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🟡 FORMERLY PE OWNED
CiCi's Pizza
pizza · Irving, TX
PE Firm
Arlon Group (formerly)
Acquirer
D&G Investors (SSCP / Gala Capital)
Year Acquired
2021
“PE-owned, bankrupted, sold to new investors. The buffet that kept going back for more.”
What Happened
- •Arlon Group bought CiCi's in 2016; the chain filed for bankruptcy in January 2021
- •Emerged from bankruptcy owned by D&G Investors (SSCP Management and Gala Capital Partners)
- •Pandemic and PE debt load hammered the all-you-can-eat buffet model
- •Another entry in the casual dining graveyard of PE experiments
The Damage Done
- ▸Shrank from 650+ restaurants in 2009 to 318 at time of bankruptcy — losing more than half its locations under PE ownership
- â–¸Filed for Chapter 11 in January 2021 with $81.6 million in debt from its leveraged buyout
- ▸Now operating under 300 locations — less than half its peak footprint