Foodtastics completes Freshii acquisition

TORONTO - The sale of Freshii Inc. to Montreal-based Foodtastic Inc. is complete.

In a deal originally announced in December, the healthy fast-food chain says Foodtastic has acquired all of its voting shares at $2.30 per share.

Foodtastic owns 22 well-known Canadian food brands, including Second Cup, Pita Pit, Milestones, Shoeless Joe's, Quesada, Fionn's Irish Pubs and Copper Branch. It's North American footprint exceeds 1,250 restaurants and $950 million in sales. 

Foodtastic CEO Peter Mammas said during the announcement in December that the Freshii acquisition will help the company expand into a new category.

"We want to grow and we have a platform to do that,'' he said told The Canadian Press. "The way we're structured, we can add more brands, and we looked at all the different segments we're not really in yet and the healthy salad section was one of them.''

The franchisor added that the acquisition will help put it on track to reach its goal of $1 billion in system-wide sales in Canada by the spring.

Since its launch in 2005, Freshii has established itself as a healthy food focused franchised restaurant concept, with 343 locations in North America and internationally. All but one of Freshii's stores are franchised.

In recent years, Freshii has has expanded its omni-channel footprint in the adjacent health and wellness business lines, including in consumer-packaged goods, nutritional supplements, and ecommerce retail.

Freshii's consumer-packaged goods retail partners span several convenience and gas operators, including Shell, Petro-Canada and ONroute.