Activist Investor Buys 6% of Noodles & Company Stock, Plus More Bold Deals

Franchise Equity Partners will acquire IMO Car Wash from Driven Brands for 406 million euros, which equates to about $471.9 million.

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN / Franchise Times / December 5, 2025 -- Galloway Capital Partners and affiliated companies acquired 6.01 percent of outstanding shares in Noodles & Company. The purchase was announced in a Schedule 13D filing with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission. The share purchases come as Noodles & Company hired financial services firm Piper Sandler to explore options to maximize shareholder value, including a possible sale. The chain recently announced retention bonuses for CEO Joseph Christina and other C-suite executives in the event of a sale.

AES Restaurant Group acquired 115 Arby’s restaurants from Arby’s parent company Inspire Brands. The deal, which included locations across nine states, gives Zionsville, Indiana-based AES 344 Arby’s stores in 20 states. It also moves AES closer to the top spot as the largest Arby’s franchisee, sitting just behind Flynn Group’s 366 units.

AES owner John Wade founded the group in 2004 after acquiring six Arby’s in Indiana and has grown his restaurant portfolio with a series of large acquisitions and new builds. Earlier this year, it bought 40 Arby’s restaurants from private equity firm Mosaic Management. The newly acquired locations from Inspire will operate under the leadership of Robert Bird, the chief operating officer of AES, and Michelle Carter, the group’s vice president of operations. In addition to Arby’s, Inspire Brands owns Baskin-Robbins, Buffalo Wild Wings, Dunkin’, Jimmy John’s and Sonic Drive-In, with a portfolio of more than 33,000 global stores.

Twin Hospitality Group announced its intent to acquire eight franchised Twin Peaks locations in Florida from DMD Ventures for about $47 million in cash. DMD Ventures filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, following a $12 million lawsuit. The transaction, which is set to close in the first quarter of 2026, is expected to contribute approximately $77 million in annual revenue and $10 million in additional annual earnings before interest, taxes and amortization upon completion. The incremental EBITDA contribution is expected to help reduce leverage, further strengthening the company’s balance sheet and financial flexibility. Along with about 114 Twin Peaks in 26 states and Mexico, Twin Hospitality Group is also the holding company for Smoky Bones.

M&J Restaurants, an affiliate of Wendy’s of Bowling Green and Hughes Restaurant Group, bought 18 Wendy’s restaurants in northwest Tennessee and southwest Virginia from Tri-Cities Restaurant Group. Wendy’s of Bowling Green, or WBG, secured $28.5 million in additional loan commitments from Wintrust Bank to finance the acquisition. The financing included an increase of $26 million to the existing business term loan and an increase of $2.5 million to the existing development line of credit. 

WBG is owned and operated by longtime Wendy’s system veterans Michael O’Malley and John Hughes with their sons Ryan O’Malley, Shawn O’Malley and Joseph Hughes. The Kentucky-based franchisees operate 156 Wendy’s restaurants across the Midwestern and Southeastern U.S. Auspex Capital acted as the buy-side M&A adviser and debt placement agent to WBG on the transaction. 

Restaurant Brands International, the global holding company that owns Burger King, Tim Hortons, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and Firehouse Subs, formed a joint venture with CPE, a Chinese alternative asset manager, to run Burger King’s restaurants in China. Under the terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026 pending regulatory approval, CPE will own 83 percent of Burger King China. Restaurant Brands will hold a minority stake of 17 percent, along with a seat on the board of directors. CPE plans to invest $350 million into the joint venture to go toward marketing, menu innovation and restaurant expansion. 

Earlier this year, a subsidiary of RBI acquired its equity interests from its previous Burger King China partners, Turkish-based operator TFI and United States-based private equity firm Cartesian Capital, for roughly $158 million in cash. At the time, the company said it planned to find a local operator as a partner. The joint venture aims to more than double the burger chain’s footprint in the market, from about 1,250 locations to more than 4,000 by 2035.

Franchisees Girish and Harry Mirpuri acquired eight Crest Cleaners & Laundry in Cocoa Beach, Melbourne and Viera, Florida, with plans to convert them into Tide Cleaners locations. The acquisition represents a significant portion of the Mirpuris’ 20-unit development commitment in the Orlando and Tampa, Florida markets and builds on the two Tide Cleaners outlets they already operate in the state. Tide Services, which operates Tide Cleaners and Tide Laundromat, is a franchise subsidiary of the Procter & Gamble Company.

Residential and commercial service platform company Stellar Service Brands sold its subsidiary rubber resurfacing brand Softroc to Courtney Harmon, the former president of Softrac and bluefrog Plumbing + Drain. Harmon also purchased The Driveway Company, a service line offered under the Softroc brand providing concrete maintenance and repair solutions, as part of the transaction. Stellar Service Brands has more than 400 locations nationwide.

Franchise Equity Partners will acquire IMO Car Wash from Driven Brands for 406 million euros, which equates to about $471.9 million. The transaction includes IMO's portfolio of 720 locations, primarily located in the United Kingdom and Germany, with sites in nine other European countries and Australia. IMO was founded in Germany in 1965 and refers to itself as the world’s largest independent conveyor car wash company. Several private equity firms have owned the company over the years, including Bridgeport Capital and The Carlyle Group. Driven Brands acquired the company in February.

The East Coast Wings + Grill in Clemmons, North Carolina, has been acquired by husband-and-wife franchisees Gregory and Dafni Ballas. Gregory Ballas is the son of East Coast Wings CEO Sam Ballas and has been involved with the brand for years through his work on the real estate and development side of the business. Dafni Ballas grew up working in her family's restaurant business, the Michael Family Restaurant Group, and now serves as the company's CEO overseeing multiple non-franchised concepts across North Carolina. East Coast Wings + Grill, a full-service, family-dining franchise that features buffalo wings, has about 35 franchise locations in five states.

Fortify Companies, a national property services platform backed by Summit Partners, acquired Rytech Restoration, which has more than 100 franchise locations in 30 states, and sister brand Insurcomm Restoration. Rytech founder Bubba Ryan is retiring after three decades of leadership.

Hello Sugar, the hair removal and skincare service brand, acquired 20 Waxxpot Salons in Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio and Texas. Hello Sugar was founded by Brigham Dallas in 2015.

Unbridled Capital provided sell-side advisory services to franchisee Josh Goodwin of Six Chicks on the sale of four Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen locations in Alabama.

Moran Family of Brands, the parent company of auto service brands Milex Complete Auto Care, Turbo Tint, Alta Mere and others, is expanding into Canada with its acquisition of Mister Transmission. Founded in 1963, Mister Transmission has about 68 locations in Canada. Orland Park, Illinois-based Moran Family of Brands already owns U.S.-based Mr. Transmission, and with this deal will integrate Mister Transmission to establish a consolidated North American network with shared resources, expertise and operational infrastructure across the U.S. and Canada. Founded by Dennis and Cele Moran in 1990, Moran Family of Brands has more than 150 franchise locations. 

Former electrical engineers and first-time franchisees Lidya and Anteneh Abera are the new owners of the Kiddie Academy in Murphy, Texas. In a separate deal, Dwight Wilkinson bought two Kiddie Academy locations in Horsham and Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania. Headquartered in Abingdon, Maryland, Kiddie Academy has more than 350 locations in 37 states and Washington, D.C.

Two locations of Annex Brands, a franchisor in the packing, shipping and office services industries, have new owners. Ryan and Natalie Willson bought the PostalAnnex location in San Diego, and Gabriela Martinez and Willy Flores bought a location in Poway, California. Annex Brands licenses and franchises more than 800 locations across the United States, Canada and Mexico. Its other brands include Pak Mail, AIM Mail Centers, Parcel Plus, Sunshine Pack & Ship, Navis Pack & Ship, and Handle With Care Packaging Store.

Mother and daughter franchisees Marcy Stenger and Briana Green bought the Always Best Care in Mesa, Arizona. They bring more than 30 years of combined experience in the medical and pharmaceutical industries. Founded in 1996, senior care company Always Best Care Senior Services operates in more than 225 territories in the U.S. and Canada.

Planet Fitness announced that, with its subsidiaries, it priced $750 million in Series 2025-1 Class A-2 fixed rate senior secured notes. One part of that entails a five-year repayment term with an aggregate principal amount of $400 million and an interest rate of 5.27 percent, according to the brand’s news release December 5. The other part has a seven-year repayment term with an aggregate principal amount of $350 million and interest rate of 5.65 percent.

The fitness brand also announced its intent to complete a refinancing transaction which will include the issuance of a new series of securitized debt under its existing securitized financing facility and repayment of existing Series 20222-1 Class A-2-1 Notes.  The company expects that these subsidiaries will also enter into a $75 million variable funding note facility in addition to the existing $75 million 2022-1 Variable Funding Senior Secured Notes, Class A-1. 

As of September 30, 2025, Planet Fitness had approximately $2.2 billion of outstanding debt under its existing securitized financing facility. The completion of the transaction is subject to market and other conditions and is anticipated to close this month.

Mark Flanery, owner of Minuteman Press in Wethersfield, Connecticut, acquired print shop Academy Printing in Berlin, Connecticut, from Tim McMullen, who owned the business for 42 years. Minuteman is No. 122 on the Franchise Times Top 400 rankings of the largest franchises with $624.6 million in revenue and more than 1,000 global locations.

Vikram Sarma is the new owner of the Caring Transitions in Northbrook, Illinois. Caring Transitions, a senior care relocation, downsizing and estate sales service company, has more than 400 locations across the country

International marketing firms Franchise Fame and Leads to Fame merged and are now operating under the Leads to Fame brand with Dani Peleva serving as CEO for the Medina, Ohio-based company.