A cup of coffee and a strawberry glazed donut with sprinkles at a Dunkin’ Donuts store in Los Angeles on September 6, 2017.
Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Owner of Dunkin’ and Buffalo Wild Wings Inspire Brands has confidentially filed for an initial public offering, the company announced Friday.
If Inspire goes public, it will be one of the largest restoration deals ever. Private equity firm Roark Capital, which backs Inspire, is reportedly seeking a valuation of around $20 billion.
Inspire was founded in 2018 through a merger between Arby’s and Buffalo Wild Wings. Acquisitions followed: Sonic Drive-In later in 2018 and Jimmy John’s in 2019. And in 2020, Inspire took Dunkin’ and its sister chain Baskin Robbins private in an $11 billion deal.
Across these six chains, Inspire has more than 33,300 restaurants worldwide and annual sales of $33.4 billion, according to the company’s website.
Inspire isn’t the only restaurant company pursuing an IPO. Last month, Jersey Mike’s also announced it had filed a confidential filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The IPO market has been lukewarm, although that could change later this year. Market volatility, economic uncertainty and recent poor performance of IPO stocks have led to a backlog of listings.
However, several blockbuster IPOs, such as SpaceX’s, which could value the company at over $1 trillion, are expected in the coming months.