Former Restaurant Execs Seek $230M For SPAC

Tastemaker Acquisition Corp. is the latest newly-formed special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, seeking a ripe investment, the Nation’s Restaurant News reported.

The New York-based corporation, composed of eight experienced restaurant owners, is seeking to raise up to $230 million for a blank-check company, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The document says it intends to sell 23 million shares at $10 per share.

Listed as co-CEOs are David Pace, chairman of the board at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc. and Andrew Pforzheimer, former CEO of the Barcelona and Bartaco brands.

Greg Golkin, managing partner at Kitchen Fund, is named as president. His fund has invested in brands including Sweetgreen, Curry Up Now and The Hummus & Pita Co.

Tastemaker’s chief financial officer is Chris Bradley, managing director of Mistral Equity Partners, a private equity firm whose portfolio owns El Pollo Loco and Jamba.

Its board will include Richard Federico, former CEO of P.F. Chang’s China Bistro Inc., and Starlette Johnson, president of Lucky Strike Entertainment.

“We believe that our access to and affiliation with our independent directors represents a distinct competitive advantage, and that they provide extensive experience in business and financial matters,” the executives wrote in the SEC filing. “Companies and investment firms with a member of our management team in an executive, partner or board role have completed over 100 merger and acquisition, capital markets and private investing transactions since 2010.”

In August, Ruby Tuesday Founder Sandy Beall and Doug Jacob, co-founder of the Washington, D.C.-based pizzeria chain &Pizza, launched Fast Acquisition Corp. to focus on the quick-service sector.

In its filing, Tastemaker said the U.S. restaurant industry’s more than 1 million restaurants and pubs generated $864 billion in revenue last year and employ 15 million workers.

The sector is expected to reach $1.2 trillion in revenue in 10 years, representing a 5.7 percent compounded annual growth rate over the 60-year period between 1970 and 2030, according to the National Restaurant Association.

While the sector has taken a hit since the pandemic struck in March and led to a loss of $185 billion, industry revenue increased 46 percent from 2010 to 2019, and takeout dining represented 51 percent of food dollars last year compared to 25 percent in the 1950s.