PRIVATE EQUITY OWNED
Schlotzsky's
Includes Schlotzsky's Austin Eatery
fast casual · Atlanta, GA
- PE Firm
- Roark Capital →
- Acquirer
- Roark Capital (via Focus Brands / GoTo Foods)
- Year Acquired
- 2006
Roark bought Schlotzsky's in 2006. Sales have grown 27% since, 45% behind the rest of the industry.
What They Did
- Roark Capital acquired Schlotzsky's in 2006, adding the Austin-born sandwich chain to the Focus Brands (now GoTo Foods) portfolio
- Sales have grown just 27% since acquisition — 45% below the industry average over the same period, according to a Restaurant Business analysis of Roark's track record
- Buried inside a seven-brand portfolio competing for corporate attention, Schlotzsky's gets the leftovers of Roark's focus
- One of seven brands in Roark's GoTo Foods portfolio, where stablemate McAlister's Deli grew sales 530% under the same owner and became a $1 billion chain
Since the Acquisition
- Fewer places to get The Original: the chain has shrunk from 370-plus locations in 2019 to 308 by the end of 2024
- Roark's Focus Brands moved to rebrand all 370-plus stores as 'Schlotzsky's Austin Eatery' in 2019, then reversed to 'Schlotzsky's Deli' in 2026 after its own 2025 survey found two-thirds of guests see it as a deli
- A sandwich chain that once defined Austin food culture has been reduced to an afterthought in a PE portfolio dominated by bigger brands
Sources
- How is Roark Capital's track record? It's complicated — Restaurant Business Online(2025-06-23)
- Focus Brands buys Schlotzsky's — Fast Casual(2006-11-20)
- Smaller Prototype Headlines Rebrand for Schlotzsky's Deli — Franchise Times(2026-03-06)
- Schlotzsky's rebrands, launches new prototype — Restaurant Dive(2026-03-02)
- Schlotzsky's Restaurants Across the Country Become 'Wonderfully Weird' With Transformation to Austin Eatery — RestaurantNews.com(2019-05-23)
- Back to the Deli: Schlotzsky's Launches Modernized Prototype and New Brand Identity — GoTo Foods via PR Newswire(2026-03-02)