Thousand Oaks, CA-based Baja Fresh currently owns, operates and franchises 169 "fast-casual" restaurants, a trend that combines the speed and moderate prices of traditional fast food with fresh ingredients and enough fine-dining niceties to make patrons feel pampered.
Currently operating in 16 states scattered throughout the Southwest, Midwest and Southeast, Wendy's officials say the Baja Fresh chain is poised to break out on a national level. Management expects to have 210 locations open in 18 states by the end of 2002 and Wendy's expects to triple that figure within five years.
"For Wendy's International, the strategic importance of this transaction is that we expect to expand Baja Fresh over the next five years to a total range of 600 to 700 locations," says Wendy's chairman and CEO Jack Schuessler. "We expect Baja Fresh to provide increasing revenue and income for our Company, and to provide excellent long-term return on investment."
Upon completion of the transaction, which is expected in June 2002, Baja Fresh will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Wendy's, and maintain its offices in Thousand Oaks, CA. The transaction has been approved by both companies' and is contingent upon regulatory approvals.
With $8.3 billion in 2001 sales and more than 8,200 locations, Wendy's International is one of the world's largest restaurant companies. The company's two main brands are Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers and Tim Hortons. Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers was founded in 1969 by Dave Thomas has 6,064 restaurants in the United States, Canada and international markets. Tim Hortons was founded in 1964 by Tim Horton and Ron Joyce and sells coffee and fresh baked goods at 2,048 locations in Canada and 145 in the U.S.
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