MTY Food Group

MTY Food Group Inc.

Type	Public
Traded as	TSX: MTY
Founded	1979
Founder	Stanley Ma
Headquarters	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Key people	Stanley Ma PRES,CHAIR,CFO Claude St-Pierre CFO,SEC,DIR Stephen A. Stone DIR Murat Armutlu DIR Jason Lin DIR
Revenue	$2.0 billion systemwide $101.36 million (2013)[1] systemwide $725.8 million 51.40 million (2009)[2] systemwide =$400 million [3]
Divisions	MTY Tiki Ming Enterprises Taco Time Canada Inc. (founded as taco foods ltd., 1977) Country Style Food Services Holdings Inc. (founded 1962) Yogen Fruz Canada Inc. (founded 1986)
Website	MTY Food Group

MTY Food Group is a Canadian franchisor and operator of numerous quick service restaurants operating under 48 brand names, some of them through wholly owned subsidiaries. They include Thaï Express, Country Style, Groupe Valentine, Vanelli's, Extreme Pita, Cultures, La Cremiere, Sushi Shop, Veggirama, Caferama, O'burger, Tiki Ming, Vie & Nam, Au Vieux Duluth Express, FranxSupreme, ChicknChick, Croissant Plus, Koya Japan, Kim Chi, Panini, Tandori, Tutti Frutti, Villa Madina Mediterranean Cuisine, Sukiyaki, Taco Time, Yogen Früz and the Canadian branch of TCBY.

Among the largest acquisitions made by MTY is the Mr. Sub franchise; at the time it was a chain of 335 sandwich shops.^[4]

The number of restaurant locations using those brand names more than doubled between 2007 and 2010.^[5] Since opening the first Tiki Ming restaurant in 1984, MTY launched ten brands and acquired sixteen others. Four of the restaurant chains—Vanelli's, Caferama, Sukiyaki, and La Cremiere—also operate in the Middle East.^[6] There used to be a computer and technology division named Gold Tech Computer Systems Ltd., but it was spun off in 2003, renaming itself MTY Food Group Inc.^[7]

Most of its restaurants are located in shopping mall and cinema food courts while others are in convenience stores. The company owes much of its growth to corporate takeovers (in 2013 80% of the company's revenue growth was attributable to acquisitions).^[1][8][9] It operates in Canada, United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Morocco and in 2009 revenue from franchise fees increased 75%.^[10][11] It joined the Toronto Stock Exchange as a debt-free company in June 2010. Prior to this it traded on the TSX Venture Exchange for 15 years under four different names.^[10][12][13]

On May 21, 2010, president, CEO, and chairman of MTY Food Group Stanley Ma opened the Toronto Stock Exchange.^[14]

In May 2016, MTY announced a friendly takeover deal with the Kahala Brands Ltd restaurant franchise company (2,800 stores worldwide). MTY could therefore add 18 American brands to its portfolio, including Cold Stone Creamery, America's Taco Shop and Kahala Coffee Traders. MTY will pay about US $300 million to acquire Kahala. The two companies generated near $2 billion in revenues in the previous year.^[15]

History

In 1979, 29-year-old Stanley Ma opened a restaurant called Le Paradis du Pacifique on St. Martin Blvd in Laval, 11 years after he arrived in Canada from Hong Kong. In 1984 he opened the first of 56 Tiki Ming restaurants in Canada in Montreal's Rockland Mall.^[12] In 1986 the predecessor company was incorporated as Golden Sky Resources Inc. and publicly traded on the Vancouver Stock Exchange (now the TSX Venture Exchange) in February 1989. The name of the company was later changed to Golden Sky Ventures International Inc., then to iNsu Innovations Group Inc., and then to its current name MTY Food Group Inc.^[16] It moved from the TSX Venture Exchange to the TSX exchange under the symbol MTY in May 2010.^[17]

On November 30, 2010 the company created two new subsidiaries when it combined five former ones. Country Style Food Services Holdings Inc., Buns Master Bakery Systems Inc. and Melody Farms Specialty Foods & Equipment Limited were regrouped into one subsidiary, the other came from Mrs. Vanelli's Restaurants Limited and MTY Tiki Ming Enterprises Inc. The move improved short term cash flow by enabling it to take advantage of non-capital tax losses quicker.^[18]

Acquisitions

Yogen Fruz Canada, Yogen Fruz originally before it was globalized, is now a part of MTY Food Group

Manchu Wok

In December 2014, MTY said it would pay $7.9 million from cash on hand to acquire the business, which had 133 stores in its operations, 114 of which were franchised and 19 corporately owned. During its most recent completed fiscal year, the network generated approximately $95 million in system sales.

Café Van Houtte

Deal completed November 7, 2014 involves 51 franchised stores all located in Quebec from Keurig Canada.

Café Dépôt, Sushi Man, Muffin Plus, and Fabrika

MTY Food Group announced on July 8, 2014 that it has completed the acquisition of the assets of Café Dépôt, Sushi Man, Muffin Plus, and Fabrika. The total consideration for the transaction was $13.9 million, paid from MTY's cash on hand and existing credit facilities. At closing, the chains were operating 101 stores, including 13 corporately-owned stores.

Madison New York Grill & Bar

Deal completed July 18, 2014 involved 14 franchised stores all located in Quebec. The acquisition gave the parent company another $40 million in system-wide sales. Cost of the transaction was $12.9 million.

SushiGo

Deal completed on May 31, 2013. Total of 5 outlets.

Mr Souvlaki Ltd

The 14 stores were acquired on November 26, 2012. 13 of the locations were in Ontario, the other was in British Columbia. At the time of the takeover system-wide sales were $4.5 million.^[29]

Country Style

Country Style was acquired when it had 488 locations, in April 2009 for $7.7 million in cash and $6.9 million in debt.^[10][30]

Groupe Valentine Inc.

Groupe Valentine Inc. is a Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec-based quick service restaurant chain specializing in hot dogs, fries and hamburgers, similar to MTY's Franx Supreme restaurant chain. At the time, all 95 locations (86 franchised and 9 corporate owned) were in Quebec, most in rural areas. The brand rights were purchased in August 2010 in a $9.3 million deal that included a distribution centre among seven retail properties.^[31][32] The agreement was made in August however the deal didn't close until September 2010.

La Crémière

Under the name iNsu Innovations, it acquired the franchise rights to the brand La Crémière in November 2001, which oversaw 74 locations (all were in Quebec at the time). The naming rights which also included Beaver Tails, brought the company's system-wide sales up to $50 million.^[33]

Mrs. Vanelli's

MTY acquired the franchise rights used by 105 Mrs. Vanelli's locations in 2004 (when it had annual sales of $34 million) from Donato Food Corp.^[34] It operates under subsidiary Tiki Ming Enterprises.

Thai Express

Thai Express was acquired in 2004 from Tara Fung Holding Inc. of Montreal through then subsidiary Matoyee Enterprises Inc.^[35]

Yogen Fruz

MTY owns exclusive Canadian franchise rights to Yogen Fruz for 20 years that began in 2006 due to a $13 million agreement made with Coolbrands International.^[36]

Extreme Brandz

On May 28, 2013, MTY Food Group Inc., said that its subsidiary MTY Tiki Ming Enterprises Inc. has struck an agreement to buy the assets of Mississauga Ontario-based Extreme Brandz, owner of Extreme Pita, PurBlendz and Mucho Burrito, for $45-million (U.S.) from the three co-founders, Alex Rechichi, Mark Rechichi and Sean Black.^[37] Extreme Brandz's 40 U.S. stores will be MTY’s first stores in the United States. Of the 364 stores acquired 5 are corporately owned.

Others

• Au Vieux Duluth Express
• Big Smoke Burger^[38]
• Caferama - founded in 1979, the rights to the name in Saudi Arabia were purchased in 2003.^[6]
• Croissant Plus - acquired the franchise rights used by 20 locations in 2002
• Cultures - founded in 1977 and acquired by mty food group on May 2, 2003 the restaurant chain has almost doubled in size to 55.^[39]
• Koya Japan Inc. - purchased in 2006 from the Sabbagh Family Trust of Winnipeg for over $3 million.^[40]
• Sushi Shop - acquired the 47 stores in 2007 for $7.6 million. The previous owner of the establishment was made vice president after the deal.^[41]
• Taco Time - acquired in 2008 from Calgarians Ken and Aarol Pattendent for $7.9 million.^[42]
• The Country's Best Yogurt Canada - franchise rights purchased in 2005 for $1.3 million. At the time there were 91 locations.
• Tutti Frutti - acquired in September 2008
• Veggirama - acquired in 1999 when the franchise had 18 stores
• Jugo Juice - Calgary based franchise operating in the smoothie industry that oversaw 133 locations at the time it was acquired. Purchased in the summer of 2011 for $15.5 million. System-wide sales were $36.4 million in 2010.
• Koryo Korean BBQ- Franchise rights to the 20 unit chain of Korean quick service restaurants were purchased for $1.8 million cash by subsidiary MTY Tiki Ming Enterprises Inc (announced August 15, completed November 11, 2011). At the time, Koryo had annual sales of $8 million.^[27]

Launchings

• Tiki Ming - first restaurant of the franchised brands of MTY, the company was launched in 1984 two years before MTY's predecessor, Golden Sky Resources was formed^[12]
• O'burger
• Vie & Nam
• FranxSupreme
• ChicknChick
• Kim Chi (August 2006)
• Panini Pizza
• Tandori
• Villa Madina Mediterranean Cuisine
• Sukiyaki

See also

• List of Canadian restaurant chains

References

External links