FAT Brands to acquire Nestlé Toll House Café US franchise

The Nestlé Toll House Café network will be rebranded as Great American Cookies | Photo credit: Saroona1989 CC BY-SA 3.0

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FAT Brands is to acquire US coffee and dessert chain Nestlé Toll House Café by Chip, a network of franchised cafés serving Nestlé-branded desserts and coffee.

According to FAT Brands, the Toll House stores will be rebranded as Great American Cookies, the quick-service chain it acquired as part of a wider acquisitions deal worth $442.5m in early 2021.

The Los Angeles-based American fast casual dining franchising company added that the acquisition would increase its foothold within the US quick service dessert market.

Crest Foods currently franchises 84 Nestlé Toll House Café by Chip outlets across the US. The brand, which first opened in 2000, has seen both sales and store numbers decline in recent years.

In 2017, Crest Foods announced plans for increased expansion of the Nestlé brand throughout the Middle East. However, the FAT Brands acquisition likely renders the Nestlé Toll House Café by Chip network defunct.

“These stores will fold seamlessly into our Quick-Service Division and provide us the opportunity to increase the capacity of our manufacturing business, a key growth objective. To date, acquisitions have been a strong growth vehicle for FAT Brands, and we anticipate the combination of our production and distribution facility and scale to increase the profitability of the franchisees that are joining us in this acquisition,” said Andy Wiederhorn, FAT Brands CEO.

In addition to Great American Cookies, which has 373 locations, FAT Brands operates a further 16 restaurant brands and franchises comprising more than 2,300 units worldwide.

Total FAT Brands revenue increased 1,365% to $97.4m in the first quarter of 2022, compared to $6.6m in the same period in 2021.