So it seems Bob's Big Boy is related-but-not-really and they *might* survive. Unless I have that all wrong. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frisch's
Well of course that's how the big franchisers operate. You buy the property and then lease it to franchisees. Like the guy told Ray Kroc way back when, you're not in the 19 cent hamburger business ,you're in the real.estate business. All the investor did was reverse engineer the process. As with any investment he recognized where the value was and that's what he bought, not the trademark rights to a chubby kid in checkered overalls. Big Boy has been a marginal business for years. Who the hell goes there any more? Nobody in their right mind would spend millions buying a fading 1960's brand that is barely scraping by. They bought the property and sold it. Maybe it's cold but business ain't Parchesi.
Yes, that's very similar to what happened to Red Lobster, along with utterly abominable management that did stupid stuff like offer all you can eat shrimp without first figuring out just how much shrimp some people could eat. They lost $11 million in a single month. New corporate owners stopped investing in stuff like maintenance and then as you suggest sold the properties. So the stores suddenly had hefty new lease payments on top of their other financial pressures. Most analysts think RL could have been saved by smart management but instead they got idiots who chose to sell the only real value they had and then let the stores sink.
Not related to the thread topic but related to this post; if you haven't seen the movie The Founder yet, check it out.
The Cincinnati area Frisch's are closing. Do the Central Ohio stores have the same franchisee? I know the one in Worthington closed during the pandemic but the ones in Grove City and Heath seemed to be hanging on the last time I was there.
IIRC, Curtin said sometime in the summer that they needed to spend more to remain competitive. Not surprising that this is how Jay Sugarman took that feedback.
A healthy, but not in form, Mbappe was left off the French Nations league team for two upcoming games. Might be as punishment for his actions during the last window. Must be nice to be able to send a message to Mbappe.......
Angulo for FCKY has passed away after being injured in a car accident in Equador, where he was on loan. 22 years if age.
Lucho wants to go to Del Boca Vista I mean Boca Juniors. Seems he settled on leaving 1856869027714666698 is not a valid tweet id