Del Frisco CEO: Fast Forward After Fast Casual Acquisition Bartaco
Skift Take
The potential to scale Bartaco is huge for Del Frisco, given the concept's high profit margins. But if the CEO sees the 18-unit taco chain becoming a 300-unit behemoth in the future, it's going to take a lot of smart real estate decisions to get there.
As large restaurant chains survey the industry in search of smaller acquisitions, Del Frisco Restaurant Group got a jump on the competition when it made its move earlier this year.
The chain bought Barteca, which included Barcelona Wine Bar and Bartaco, a fast casual taco chain, in June 2018 for $325 million in cash, and quickly got to work with closing underperforming locations and charting a new path of growth.
At Bartaco, that means measured expansion in markets that make sense for the brand. Del Frisco's CEO Norman Abdallah said on the company's third qu
