Brix Holdings owns the Friendly’s restaurant chain. Multi-unit franchisee Amol Kohli bought Brix Holdings, the company announced this week.
As a child of immigrant parents, Amol Kohli learned the importance of hard work while growing up.
He displayed that work ethic as a teenager when he landed a gig as a server at a newly opened Friendly’s and worked his way up to a shift manager before attending Drexel University in Philadelphia. At the time, he aimed to work on Wall Street with his business degrees.
His former boss offered him a job working in the back office to help run a few Friendly’s locations and Kohli grew to be a 30-unit Friendly’s operator.
“This is an industry that will humble you over and over and over,” Kohli said. “Every time you think you want to celebrate a win, what I’m going to tell you is that if the win makes sense, there’s nothing to celebrate. You just keep going.”
Amol Kohli, a multi-unit Friendly’s franchisee, heads new Brix Holdings owner, the Legacy Brands International investment group
Friendly’s and the rest of the Brix Holdings brands are now under new ownership.
What propels someone from serving breakfast at Friendly’s to owning the entire company? For Amol Kohli, now owner of Friendly’s parent company Brix Holdings through his investment group Legacy Brands International, the long journey required patience, hard work, and good timing.
Kohli comes from a first-generation Indian-American immigrant family and said he was taught the value of hard work at a young age. As a teenager, one of his first jobs was working as a breakfast shift waiter at his local Friendly’s on the weekends, where by age 18 he had worked his way up to store manager. Kohli went to business school at Drexel University during a time of economic downturn, and while in school, he received a call from his boss at Friendly’s who was acquiring stores and wanted help running the back office.
Legacy Brands International, led by Friendly’s franchisee Amol Kohli, has acquired BRIX Holdings, a Dallas-based multi-brand franchising platform.
The deal includes ownership of Friendly’s, Clean Juice, Orange Leaf, Red Mango, Smoothie Factory + Kitchen, Souper Salad and Humble Donut Co. Terms were not disclosed. BRIX will remain headquartered in Dallas under CEO Sherif Mityas and its existing leadership team. The acquisition positions BRIX for further national expansion, particularly in the South and Southeast, while also pursuing additional brand acquisitions.
Dilworth Paxson advised Legacy Brands International, and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher advised the sellers.
Friendly’s will still operate under the same leadership team.
Brix Holdings — the 250-unit parent company to Friendly’s Restaurants, Clean Juice, Red Mango, and Orange Leaf — has been acquired by Legacy Brands International, an investment group managed by multi-unit Friendly’s franchisee, Amol Kohli.
As part of the transaction, which was finalized by the now-former owner, Jamco Interests, for an undisclosed sum, Brix will remain headquartered in Dallas and will continue to be led by the existing leadership team, including CEO Sherif Mityas. Kohli will continue to manage his 30 franchised locations and will join the Brix board as chairman.
UPDATE: This story has been updated to include same-store sales figures for some Brix concepts.
Brix Holdings, the owner of Friendly’s, Clean Juice and other restaurant brands, has been acquired by a Friendly’s franchisee.
Legacy Brands International operates more than 30 Friendly’s on the East Coast, or about a third of the chain. It will take over Dallas-based Brix, which has more than 250 locations across Friendly’s, Clean Juice, Orange Leaf, Red Mango, Smoothie Factory + Kitchen, Souper Salad, and Humble Donut Co.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Legacy owner Amol Kohli will become chairman of Brix, and the Brix leadership team, including CEO Sherif Mityas, will remain in place. Brix’s majority owner JAMCO Interests will also remain involved as an investor in Legacy Brands. (more…)
Brix Holdings — the 250-unit parent company to Friendly’s Restaurants, Clean Juice, Red Mango, and Orange Leaf — has been acquired by Legacy Brands International, an investment group managed by multi-unit Friendly’s franchisee, Amol Kohli.
As part of the transaction, which was finalized by the now-former owner, Jamco Interests, for an undisclosed sum, Brix will remain headquartered in Dallas and will continue to be led by the existing leadership team, including CEO Sherif Mityas. Kohli will continue to manage his 30 franchised locations and will join the Brix board as chairman.
“Amol is the ideal candidate for ownership of Brix Holdings; he has a long history of success and dedication to Friendly’s,” John Antioco, managing member of Jamco Interests, said in a statement. “His broad experience in the restaurant industry and in-depth understanding of multi-brand franchising systems and development will contribute greatly to the continued growth of the BRIX brands and its franchisees.”
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