FILE - This March 1, 2010, file photo shows an Arby's restaurant sign in Cutler Bay, Fla. Arby's is buying casual dining chain Buffalo Wild Wings in a deal worth about $2.4 billion. Arby's Restaurant Group Inc. said Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2017, that it will pay $157 per share. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)
Buffalo Wild WingsArby's completed its deal to buy Buffalo Wild Wings on Monday and created a new company named Inspire Brands that will run the chains.
Inspire Brands will oversee Arby's, Buffalo Wild Wings and a small chain with about 30 locations called R Taco.
Arby's, known for its meaty sandwiches, has more than 3,400 restaurants, including eight locations in Hamilton County and others in Cleveland and Kimball, Tenn., and in Lafayette and Dalton, Ga. Buffalo Wild Wings has more than 1,200 locations, including area stores in downtown Chattanooga, Hixson, Fort Oglethorpe and Cleveland, Tenn.
Several restaurant chains, including Buffalo Wild Wings, have been taken private recently as they lose customers to cheaper and faster chains. Another sit-down chain, Ruby Tuesday, was bought by private equity firm NRD Capital last year.
At Buffalo Wild Wings, which serves chicken wings in a sports bar atmosphere, a key sales figure has fallen in the past two quarters. Arby's had announced in November that it would pay $2.4 billion for Buffalo Wild Wings. When debt is included, the companies value the deal at $2.9 billion.
Inspire Brands, which is controlled by private equity firm Roark Capital, is based in Atlanta. Inspire Brands said it will have total sales of more than $7.6 billion a year. Arby's CEO Paul Brown will have the same title at the new company.
"We believe the time is right to create a different kind of restaurant company - one with a broad portfolio of distinct brands across a full spectrum of restaurant occasions," Brown said in a release. "Our goal is to build an organization that leverages the benefits of scale, not only to save cost, but also to enable outsized investments in long-term growth initiatives."