Kahala Brands
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Restaurant |
| Headquarters | Scottsdale, Arizona, United States |
Area served | Global |
Key people | Michael Serruya, Chairman/CEO |
| Parent |
MTY Food Group (2016–present) |
| Website |
www |
Kahala Brands is a private corporation and the parent entity of Kahala Franchising, L.L.C. Based in Scottsdale, Arizona, it is one of North America's largest franchise fast food restaurant companies.[1] In May 2016, the publicly-traded Canadian MTY Food Group announced a friendly takeover deal with the Kahala Brands. MTY agreed to pay about US $300 million to acquire Kahala. The two companies generated near $2 billion in revenues in the previous year.[2]
History
Surf City Squeeze was started in the early 1980s by Kevin Blackwell and his wife Kathi. Later, in 1998/1999, Sports Group International, Inc. merged with Surf City Squeeze with Surf City Squeeze's management taking over full control of the company. Also in 1999, Sports Group International purchased Frullati Cafe & Bakery Chain, bringing the total number of its franchised locations to 200.[3]
By 2000, Kevin Blackwell changed the name of his company from Sports Group International to Kahala Corp. Also in 2000, Kahala Corp. then developed the Rollerz brand.
From 2001 to 2006, Kahala Corp. purchased Ranch1 Grilled Chicken, Samarai Sam's Teriyaki Grill, Taco Time, Great Steak, Johnnie's New York Pizzeria, and Blimpie. Kahala also acquired the license to Wafflo.
In 2007, Kahala Corp and Cold Stone Creamery agreed to merge creating a combined company holding 13 diversified brands. The combined company generated more than $1.1 billion in system wide sales in partnership with 3,000-plus franchisees and more than 4,600 retail.
In 2013, a controlling interest in Kahala Corp. was purchased by the Serruya Family of Canada. The Serruyas own and founded Yogen Fruz, a chain with 1400 stores around the world. At that time, Michael Serruya became Chairman and CEO of Kahala Corp. Shortly thereafter, Kevin Blackwell left the company. Today, the Serruya family has changed the company name from Kahala Corp to Kahala Brands to better align the focus of the business.
In 2015, Kahala Brands purchased Planet Smoothie and Tasti D-Lite. This acquisition added 128 new locations to the overall company store count and increased the total of smoothie-focused locations to over 400 worldwide.[4]
In late 2015, Kahala Brands purchased the gourmet coffee and smoothie brand Maui Wowi. [5]
Brands
- America's Taco Shop (Arizona, California, Maryland, Texas)
- Blimpie (United States and Kuwait)
- Cereality (Texas, West Virginia, Minnesota and Ohio; formerly Illinois)
- Cold Stone Creamery (Bahrain, Canada (partnership with Burger King/Tim Hortons), China, Denmark, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Mexico, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, South Korea, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, United States, Philippines, Kenya, Cold Stone Creamery is licensed but not yet open in Pakistan, Finland, Jordan, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Vietnam and Singapore.).
- Frullati Cafe & Bakery (Kuwait and United States)
- Great Steak (Canada, Mexico, Kuwait and United States)
- Johnnie’s New York Pizzeria (California, Florida, Oregon, Texas, and Washington)
- Kahala Coffee Traders (California, Utah)
- Maui Wowi Hawaiian (United States, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates)
- NRgize Lifestyle Cafe (United States)
- Planet Smoothie (Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia) [6]
- Pinkberry (Canada, Chile, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Panama, Peru, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, United States, Philippines, Thailand)
- Ranch1 (Kuwait and United States)
- Rollerz (California, D.C., Illinois, Nevada and Texas)
- Samurai Sam's Teriyaki Grill (Kuwait and United States)
- Surf City Squeeze (Canada, Saudi Arabia, Curaçao/Netherlands Antilles and United States)
- Taco Time (Canada, Kuwait, Curaçao/Netherlands Antilles and United States)
- Tasti D-Lite (Florida, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Texas)
References
- ↑ Jennings, Lisa (2007-05-27). "Kahala Merger Data". Nation's Restaurant News. Retrieved 2008-11-30.
- ↑ Canadian Press, MTY Foods set to double in size with acquisition of Kahala Brand, Montreal Gazette, May 25, 2016
- ↑ "Kahala Corp History". 2008-11-30. Retrieved 2008-11-30.
- ↑ "Kahala Brands Announces Purchase Of Planet Smoothie & Tasti D-Lite". 2015-06-02. Retrieved 2015-06-02.
- ↑ "Kahala Brands buys Maui Wowi". Retrieved 2015-12-02.
- ↑ http://www.kahalamgmt.com/brands/index.html