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Briefs
Franchise news bits
Palm Beach Tan acquires Desert Sun Tanning Salons
Palm Beach Tan, a Dallas-based indoor tanning salon chain, acquired the Desert Sun Tanning Salons franchise system for an undisclosed amount. Maple Valley, Wash.-based Desert Sun has 55 franchised locations that generate more than $20 million of systemwide revenues throughout the Northwest. Desert Sun also has an additional 30 salons in development. Palm Beach Tan operates 120 franchised and company-owned locations in 16 states.
Management at Palm Beach Tan said they plan to grow the Desert Sun subsidiary through franchising, and project they will add 120 additional locations by 2010.
Buffalo’s Franchise Concept acquired by two franchisees
Buffalo’s Franchise Concepts Inc., franchisor of Buffalo’s Southwest Café and Buffalo’s Express, was acquired by two of the company’s franchisees, Drew Alexander and Shelli Lang. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Alexander and Lang own Works for Me Inc., a Buffalo’s franchisor, and currently operate two Buffalo’s Southwest Café units in Nevada. Alexander says the pair decided to buy the company after they’d been franchisees for about three years. “I like the identity they have, especially in the South,” Alexander says. “We’d like to spread that around to the rest of the country.”
Company co-founder and former president, Ralph Perrella will serve as a consultant to the company. Alexander will serve as the president and chief executive officer and Lang will serve as vice president, secretary and treasurer. Company headquarters will remain in Marietta, Ga., with additional sales offices opening in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, Alexander says. Seven new units are under construction and will open this year, Alexander says. The company has 38 restaurants in 10 states, Puerto Rico and Kuwait.
ACON Investments acquire Peter Piper Pizza
ACON Investments, a Washington, D.C.-based private equity firm, acquired Peter Piper Pizza for an undisclosed amount. Peter Piper’s current management team will remain in place. Daniel Jinich, a managing partner at ACON, says the company was looking for a restaurant concept to invest in that was closely connected with the Hispanic community, and Peter Piper was a perfect choice. Jinich notes Peter Piper President and CEO Frank Sbordone had brought the restaurant back on track after it suffered under a prior management team. “It’s really humming on all cylinders, with a good management team and a concept that’s performed exceptionally well,” Jinich says.
Twenty new locations are slated to open this year—eight will be company-owned and will open in Phoenix and Dallas, and the other 12 will be opened by various franchisees, Jinich says. In upcoming years, they hope to expand the restaurant throughout Texas and the western United States, as well as central and southern Mexico, he says.
Liberty Tax acquires Internet tax prep company
Liberty Tax Services acquired C&S Technologies’ eSmartTax, an income tax preparation business. C&S provided Internet income tax preparation and payroll tax related electronic filing services. Liberty only acquired the income tax preparation services. The online program, called Liberty Tax Online, will feature an IRS form based application, online help, guaranteed calculations and a Spanish language version. Liberty customers will have the option of filing online through the company’s Web site or through the IRS Free File Alliance site, as well as in Liberty stores.
John Hewitt, CEO of Liberty, says the company has offered online tax preparation services for the past two years, but always as a branding of another company’s software. With the purchase of eSmartTax Liberty will be able to offer more options to its customers, he says. “Less than fifty percent of the people that start a return online finish the return there,” he says. “Typically they stop because they have questions—is something deductible or is it taxable, and so on—so they go looking for a solution, and we want to be that solution.” Customers who find they have questions in the middle of their tax preparation can quit the online version, access the address of a local franchisee and get the personal help they require, says Hewitt.
Obituary
Hot Dog on a Stick’s president and CEO Fredrica Thode died January 13 from Lou Gehrig’s disease. Thode, who was appointed president in 2001 and CEO in 2005, had been with the company for 27 years.
In her memory, the company made a $10,000 donation to the San Diego chapter of the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association, the formal name for Lou Gehrig’s disease.
