Cerritos-based Korean barbecue chain GEN Restaurant Group Inc. has agreed to sell 47 restaurant operations to Chubby Cattle Group for $100 million, freeing it from lease liabilities and firing up the grill in consumer packaged goods.
The deal is expected to close within the next 30 days for the two Asian restaurant groups. They announced a takeover schedule stretching over 12 months, aiming for the first 12 restaurants by Nov. 1 this year. Chubby will fund conversions and buildouts of the restaurants – rebranding as either a “GEN X” continuation of the Korean barbecue concept or one of the Chubby brands – while GEN retains operating profit until each takeover. GEN also sold four development sites to Chubby, though retaining three locations to focus on staff, research and development, and consumer packaged goods training. That includes its branches in Cerritos, Boston and Hawaii.