Famous Brands — the owner of Steers, Wimpy, and Debonairs, has acquired a 51% stake in local restaurant brand Lexi’s Healthy Eatery, effective 01 April 2022.
Lexi’s is a casual dining restaurant offering a full-service, sit-down, predominantly plant-based dining experience across breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
“The acquisition is aligned with Famous Brands’ three-year strategic roadmap, which includes acquiring brands that have the potential to lead in their category, and which offer growth prospects based on opportunities to improve existing operational efficiencies in the target business,” Famous Brands said.
The acquisition pertains to the franchise and central kitchen operations of the business, the food franchisor added.
Lexi’s describes itself as a “mostly vegan, whole-food restaurant” that strives “for the most sustainable, conscious, moral and nutritious way of living”. It does however offer a free-range meat and fish menu option to accommodate flexitarians, according to the restaurant brand’s website. The menu is gluten-free and refined sugar-free.
Lexi’s was founded in 2018 by Lexi Monzeglio.
Famous Brands commented that Lexi Monzeglio brings a unique skill set and intellectual capital to a relatively untapped market niche for Famous Brands. “Together Lexi and her partner, Ezio Nichele, will be key to developing the strategic direction of the business through their vision and capability.”
Famous Brands noted that Lexi’s brand offering has strong potential to be expanded into a quick-service restaurant format and that there’s also scope to develop Lexi’s products for the supermarket retail space, and leverage off the Famous Brands group’s well-established route-to-market. “In time, Lexi’s central kitchen could cater for ancillary business from the group’s existing brands, as happens elsewhere in the business model,” it added.
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