Tanner's Restaurants To Take Over Control of Publicly Traded Harvest Restaurant Group, Inc.
$6,000,000 Of New Equity Committed to Fund Aggressive Expansion of Tanner's
ATLANTA, July 28 /PRNewswire/ -- TRC Acquisition Corporation, the corporate parent of Tanner's Restaurants, has entered into a definitive agreement to merge
with, and take control of, San Antonio based Harvest Restaurant Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: ROTI - news). The merger, which is subject to Harvest shareholder approval, is
expected to close in September.
As part of this transaction, an investor group will invest $6,000,000 in new equity for the public Tanner's entity, primarily to fund new unit expansion of Rick Tanner's
Original Grill restaurants. Tanner's, founded in 1986, currently has eleven (11) company owned and operated restaurants in the metropolitan Atlanta area. The company
also has franchise restaurants in Montgomery, Alabama and Macon, Georgia. Annualized system-wide sales for 1998 are approximately $17,000,000.
$2,000,000 of new equity has already been provided to finance the immediate development of five additional Rick Tanner's Restaurants, expected to open before the end
of February, 1999. The four million dollar balance of funding will be provided upon closing of the TRC/Harvest merger.
Additionally, three franchise stores are breaking ground in August and expect to open before the end of 1998. They include a store in Oxford, Alabama and stores in
Albany and Paulding County, Georgia. These eight new stores being added to the Tanner's system in the next seven months will bring the total store count to twenty-one.
Plans for 1999 call for opening seven additional company owned stores and seven franchise stores. TRC expects annualized system-wide revenues will be in excess of
$45,000,000 by the end of 1999.
TRC Acquisition Corporation was organized by hospitality industry veteran Clyde E. Culp, III and Atlanta investment banker John Feltman to do a leveraged buy-out of
Rick Tanner's Original Grill Restaurants in late 1996, with the support of private equity investors and Sirrom Capital Corporation [NYSE:SIR - news]. Culp will serve as
Chairman and CEO of the new Tanner's. In his twenty-eight year career in the industry he has been President and CEO of Long John Silver's, President and CEO of
Embassy Suites and Founder/Chairman of Davco Foods, the largest Wendy's franchisee.
''This merger into a publicly traded entity and the new equity funding enable Tanner's to continue executing its strategic goal of national expansion, beginning immediately
with new restaurant growth in the Southeast and Southwest,'' Culp said.
TRC Acquisition Corporation operates and franchises Rick Tanner's Original Grill restaurants, offering friendly table service of home-style meals featuring chicken,
barbeque, and a selection of vegetables.
Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the ''safe harbor''
provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results
to differ materially. These risks are detailed in the Company's period reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements
speak only as of the date hereof. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.
SOURCE: TRC Acquisition Corporation |
