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Order up! Restaurant chain First Watch Restaurant Group files for a $100 million IPO

September 7, 2021
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First Watch Restaurant Group, which owns and franchises daytime casual-dining restaurants in the US, filed on Tuesday with the SEC to raise up to $100 million.

First Watch is a daytime restaurant concept that serves made-to-order breakfast, brunch, and lunch. As of June 27, 2021, it had 423 restaurants across 28 states, 335 of which were company-owned and 88 operated by its franchisees. In the FY20 and the 1H21, it opened 42 and 18 System-wide restaurants, respectively, and it recorded same-restaurant sales growth of 16% in the 2Q21.

The Bradenton, FL-based company was founded in 1983 and booked $490 million in revenue for the 12 months ended June 30, 2021. It plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol FWRG. First Watch Restaurant Group filed confidentially on January 8, 2020. BofA Securities, Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, Barclays, Citi, Piper Sandler, Cowen, Guggenheim Securities, and Stifel are the joint bookrunners on the deal. No pricing terms were disclosed.