News

Chalak Group adds some Yum! to portfolio

December 8, 2010

Chalak Mitra Group LLC, an affiliate of The Chalak Group Inc., has acquired 33 Yum! Brands restaurants in Illinois, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Current Yum! franchisees Manish Patel and Pushpak Patel, who are also part of TCG, will operate the newly acquired locations, which include KFC, Taco Bell and Long John Silver’s. The Patels will open their first KFC and Taco Bell location in Anna, Texas.

The partnership merges the quick-service giant Yum! with fast casual player TCG, which operates Genghis Grill. The Dallas-based Mongolian stir fry concept is in the middle of an expansion and currently entails 56 units.

TCG is led by Al Bhakta, Chet Bhakta, Nik Bhakta, Tony Stevens and Ron Parikh.

"It's a competitive advantage for us to have Manish and Pushpak operate this division," said CEO Al Bhakta. "Being existing operators in the Yum! system, they bring specific skills and experiences to the business. Our goals are the same as an entrepreneur — to create enterprise value by growing and developing the business."

Bhakta and his team will continue to focus on growing Genghis Grill into a national brand, while the Patels will continue to grow within the Yum! system.