Restaurants & Hospitality Acquisitions in Illinois

a21 has acquired an equity stake in Two12, the culinary-focused talent management company founded by Scott R. Feldman, forming a strategic partnership to integrate talent representation with a21’s event production, marketing, and brand partnership capabilities. Paradigm Talent Agency will continue to support Two12, and the alliance will immediately extend across a21’s portfolio of food- and wine-focused events and planned touring platforms to expand opportunities across food, beverage, hospitality, and media.

Five Iron Golf has acquired the indoor golf business Golf the Green in Bucktown, Chicago and reopened the venue under the Five Iron brand, marking the company’s fourth Chicago location. The acquisition expands Five Iron’s local footprint and integrates a nine-simulator venue into its technology-driven, hospitality-focused indoor golf network.

Phoenix3 Holdings has acquired a controlling interest in Infuse Hospitality, a Chicago-based operator of workplace dining and amenity services. As part of the transaction Phoenix3 named industry veteran Paul Fairhead as CEO and plans to scale Infuse’s culinary-led, technology-enabled workplace hospitality offerings across its portfolio.

The Chicago Hotel Collection has acquired the Ambassador Chicago, a 285-room historic boutique hotel in the Gold Coast neighborhood. The acquisition expands the Collection's portfolio of independent lifestyle hotels in Chicago and will include strategic enhancements and a new guest benefits package.

Private-equity firm BroadPeak Capital (launched by Tariq Farid) acquired Rōti Modern Mediterranean out of bankruptcy in February and is transitioning the roughly 17-unit chain into a newly created platform, Edible Brands. The buyer plans to franchise Rōti aggressively, leverage cross-brand synergies with Edible Arrangements and Edible.com, and scale the concept nationally.

MCR has acquired the 11-story, 1,095-room Hyatt Regency O’Hare Chicago in Rosemont, Illinois, marking MCR’s first Hyatt Regency-branded hotel and its fifth property in Illinois. The hotel, located adjacent to the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center and five minutes from O'Hare International Airport, features extensive meeting space and recent guestroom renovations.

Wonder, the delivery-first food hall and mealtime platform founded by Marc Lore, will acquire Grubhub from Just Eat Takeaway.com for an enterprise value of $650 million (including $500 million of senior notes and $150 million cash). The acquisition will integrate Grubhub’s large marketplace and logistics network into Wonder’s app to accelerate Wonder’s ‘super app for mealtime’ strategy; the deal is expected to close in Q1 2025 and Jefferies served as Wonder’s financial advisor.

Vancouver-based Fantuan has acquired the delivery business line of Chicago-based Chowbus; financial terms were not disclosed. About 20 Chowbus employees will join Fantuan as the companies form a partnership to combine Fantuan's delivery network with Chowbus' restaurant management software, boosting Fantuan's U.S. penetration and pushing its U.S. market share to over 60%.

Upper Crust Food Service, LLC has acquired Campus Cooks, LLC, combining two leading providers of contract food service management for fraternity and sorority houses and summer camps. The combined company will serve over 550 accounts across 45 states and leverage more than 1,000 food service professionals to expand service capacity and strengthen market leadership in the Greek and camp food service segment.

All Access Golf Travel & Events has acquired TripNerd, a fan concierge and event services company, to expand its event and travel offerings. TripNerd CEO Jason Driscoll will join All Access as President of All Access Events as the combined business aims to deliver elevated golf travel and fan-experience services.

Granite Creek Capital Partners, a Chicago-based private investment firm, has made a growth investment in Pinstripes, Inc., an operator of dining and entertainment venues combining bowling, bocce, and Italian-American cuisine. The capital will be used to finance Pinstripes' expansion—the company operates 13 venues with six additional locations under construction across multiple states.

H.I.G. Capital, through one of its affiliates, has completed the acquisition of Family Entertainment Group Holdings, LLC. The Itasca, Illinois–based company operates nearly 60 family entertainment locations and provides turnkey outsourced arcade and facility management services; H.I.G. will partner with founder George Smith and the existing management team to accelerate growth and expand the company's market presence.

REEF Technology Inc. has acquired 2ndKitchen, a virtual-kitchen and hospitality foodtech platform that enables hotels, offices and venues to offer food service without onsite kitchens. The deal will fold 2ndKitchen into REEF's Hospitality division to expand REEF's virtual-restaurant footprint and connect its portfolio of brands to more hospitality venues and customers; terms were not disclosed.

Farragut Capital Partners provided senior debt and made an equity co-investment alongside Pelham S2K to support Factorial Restaurant Holdings, LLC's acquisition of 26 Burger King locations. The newly formed, Chicago-based platform (Factorial) will use the capital and a delayed-draw development line to remodel stores and pursue future growth across the Burger King system in the Midwest.

Diversified Restaurant Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: SAUC) entered into an agreement to acquire nine Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants in the Chicago market for $22.5 million. The acquisition expands DRH’s Midwest footprint, adds scale to leverage infrastructure and marketing, and is expected to close in Q2 subject to franchisor consent and customary conditions.

St. Louis-based private equity firm Millstone Capital Advisors has acquired Native Foods, a Chicago-based plant-focused fast-casual restaurant chain with 13 locations across California, Colorado, Oregon and Illinois. Millstone said the investment will provide resources to support Native Foods' expansion while maintaining the brand's plant-based mission and operations under existing management.