The Nashville, Tennessee-headquartered Captain D’s seafood restaurant chain in the United States has been acquired by Sentinel Capital Partners. Terms of the deal, announced on December 18, were not disclosed.
Founded in 1969, the Captain D’s system consists of 227 franchised and 303 company-owned units with established strongholds in 21 states located mainly in the American Southeast and Midwest. The company is regarded as a leading operator in the underpenetrated quick service restaurant (QSR) seafood sector.
Its value-priced menu features dishes including battered fish and premium-quality grilled fish, shrimp, Alaska salmon cakes, chicken, surf and turf, hush puppies and desserts. Many of the components are supplied to operators in frozen form.
“We are very excited to partner with Captain D’s highly-experienced and accomplished management team,” said John McCormack, a senior partner of the Sentinel private equity firm. “Captain D’s holds a unique market position and was recently recognized as one of the top 10 brands in America for consumer loyalty. It continues to attract younger guests and is the clear category leader. Moreover, its same-store-sales growth over the past decade is in the very top QSR tier regardless of category.”
Captain D’s CEO Phil Greifeld, a 22-year veteran of the quick service restaurant industry who has led Captain D’s for the past seven years, commented: “Sentinel’s more than two decades of experience in the restaurant franchising sector makes the firm an ideal partner for us as we enter a new phase of expansion. We see significant opportunities to grow inside our existing footprint as well as into new regions. Our brand has never been stronger.”
Since its inception in 1995, New York City-based Sentinel Capital Partners has raised approximately $2.6 billion of capital. Its investment portfolio includes eight other restaurant franchise investments: Border Foods, a leading QSR franchisee in the Taco Bell system; Checkers/Rally’s, the largest franchisor and operator of dual drive-thru hamburger QSRs in the USA; Falcon Holdings, one of the biggest franchisees of Church’s Chicken restaurants; Fazoli’s Group, a franchisor and operator of Italian fast casual restaurants; Huddle House, a leading franchisor of family dining restaurants; Newk’s Eatery, a rapidly growing player in the fast casual restaurant segment; Southern California Pizza Company, the largest Pizza Hut franchisee in the greater Los Angeles market; and TGI Friday’s, a global franchisor of casual dining bar and grill restaurants.
