Looking to expand, Cafe Patachou owner partners with private equity firm
Martha Hoover and Won’t Stop Hospitality Inc. announced Wednesday an investment from North Carolina-based Hargett Hunter Capital Management that is expected to accelerate her goal of opening more restaurants. C Cafe Patachou founder Martha Hoover has partnered with North Carolina-based venture capital firm Hargett Hunter Capital Management for an investment in the company, Won’t Stop Hospitality Inc., parent company of breakfast and lunch spot Cafe Patachesou and five other restaurant concepts. The deal was announced without disclosing the financial terms, but Hoover believes Harget Hunter will accelerate her goal of out-of-market expansion. The firm, which invests in emerging restaurant concepts generating a minimum of $10 million of annual revenue, can be deployed over time. Hoover retains an ownership stake in Won‘tStop Hospitality, which has named Oregon-based restaurant executive Michelle Andersen as its new CEO.
Published : 10 months ago by in Business
After 35 years of operating restaurants in central Indiana, Cafe Patachou founder Martha Hoover has a new partner for the pursuit of opening eateries in other places.
Won’t Stop Hospitality Inc., parent company of breakfast and lunch spot Cafe Patachou and five other restaurant concepts, announced Wednesday an investment from Raleigh, North Carolina-based venture capital firm Hargett Hunter Capital Management.
Without disclosing terms of the deal, Hoover said Hargett Hunter is a restaurant-specific private equity firm that will accelerate her goal of out-of-market expansion.
“They believe in quality of product, quality of experience and quality of culture at scale,” Hoover said of Hargett Hunter. “Unlike a vast majority of equity partners, they do not have a compressed time frame. In other words, they don’t want to throw money at it, overdevelop quickly and get out fast. They’re in it for the long term and for the right reasons.”
According to Hargett Hunter’s website, the firm invests “exclusively in emerging restaurant concepts generating a minimum of $10 million of annual revenue where $10 to $50 million of capital can be deployed over time.”
Hoover retains an ownership stake of Won’t Stop Hospitality, which named Oregon-based restaurant executive Michelle Andersen as new CEO as part of the Hargett Hunter investment announcement.
Andersen previously led a seven-state region of operations for Starbucks and she served as CEO of Boise Co-op grocery stores in Idaho.
“She’s well known in the restaurant community, especially in the rarefied world of women in food,” Hoover said of Andersen.
In a written statement, a Hargett Hunter spokesperson said no immediate changes are planned for existing Won’t Stop Hospitality restaurants: “Why ruin what has worked so successfully for the last 35 years? We trust the existing leadership team under Hoover in partnership with Michelle Andersen to properly steward the company forward.”
Hoover said she anticipates the opportunity for new Cafe Patachou locations in Indiana and nearby states.
“My goal is to be able to drive to be at a location,” she said. “There are some natural limitations there, and there is some efficiency. I’m not going to open up a single restaurant in Phoenix and a single restaurant in Tampa and call that my expansion plan. That doesn’t seem to make any logical sense.”
Since 2019, Hargett Hunter has invested in Live.Eat Surf, a California-inspired Mexican restaurant group in North Carolina; Cajun Steamer, a seafood restaurant group in Alabama; Marugame Udon, a fast-casual Asian restaurant group with locations in California and Hawaii; and Trudy’s, a Tex-Mex restaurant in Austin, Texas.
Hoover opened the original Cafe Patachou in 1989 near the intersection of 49th and Pennsylvania streets. The eighth Cafe Patachou location is expected to open later this year in the Nickel Plate District of Fishers.
The roster of Won’t Stop Hospitality restaurants includes Petite Chou Bistro & Champagne Bar, Public Greens Urban Kitchen, Napolese Pizzeria and private event space Bar One Fourteen.
Topics: Private Equity