Frisch’s says its latest wave of store closures is due to ‘unforeseen circumstances.’ Others say it’s the predictable result of a sale-leaseback transaction that followed its 2015 ownership change.
For the second time in six months, the Frischs Big Boy restaurant chain is in the middle of a major downsizing, with eviction filings that could force the closure of a dozen Greater Cincinnati locations.
The company has blamed unforeseen circumstances and various other factors.
However, some say these problems were the predictable result of a sale-leaseback transaction that followed the companys 2015 purchase by an Atlanta-based private equity firm.
NRD Capital paid $175 million for the publicly traded company that established Frischs Restaurants Inc. in 1939. Four months after that sale, a Florida-based company paid $47 million for 74 of the companys 121 stores. That company, now known as NNN REIT LP, is trying to evict Frischs from at least 12 of its Greater Cincinnati locations.
There are plenty of examples of companies who went into this type of real estate strategy with good intentions and it just didnt work out, said Carl Goertemoeller, executive director of the University of Cincinnatis Real Estate Center. I hope thats not the case with Frischs but weve seen this movie before.
Goertemoeller is a former Macys executive who resisted attempts by activist investors to force Macys to pursue sale-leaseback deals for its department stores.
If you own the real estate, that gives you control, he said. If you have an underperforming location, it gives you the ability to monetize it by selling it. And it allows you as an ongoing enterprise to avoid having to pay rent.
Goertemoeller said sale-leaseback arrangements are particularly risky for the volatile restaurant industry, where changes in consumer tastes lead to a steady flow of new competitors. Thats because they require annual rent increases that make it harder for companies to adapt to rising food, energy and labor costs.
Lease documents filed with its eviction cases show Frischs now pays about $1.2 million per month for 66 locations it still rents from NNN. That works out to $18,379 per store. When it signed the deal in 2015, it was paying 50% less per store, or $13,363.
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These are not short-term deals, Goertemoeller said. I believe the Frischs arrangement was for 20 years. So, you are locking yourself into 20 years of escalating rent payments. Thats a lot of time for a business to potentially go off the rails.
The I-Team asked NRD Capital Managing Director Aziz Hashim if its sale-leaseback transaction threatens Frischs future. His answer: I dont believe the company has made any reference to it not being a going concern not sure why you would ask that. The evictions certainly dont represent the totality of the company.
NNN did not respond to the I-Teams call.
The I-Team spoke to several experts in retail and commercial real estate to identify what went wrong at Frisch’s. It ranks among Cincinnati’s legacy brands like Skyline, LaRosa’s, Graeter’s and Montgomery Inn.
They pointed to industry trends, a general decline in casual dining restaurants and the pandemic, which shut down restaurants in 2020 and left them with higher food, energy and labor costs after that.
But three experts said its 2015 sale-leaseback deal made it harder for Frisch’s to recover from all of those problems.
Restaurant industry veteran Jim Moehring said NNN might be trying to cull its portfolio of weaker performers, in hopes that Frischs stronger restaurants will give its investors the return they want.
Having seen this happen before, I think the last thing that wants is for (Frischs) to go into bankruptcy, Moehring said. So, I would assume that theyre trying to say, OK, we have these properties that are performing well. Lets keep those running and take it from there.
Moehring entered into a sale-leaseback deal for one of the eight local Popeyes locations he owned several years ago. Holy Grail at The Banks is now his only restaurant.
We needed some cash to do other things, Moehring said. It is a mechanism that a lot of small businesses use.
Xavier University marketing professor Scott Beck said NRD Capital appeared to be off to a strong start in 2015, when former CEO Jason Vaughn reversed an unpopular decision to replace Coke with Pepsi and refreshed Frischs menu without diminishing Big Boys most popular offerings. But Vaughns replacement, Beck said, seemed more interested in cost cutting.
It doesnt appear that the current ownership frankly cares about it, Beck said. If you go to some of the physical locations, theyre not in the best of shape. I went to the investor’s website (for NRD Capital). They talk about some of the investments theyve made in their portfolio. Frischs is not up there. Its not one of the companies thats highlighted. It almost feels a little dismissive.
Moehring agrees that ownership makes a difference. Frischs became a Cincinnati legacy brand because it was controlled by the Maier family for generations, even after it became a publicly traded company.
I remember when (former CEO) Craig Maier was driving sales through there. When its your passion, its your family business, it means a lot more, said Moehring.