A strawberry frosted donut with a cup of coffee and sprinkles at a Dunkin Donuts store in Los Angeles, September 6, 2017.
Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Inspire Brands, the owner of Dunkin’ and Buffalo Wild Wings, has confidentially filed for an initial public offering, the company announced Friday.
If Inspire goes public, it would be the largest restaurant service in history. Private equity firm Rourke Capital, which is backing Inspire, is reportedly seeking a valuation of around $20 billion.
Inspire was formed in 2018 through the merger of Arby’s and Buffalo Wild Wings. Acquisitions followed with Sonic Drive-In in late 2018 and Jimmy John’s in 2019. And in 2020, Inspire took Dunkin’ and its sister chain Baskin-Robbins private in an $11 billion deal.
Across its six chains, Inspire has more than 33,300 restaurants worldwide and annual sales of $33.4 billion, according to the company’s website.
Inspire isn’t the only restaurant company aiming for an IPO. Jersey Mike’s also announced last month that it had secretly filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The initial public offering market is depressed, but that could change later this year. Market volatility, economic uncertainty, and the recent poor performance of IPO stocks have resulted in outstanding listings.
But several big IPOs are expected in the coming months, including one for SpaceX that could value the company at more than $1 trillion.
