Atlanta-based comfort retailer operator RaceTrac has agreed to accumulate fast-casual sandwich chain Potbelly Sandwich Works in an all-cash transaction valued at roughly $566 million. The deal is anticipated to shut within the fourth quarter of 2025, pending regulatory approvals and different closing circumstances, in accordance with Potbelly.
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Bold development plan
Potbelly, based in Chicago in 1977, ranked # 336 on the 2025 Franchise 500 and at the moment operates about 445 places throughout america, with a mixture of company-owned and franchised items. Beneath the brand new possession, the model has set its sights on a a lot bigger footprint, with ambitions of rising to 2,000 shops nationwide. Lately, Potbelly has labored to modernize its operations via up to date menu objects, refreshed retailer designs, stronger digital ordering channels and investments in operations and assist programs.
RaceTrac, a family-owned enterprise, operates greater than 800 RaceTrac and RaceWay comfort shops throughout 14 states, along with roughly 1,200 Gulf-branded websites it acquired in 2023. The corporate has emphasised that Potbelly will preserve its distinct id after the acquisition, whereas benefiting from RaceTrac’s expertise in actual property, advertising and marketing and meals innovation.
Why RaceTrac is making this transfer
For RaceTrac, the acquisition marks a strategic push deeper into meals service. Comfort retailers have more and more appeared past gasoline gross sales and packaged items, recognizing that ready meals and drinks ship stronger margins and buyer loyalty. By including a recognizable restaurant model, RaceTrac can diversify its income, appeal to new clients and compete with different comfort chains which have leaned into recent meals.
Potbelly brings a widely known nationwide title and a menu that matches neatly into RaceTrac’s current retail footprint. It additionally gives a franchising platform that RaceTrac can leverage to develop exterior its conventional Southeast U.S. stronghold. The corporate has already proven an urge for food for growth with its 2023 Gulf acquisition, and Potbelly provides it one other avenue for development at a time when scale and model recognition are crucial within the quick-service section.
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A broader development
The settlement is the newest in a collection of main strikes reshaping the sandwich and fast-casual franchise panorama. In 2024, non-public fairness big Blackstone acquired a majority stake in Jersey Mike’s in a deal estimated at roughly $8 billion, together with debt.
Additionally in 2024, Roark Capital bought Subway, one of many world’s largest restaurant chains by unit depend, in a deal value practically $10 billion.
And in 2021, Restaurant Manufacturers Worldwide (the guardian firm of Burger King, Tim Hortons and Popeyes) bought Firehouse Subs for $1 billion.
Taken collectively, these transactions spotlight a transparent development: Established however evolving restaurant manufacturers have gotten engaging targets for giant traders and strategic patrons. The Potbelly-RaceTrac deal provides a brand new dimension, because it marks not one other non-public fairness buy however a comfort retailer transferring deeper into the restaurant enterprise — a sign that new kinds of patrons could more and more form the way forward for franchising.
