Soup and Sandwich Chain
The Situation
- Privately held, soup and sandwich chain with 200 company-owned units and 100 franchise units
- EBITDA has been declining for several consecutive years due to both internal and external factors despite stable or higher sales
- Company had inconsistent performance from different configurations and expansion to non-core markets
- Company underperformed relative to projections during an eight-month extension from lender
Role(s)
- Financial Advisor
The Work
- Retained by company to assess business plan and strategic store footprint review as part of forbearance effort with lenders
- Performed cohort and correlation analysis, analyzed modeling impact of third-party delivery services, and identified growth sales opportunities within each unit
- Provided recommendations for tactical, short-term efforts, including lease negotiations and non-core market evaluations
- Provided additional recommendations for strategic, long-term efforts to improve guest experience, aligning company’s family-oriented value and reconfiguring store format
- Business plan enables short-term profitability improvement through third-party delivery and store closures
- Due to COVID-19, assisted with management of short-term liquidity and negotiation of short-term forbearance with lenders
The Results
- Updated strategic plan resulted in positive same-store sales growth and an increase in store-level EBITDA
- Negotiated a three-month extension with its lenders, allowing management to focus on restarting operations and engaging in cost-saving measurements