Brookwood Advises on Sale of Leading Panera Franchisee
We are pleased to announce that Brookwood Associates has advised Breadwinners at the
Triangle, LLC (“Breadwinners”) on the sale of the company to Panera Bread Company
(Nasdaq: PNRA). Breadwinners is a 16 unit franchisee of Panera Bread located in and
around Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. Brookwood’s targeted marketing process
highlighted Breadwinner’s robust financial performance, strong management team,
successful new unit development, and significant growth opportunities.
Brookwood’s deep restaurant industry knowledge, experience, and track record in the
bakery-café segment and broader fast-casual sector of the restaurant industry yielded an
attractive outcome for the shareholders of the company.
"We were totally satisfied with our relationship with
Brookwood Associates. They provided us with excellent
advice going into and throughout the process,
demonstrated excellent technical capabilities from their
entire staff, brought a wealth of industry knowledge and
relationships to the process, and helped us maintain our
sanity during some stressful negotiations."
Joe Bastian, President
Breadwinners at the Triangle
About Breadwinners at the Triangle: Breadwinners at the Triangle was formed in 1998
and is a leading franchisee of Panera Bread with 16 bakery-cafés operating in an exclusive
19 county territory in eastern North Carolina. The company grew entirely through
development of new units, with no closures in its 14 year history. Breadwinners has
received numerous awards in recognition of its operational excellence, including being
named the “Featured Franchisee” of the entire Panera Bread system.
About Panera Bread Company (Nasdaq: PNRA): Panera Bread Company, a publicly
traded restaurant operator and franchisor, is the nation’s largest fast casual concept in
both system-wide sales and number of units. The concept prides itself on offering high
quality, value priced food in a warm, inviting, and comfortable environment. As of
December 27, 2011, there were 1,541 company-owned and franchised bakery-cafés
operating in 42 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada.
About Brookwood Associates: Brookwood Associates is a leading independently-owned
investment bank serving middle-market companies. The firm offers merger, acquisition,
corporate financing, restructuring, fairness opinion and other related advisory services to
clients across several sectors, including but not limited to franchisee brands, restaurants
and specialty retail industries.