A New England Institution, Under New Management
Founded in 2022. Nearly 500 restaurants by the end of 2026.
That's the Craveworthy Brands story in two lines, and this week it got a new chapter. On November 10th, Craveworthy announced that an affiliate has agreed to acquire New England Authentic Eats, the Dedham, Massachusetts-based parent of Papa Gino's Pizzeria (JB, this one's for you).
Full disclosure, and a proud one: Craveworthy is a Branded partner, and we've had a front-row seat for this ride from the beginning. So yes, weigh my enthusiasm accordingly. I'm cheering anyway.
Here are a few numbers:
160+ restaurants and about $160mm in annual revenue join the Craveworthy family. It's Craveworthy's largest acquisition to date.
Nearly 500 locations across the portfolio once the deal closes, which is expected by December 31st.
$300mm+ in systemwide sales across Craveworthy's 20+ concepts before this deal.
Wing It On!, the Connecticut-born wing brand that's already in the Craveworthy portfolio, is going into every Papa Gino's in the region as a co-brand. That takes it from 45 restaurants to more than 145.
Papa Gino's has been around since 1961, when it opened in East Boston. It filed for bankruptcy in 2018 and was bought by Wynnchurch Capital in 2019, and its footprint has shrunk since. Under Craveworthy, it keeps its name, its menu and its identity. What it gets is the platform behind it: shared purchasing, technology, training and back-end systems.
Founder and CEO Gregg Majewski put the playbook in one sentence: "We protect what makes a brand special, then put our full platform behind it."
Why I’d like operators to pay some attention to this.
Look at the Wing It On! piece. It's the smartest line in the release. Adding 100 new units the traditional way means 100 leases, 100 build-outs and 100 grand openings. Co-branding them into restaurants you already own means no new leases and no new real estate, just more sales from the same four walls, the same staff and the same back-end. Gregg said it simply: "Pizza and wings belong together. But the menu is only the start."
He's right on both counts. Pizza and wings make the kind of bundle that clears a $25 delivery minimum without breaking a sweat (see what I just did here as I tied this back to the Top of the Fold? 😊). And the bigger idea is the platform. Craveworthy has said it plans to make acquisitions of similar size every six to nine months. It's already showing what a shared platform can do, from Crave Kitchen at Georgia Tech (one kitchen, seven brands) to a portfolio that's grown to nearly 500 doors in about four years.
Last week I wrote about the barbell, and how brands that have been through the wringer need a turnaround sponsor. That's what this is. A beloved regional brand with a rough decade behind it is getting a sponsor who builds platforms and doesn't strip-mine them.
Congratulations to Gregg, Josh Halpern, Crave’s Chief Business Officer, to its new Chief Financial Officer, Keith Kravcik (I see you Mr. Kravcik) and the entire Craveworthy team, and welcome to the family, Papa Gino's. New England, your pizza is in good hands.
