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Austin-based Torchy's Tacos announces $400M fundraising round, nationwide expansion plans
Austin-based Torchy's Tacos announced on Friday a new fundraising round and plans to double its store count by 2024.
The deal includes additions to the company's ownership group, according to a press release.
Global Atlantic, a private equity firm that first invested in Torchy's in 2017 and is the majority shareholder, is now joined by D1 Capital Partners, T. Rowe Price, Lone Pine Capital and XN. Torchy's founder Michael Rypka and members of the company's original ownership group have reinvested as individuals.
Bloomberg reported that the deal is worth about $400 million.
"Pairing these four firms with our existing partner General Atlantic, we feel that we have assembled a premier ownership group that will allow us to accelerate our growth and write the next chapter in Torchy's history," Torchy's CEO G.J. Hart said in a statement.
Torchy's also plans to expand to 10 additional states over the next four years.
"We admire the management team's deep operational experience and commitment to providing an original and differentiated experience," Torchy's Chairman and General Atlantic's Global Head of Consumer Andrew Crawford said in a statement. "We believe their vision will continue to resonate across a wide-ranging demographic of guests, geographies and footprints as Torchy's expands across the United States."
Rypka, a former corporate chef, founded Torchy's Tacos out of a food truck on South First Street in 2006. Today, the chain has 83 locations across seven states: Arkansa, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.
This year alone, Torchy's opened 12 new locations, including one in Round Rock, and expanded to three additional states.
The company is known for its "damn good tacos," such as the Trailer Park (fried chicken and green chiles with the option to made it "trashy" with the addition of queso) and the Brushfire (jerk chicken and grilled jalapenos with mango and sour cream).
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Eighty-seven providers in Travis County will receive a total of 75,540 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine for the week of March 8 as part of the 13th weekly allocation, a nearly 62% increase compared to last week's. The significant increase is largely due to inclusion of the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which received an emergency use authorization from the FDA last weekend.
The bulk will go to hub providers Austin Public Health and UT Health Austin, the clinical wing of Dell Medical School, as well as to Seton Medical Center, which will receive the largest share of this week's shipment. These three providers will either receive doses from Moderna or Pfizer.
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Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 oz Tito's Handmade Vodka
- 2 oz sparkling water
- 1/2 oz coconut sugar simple syrup
- 1/2 oz lemon juice
- 2-4 kiwi slices, peeled
- 2 basil leaves
Austinites gathered at Huston-Tillotson University on June 7 to protest police brutality. (Emma Freer)
Austin Police Chief Brian Manley received intense criticism for the police killing of Michael Ramos, an unarmed Black and Latino man, last April and his department's response to mass protests over the summer. When he announced his retirement Feb. 12, he said the criticism did not factor into his decision. But it will undoubtedly shape the nationwide search for his successor.
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