FAT Brands Inc. (FATBB): Marketing Mix Analysis [Dec-2025 Updated]

You're looking at FAT Brands Inc. right now, and honestly, it feels like a classic, sprawling restaurant roll-up-a lot of moving parts, especially with that debt load they're managing. As a seasoned analyst, I see their late 2025 marketing mix as a tightrope walk: they're pushing aggressive growth, like opening 60 new restaurants year-to-date and seeing one co-branded location double its sales, but that expansion is set against a worrying 3.5% system-wide same-store sales decline in the last quarter. We need to look past the noise of 18 brands to see if their Product, Place, Promotion, and Price moves are truly building sustainable value or just servicing the balance sheet. Dive in below for the quick math on where they stand.

FAT Brands Inc. (FATBB) - Marketing Mix: Product

You're looking at the core offering of FAT Brands Inc. (FATBB), which is a highly diversified collection of restaurant concepts, spanning everything from quick-service to polished casual dining. The product element here isn't just a single menu item; it's the entire brand experience across a large portfolio.

The product portfolio itself is quite broad, giving the company exposure across different consumer dining occasions. This diversification is a key feature of the product strategy.

• Portfolio includes 18 restaurant brands, spanning quick-service to polished casual.
• Key brands are Fatburger, Round Table Pizza, Johnny Rockets, and the high-performing Twin Peaks.
• FAT Brands franchises and owns over 2,300 units worldwide across 40 countries and 48 states as of Q3 2025.

Strategic focus is heavily placed on co-branding to maximize unit economics and menu diversity within existing footprints. This approach is a tangible product strategy designed to increase customer draw without the full capital outlay of a new build.

Beyond the customer-facing menus, FAT Brands Inc. also manages an internal manufacturing capability, which acts as a product supplier for its franchisees and, increasingly, for third parties. This factory operation is being strategically scaled up.

A major product/asset management decision involves actively converting underperforming Smokey Bones locations into Twin Peaks lodges. This is a direct product substitution aimed at dramatically improving the unit-level financial performance, as Twin Peaks commands significantly higher sales volumes.

The Twin Peaks brand itself is a high-growth product within the portfolio, with its Average Unit Volume showing consistent growth, underpinning the conversion strategy.

• Twin Peaks AUV grew from $4.1 million in 2019 to $5.4 million in 2023.
• Twin Peaks AUV target is to reach $6.5 million by the third year of operations.

FAT Brands Inc. (FATBB) - Marketing Mix: Place

You're looking at the physical footprint and distribution strategy for FAT Brands Inc., which is heavily skewed toward an asset-light, franchise-centric approach. This is how they get their 18 restaurant concepts into the hands-or rather, onto the tables-of consumers.

The core of the Place strategy is its massive, geographically dispersed network, which operates approximately 2,300 units worldwide. This scale is achieved almost entirely through franchising, which is the key to their distribution model. Franchise dominance accounts for roughly 92% of the total global locations, reflecting a deliberate corporate strategy to minimize direct operational capital expenditure and maximize recurring royalty streams. This focus is further evidenced by the planned refranchising of 57 company-operated Fazoli's restaurants as part of their move back to a nearly 100% franchised structure.

The distribution network is not static; it is actively expanding. FAT Brands Inc. maintains an aggressive expansion pipeline of approximately 900 committed new locations, which represents significant future point-of-sale availability. This pipeline is a crucial indicator of future revenue visibility, with management projecting this growth could add around $50 million in incremental adjusted EBITDA.

Looking at year-to-date 2025 activity, the company has opened 60 new restaurants so far in 2025, keeping them on track to meet their full-year target of opening over 100 new restaurants. For instance, the first quarter of 2025 saw the opening of 23 new locations, a 37% increase over the same period last year.

International expansion is a specific focus area for distribution growth, particularly in Europe. A notable development includes a new agreement to open 40 locations across France, which will encompass both the Fatburger and Buffalo's Cafe & Express concepts. This deal, secured with the group behind Big M CIE, is set to unfold over the next three years, with five new units for Fatburger alone scheduled for 2026.

Here's a quick look at the key distribution metrics as of the latest reporting:

The company is also strategically enhancing its manufacturing footprint to support distribution. FAT Brands Inc. aims to grow factory production to utilize approximately 60% of excess capacity through expanded organic channels and third-party dough and mix manufacturing. This operational support is projected to contribute approximately $5 million in adjusted EBITDA growth.

The distribution strategy relies on a mix of brand-specific growth, such as the 40-unit Fatburger deal in Florida over 10 years, which builds on an existing 14-unit plan there. The success of these localized deals, like the two Fatburger locations already operational in Riverview and Celebration, Florida, validates the franchise expansion model. The company utilizes its multi-unit franchisees, having over 325 such partners at the end of Q2 2022, to drive this widespread physical availability.

FAT Brands Inc. (FATBB) - Marketing Mix: Promotion

You're looking at how FAT Brands Inc. communicates value to its customers, which is all about driving traffic and sales through targeted outreach. The promotional mix is clearly leaning into proven formats and digital engagement, especially around new locations.

Co-branding is definitely a core promotional tool for FAT Brands Inc. The success of this strategy is concrete; for instance, the first dual-branded Round Table Pizza and Fatburger location in California has shown a clear lift, more than doubling weekly sales and transactions compared to when it operated solely as a Round Table Pizza format. The company is banking on this, with a pipeline of approximately 50 additional co-branded locations currently in development.

Digital initiatives are also key to the promotional push. At Great American Cookies, for example, loyalty-driven sales saw a significant jump, increasing by 40%. This is part of a broader digital focus where, as of Q2 2025, digital sales for that brand accounted for 25% of total revenue. For comparison, Round Table Pizza saw 21% loyalty-driven sales growth in the same period.

The financial commitment to paid promotion reflects this activity. Advertising expenses for the third quarter of 2025 rose to $12.2 million, which is an increase of $2.1 million compared to the $10.0 million spent in the third quarter of the prior year. This spend supports the overall growth and marketing narrative.

Here's a quick look at some of the key promotional and expansion metrics as of late 2025:

Marketing efforts are heavily focused on driving initial high sales volumes at new store openings. This is a deliberate strategy because, honestly, new stores often see considerably higher than average sales volumes right after opening, a result of focused marketing and public excitement. These elevated sales volumes typically normalize to stabilized levels after about three to six months.

The company is pushing growth through new units, having opened 60 new locations year-to-date as of the third quarter of 2025, with a target of 80 openings for the full year. This expansion is supported by a robust development pipeline of approximately 900 committed locations expected to open over the next five to seven years.

• Co-branded location sales: More than doubled weekly sales/transactions.
• Great American Cookies loyalty sales growth: Up 40%.
• Q3 2025 Advertising Expense: $12.2 million.
• Advertising Expense increase: Up $2.1 million year-over-year for Q3.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

FAT Brands Inc. (FATBB) - Marketing Mix: Price

Price, in the context of FAT Brands Inc. (FATBB), is heavily influenced by the current operational performance and the financial levers management is employing to stabilize the business. The pricing strategy must navigate a complex environment of consumer spending shifts and internal cost pressures.

Performance metrics from the most recent period indicate a mixed picture for pricing power. The casual dining segment showed strength with 3.9% same-store sales growth in Q3 2025. This suggests that for certain concepts, the current pricing structure is acceptable to the consumer base, or that value proposition remains strong enough to drive traffic and spend.

However, the overall health of the system-wide sales presents a clear challenge that pricing adjustments must address. Overall system-wide same-store sales declined 3.5% in the most recent quarter, a defintely concerning trend. This broader decline, alongside a system-wide sales drop of 5.5% in Q3 2025, signals that across the portfolio, price increases may be difficult to implement without further dampening demand.

The high-volume Twin Peaks brand is a key driver of pricing power within the portfolio. This brand drives pricing power, with company-operated AUVs (Average Unit Volumes) around $6 million. Some individual Twin Peaks units have reported AUVs in the range of $9 million to $14 million, and the brand is targeting an AUV of $6.5 million. This strong performance in a key segment provides a benchmark for pricing success.

Pricing strategy must balance labor inflation with the need to reverse the system-wide sales decline. The Q3 2025 total revenue was $140.0 million, down from $143.4 million in Q3 2024. The company reported a net loss of $58.2 million in Q3 2025. Advertising expenses, a direct cost related to driving customer traffic and sales, increased to $12.2 million in Q3 2025 from $10.0 million in the prior-year period.

A significant financial decision impacting the company's cash position, which indirectly affects pricing flexibility, is the preservation of capital through a dividend pause. Dividend pause preserves $35 million to $40 million in annual cash flow, a financial pricing decision. This cash preservation is part of a broader deleveraging effort, which also includes advancing plans for a $75 million to $100 million equity raise at Twin Hospitality Group Inc.

Here are key financial metrics that frame the pricing environment for FAT Brands Inc. as of late 2025:

The need to reverse negative sales trends means any price adjustments must be highly targeted, likely focusing on the higher-performing, higher-AUV brands like Twin Peaks, while maintaining competitive or value-oriented pricing for other concepts to avoid exacerbating the system-wide decline. The company is also looking at cost savings that could ease the pressure to raise menu prices, including an expected $30 to $40 million in annual cash flow savings from a bondholder agreement and an additional $65 million to $70 million in annual cash flow and cost savings from the dividend pause and legal matter resolutions.

The pricing power is further evidenced by the success of co-branding initiatives, where one dual-branded location more than doubled weekly sales and transactions compared to its prior standalone format.

The current pricing landscape for FAT Brands Inc. involves these key elements:

• Casual dining segment same-store sales growth: 3.9% in Q3 2025.
• Overall system-wide same-store sales decline: 3.5% in the most recent quarter.
• Twin Peaks AUV target: $6.5 million.
• Cash preserved by dividend pause: $35 million to $40 million annually.
• Q3 2025 Advertising Expenses: $12.2 million.