VMG Partners made a minority investment in Scenthound, a dog wellness franchise.
Ohana Growth Partners, one of the largest Planet Fitness franchisees, increased its portfolio to 94 gyms with the acquisition of 10 Planet Fitness locations in Michigan and one under development in Rice Lake, Wisconsin. Ohana, based in Timonium, Maryland, purchased the units from JP Fitness and owner Julian Monterosso. The Michigan gyms are located in Comstock, Byron Center, Grand Haven, Grand Rapids, Greenville and Muskegon. Led by President Justin Drummond, Ohana operates Planet Fitness units in five states and Washington, D.C. The group expects to open six additional locations by the end of the year and is one of several multi-unit franchisees pumping up the big-box gym chain.
Global boutique health and wellness platform company Xponential Fitness completed the divestiture of weight management brand Lindora to Next Health Management Group, a franchisor of medspa clinics. Founded in 1971 by Marshall Stemper, Lindora has 38 locations with all but one of them in Southern California. It’s the sixth brand offloaded by Xponential since early 2024, when the Irvine, California-based company counted 11 concepts in its portfolio. It sold Stride Fitness to former company executive Shaun Grove, then dealt Row House, CycleBar and Rumble Boxing to Extraordinary Brands. It announced the wind down of AKT franchise operations last year. Led by CEO Mike Nuzzo, Xponential’s portfolio of brands includes Club Pilates, StretchLab, YogaSix, Pure Barre and BFT.
VMG Partners made a minority investment in Scenthound, a dog wellness franchise. Scenthound’s co-founders, Tim and Jessica Vogel, will lead and control the business following the deal. Launched in 2015, Florida-based Scenthound has more than 100 locations. VMG, a private equity and venture capital firm, is also invested in Crunch Fitness franchisee Undefeated Tribe, drink brand Ghost and pilates concept Solidcore.
Easy Mile Fitness acquired 17 Planet Fitness gyms—15 in Oregon and two Alaska—from Bravo Fit Franchise Group. The deal made Easy Mile Fitness the largest Planet Fitness operator in Oregon. Led by co-CEO Tanner Halton, the Boston-based franchisee operates 70 Planet Fitness locations in Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Oregon, South Carolina, Puerto Rico and Ontario, Canada. Its latest acquisition was financed by Fifth Third Bank.
Beverly Hills Rejuvenation Center was acquired by investment firm Motivant. The firm named Sarah Gabriel, a partner and strategic adviser for the firm, the CEO of the medspa company. Founded in 2005, Beverly Hills Rejuvenation has 24 centers in California and Texas.
Five Iron Golf United Arab Emirates franchisee closed a growth financing round led by Powerhouse Capital with participation from former NFL star Larry Fitzgerald Jr., recent PGA Tour winner Kurt Kitayama, LPGA star Alison Lee and Lloyd Danzig, the managing partner of venture capital firm Sharp Alpha. The investment will help accelerate Five Iron Golf’s expansion in the UAE, where the brand signed a lease in Abu Dhabi and a third site in Dubai, both of which are expected to open in the first quarter of 2026.
Yum Brands, the parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and The Habit Burger & Grill, agreed to issue and sell $1.5 billion securitized notes. Interest will be payable on the notes quarterly with a maturity date of August 2055. The anticipated repayment dates of the Series 2025-1 Class A-2-I Notes and the Series 2025-1 Class A-2-II Notes will be in August 2030 and in August 2032, respectively.
In other Yum news, the company acquired 13 restaurant site leases in Florida for future development, including its Saucy by KFC concept, which debuted in Orlando last year. The locations, which are operating as PDQ restaurants in Florida, began transitioning to Yum concepts in September.
Meauxmentum Strategies & Investments acquired five Chicken Salad Chick locations in Dallas to become the brand’s largest franchisee with 21 locations. Texas-based MSI’s portfolio of quick-service restaurant brands totals 128 locations with 63 Taco Bells and 44 Wingstops. Led by CEO Troy Morrison, MSI acts as a shared services management provider for several franchisee groups, including North Texas Bells, North Texas Wings and others.
Grand Fitness Partners acquired 10 Planet Fitness gyms in California. The multi-unit franchisee, backed by private equity firm HGGC since 2021, purchased two of the clubs from fellow operator Ontario Fitness; the other eight were acquired from Planet’s corporate club portfolio. The deals give Grand Fitness 90 locations.
Business advisory and accounting firm Aprio will acquire Mize CPAs and its affiliated wealth management firm, Prism Financial Group. With the deal, Aprio, which provides tailored business tax services, payroll and financial consulting to clients including quick-service restaurant and franchise owners, will now handle services for one third of the McDonald’s franchise system, said Tommy Lee, who leads Aprio’s restaurant, franchise and hospitality group. McDonald’s, continued Lee, “is a north star for a lot of restaurant brands” in how it runs its system, and Aprio intends to bring an enhanced level of service to those operators and leverage that experience as it works with more emerging and mid-market brands. Aprio has completed more than 40 combinations since 2017 and aims to be a “one-stop shop” for business advisory and accounting services, Lee said. The addition of Mize, he noted, brings more depth to Aprio’s operational servicing and an important presence in the Midwest. The acquisitions of Mize and Prism, expected to close around November 1, will add offices in Topeka and Overland Park, Kansas, and more than 300 professionals to Aprio. Prism provides financial planning and investment advice to high-net-worth individuals, business owners and franchisees across 42 states and manages $1.8 billion in assets. It will join Aprio Wealth Management.
Unbridled Capital provided sell-side adviser services to Yakima Restaurants on the sale of nine Taco Bell restaurants in the Northwest. Yakima sold the stores to Seattle-based franchisee Northwest Restaurants, which owns more than 160 KFCs, Taco Bells, A&Ws and Long John Silver's, with some of those locations also featuring Pizza Huts.
SpringGreen acquired a 12-year-old mowing business in Richmond, Kentucky, that was owned by Chad and Andrea Davis. Founded in 1977, SpringGreen provides lawn care, tree care and pest control services at more than 150 locations.
Franchisees Ronnie, Carol and Zach Walker have taken ownership of Redbox+ Dumpsters of Greater Nashville. Redbox+, which provides rentals of roll-off dumpsters with attached portable restrooms, was founded in 2006 and began franchising in 2014. It was acquired by the Belfor Franchise Group in 2021 and has more than 280 locations in the country
PrideStaff franchisees Tim and Molly Radaich bought the staffing brand’s Minneapolis North office. PrideStaff was founded in the 1970s and began franchising in 1995. It has more than 85 locations in North America.