast-casual spinoff Buffalo’s Express. Another 300 locations are in development in 32 countries, FAT Brands announced in October.
Hurricane Grill & Wings was created in 1995 by Christopher Russo, then 22, as “Chris’ Hurricane Grill” in a 1,400 squarefoot space in Fort Pierce that still houses the original restaurant.
The brand hasn’t strayed far from its roots. Today it’s known for its casual tropical style, jumbo wings and 35 signature sauces and rubs, plus fries, burgers and tacos.
Hurricane Grill & Wings currently has 59 locations nationwide, including 40 in Florida.
But that’s down from “more than 80 open or under construction in 15 states and Europe” reported by the company in 2015.
That year, the company also broke $100 million in sales for the first time, company officials told the trade journal FSR [FullService Restaurant] Magazine.
Major expansion plans have been announced several times in the chain’s history, but the number of hoped-for franchises never matched expectations.
Newly incorporated as a franchiser in 2006, the company told the Palm Beach Post that year it had more than 70 contracts and hoped to build 400 restaurants in three years.
In 2008, Hoffman’s Chocolates CEO Fred Meltzer bought the chain with 30 stores and announced plans to slow its growth. Meltzer sold the company a year later to a partnership that included local restaurateur John Metz and a former TV weatherman Dean Tendrich.
With 42 units open and 24 opening or planned in 2011, the chain announced plans for 233 units in 15 states and 500 units within seven years.
One franchisee, Togerson Properties, said it planned to open 200 restaurants by the end of 2016, but instead sold its franchise rights in 2013.
Web searches reveal a long list of locations that have opened and closed in recent years, including in Boca Raton, Coconut Creek, Royal Palm Beach and Miami.
Over the past several years, the chain has expanded into — and then pulled out of — Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina and Tennessee.
FAT Brands believes it can provide the support Hurricane Grill & Wings needs to reach its potential.
“Our focus is on the business success of our franchisees,” FAT Brands president and CEO Andy Wiederhorn said by email. “That’s how we make royalties, so we are very focused on their well-being. Coming under the FAT Brands umbrella brings big purchasing power to the relationship. As you can imagine, being a part of a group of 400 restaurants instead of 50, you enjoy lower food costs, etc., which dramatically improve our franchisees’ bottom lines.”
In the news release accompanying the acquisition announcement, John Metz, chairman and CEO of franchiser Hurricane AMT, was identified as president and CEO of Hurricane Grill & Wings.
“Joining the FAT Brands family will make Hurricane Grill & Wings and Hurricane BTW significantly more competitive in today’s landscape,” he said.
Armed also with the marketing muscle of the larger company, the number of franchisees should increase as well, Wiederhorn said.
More than 20 Hurricane franchises are in development, including more than a dozen full-service restaurants and another dozen smaller Hurricane BTW locations, he said.
In addition, more than 350 Fatburger and Buffalo Express restaurants are “in the pipeline,” he said.
Ponderosa and Bonanza, once competing steak restaurants both named after the 1960s western television drama, each had hundreds of locations throughout the United States and Canada.
Today, that number is down to 120, Wiederhorn said, including 11 Bonanzas across nine states. Florida is home to just three Ponderosas, all in the Orlando area, but Wiederhorn said he hopes to develop more, including a fast-casual version.
As for Fatburger, which opened and closed in two Miami-Dade County locations a decade ago, Wiederhorn said he hopes the restaurant — which calls itself “The Last Great Hamburger Stand” — will return to the state “when the right partnership presents itself.”
“Clearly we have a number of new Ponderosa/Bonanza and Hurricane franchisees, so we hope that these current partners continue to grow with us,” he said.