Jack in the Box Inc. (Nasdaq: JACK), the San Diego-based parent to Del Taco, has partnered with investment banking firm The Cypress Group to help sell company-owned Del Taco restaurants to existing and new franchise partners.
Following the acquisition of the Lake Forest-based taco chain in March, the partnership will begin refranchising Del Taco locations this month.
Roughly half of Del Taco’s total restaurant count are company-owned while more than 90% of Jack in the Box spots are franchised.
“The attractiveness in acquiring a growth brand like Del Taco included the opportunity to create a multi-brand organization that operates asset-light, with the ability to make significant refranchising progress shortly after completion,” Jack’s Chief Executive Darin Harris said in a statement.
Reports from the Wall Street Journal in August said the parent company is looking to refranchise upward of 250 taco spots that it now owns. Del Taco is Orange County’s sixth largest locally based chain with almost 600 locations in the U.S., according to Business Journal data.
