TUESDAY October 15, 2019
Public legal notices begin on page 3
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RESTAURANTS
Dick’s Wings parent buys WingHouse Bar & Grill
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Maple Street CEO: No changes with food, people after merger Cracker Barrel Old Country Store paid $36 million in cash for the Orange Park-based chain, founded in 2012 with one restaurant.
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BY MARK BASCH CONTRIBUTING WRITER
BY MARK BASCH & KAREN BRUNE MATHIS STAFF WRITERS
Jacksonville-based ARC Group paid $18 million in cash and stock for the chain of 24 restaurants.
Maple Street Biscuit Company Inc. CEO Scott Moore said Saturday that customers won’t see changes in recipes, hours or operations now that Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. owns the restaurant company. “For now, you can come into Maple Street and get the same stuff from the same people doing it the same way,” Moore said a day after Cracker Barrel announced it paid $36 million in cash for Maple Street. Moore and Gus Evans founded Maple Street in Jacksonville in 2012 with a single restaurant in San Marco. It has grown to 33 locations in seven states operated by 600 employees. It serves breakfast and lunch Monday through Saturday, closing on Sundays. The menu is based on a biscuit recipe that co-founder Gus Evans created when he and Moore started the company. Items include biscuit sandwiches and biscuits and gravy, waffles, oatmeal, bowls, salads and sides. The company moved its headquarters last year from Downtown Jacksonville to Orange Park. Lebanon, Tennessee-based Cracker Barrel said Moore will remain CEO of the Maple Street company. Moore said the leadership team remains in place.
SEE MAPLE STREET, PAGE 2
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Maple Street Biscuit Company Inc. co-founder Scott Moore remains CEO under new ownership by Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc.
The parent company of the Dick’s Wings & Grill restaurant chain Monday said it acquired the WingHouse Bar & Grill restaurant concept for $18 million. Jacksonville-based ARC Group Inc. said it is paying $12 million in cash and $6 million in stock to buy the company from Soaring Wings LLC. WingHouse, founded a quarter-century ago in Largo, has 24 locations in Florida generating more than $60 million in annual revenue, ARC Group said. ARC Group’s total revenue was $8.8 million in the first six months of this year. Its Dick’s Wings chain has 23 restaurants in Florida and Georgia. ARC Group also owns a chain called Fat Patty’s with four locations in West Virginia and Kentucky. “This acquisition is consistent with our strategy of acquiring restaurant chains for which we can leverage our franchising, marketing, operational, logistics and financial expertise to drive sales growth and profitability,” ARC Group CEO Seenu Kasturi said in a news release. “This transaction should provide us with significant scale as we project ARC Group’s combined annualized revenue will now exceed $70 million. Additionally, we expect this acquisition to immediately begin contributing to our operating cash flow,” he said. ARC Group also has an agreement pending to buy the Tilted Kilt Eatery and Pub chain.
MBASCH@ JAXDAILYRECORD.COM
Owe a fine? Get a break Thanks to a limited-time program called Operation Green Light, if you have an overdue traffic ticket or criminal fee due in Duval County, you can pay it off and avoid the customary 40% collections surcharge. The program ends at 5 p.m. Friday. Fines must be paid in full by cash, money order or credit card. Checks are not accepted. Late fees and interest will not be waived. Visit duvalclerk.com/greenlight for more information. Since Saturday, nearly 500 people have taken advantage of the program with the clerk’s office collecting more than $100,000 in overdue fines and fees.
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