Jack in the Box Announces Partnership with The Cypress Group to Assist with Refranchising of Del Taco Restaurants

Jack in the Box Inc. (NASDAQ: JACK) today announced that it has partnered with The Cypress Group, a leading restaurant and franchise investment banking firm, to manage the sale of certain company-owned Del Taco restaurants, which currently make up roughly half of the brand’s total restaurant count, to existing and new franchisees.

The sale process will begin immediately and represents the next step toward asset-light portfolio optimization of the Del Taco system, positioning it for future growth.

Cypress has more than 30 years of multi-unit M&A and corporate refranchising experience in the restaurant industry. Jack in the Box completed its acquisition of Del Taco last March, adding a clear growth opportunity to its portfolio – and seeks to make meaningful progress in 2023 on refranchising its newly-acquired brand to new or existing growth-oriented franchisees committing to develop additional restaurants.

“The attractiveness in acquiring a growth brand like Del Taco included the opportunity to create a multi-brand organization that operates asset-light, with the ability to make significant refranchising progress shortly after completion,” said Darin Harris, Jack in the Box chief executive officer. “Between our recent experience refranchising Jack in the Box, and now adding the expertise of The Cypress Group through this partnership, we feel we are well equipped to make progress toward this objective during 2023.”

“We are excited to work with Jack in the Box, Del Taco and this outstanding management team to facilitate the optimization process, and contribute to the new company’s growth strategy and objectives,” said Dean Zuccarello, Cypress chief executive officer. “These unique, challenger brands offer outstanding unit economics and a tremendous growth opportunity to franchisees – which give us great confidence to successfully execute the process.”

The Cypress Group will be launching opportunities to new franchisees, as well as existing Jack in the Box and Del Taco operators, immediately. Parties interested in these opportunities should direct all communication to DELRefran@cypressgroup.biz.