Flynn Group’s First Wendy’s in Australia Opens With ‘Absolute Raging Success’

This story is part of “Post-Close: An Inside Look at Franchise M&A Outcomes,” a digital series in which Franchise Times revisits past Dealmakers winners to explore how they’re putting investment dollars to work, if integration of that acquisition is going as planned and what they’ve learned in the process.

While acknowledging the vast differences in operating high-volume quick-service restaurants and big-box gyms, Greg Flynn said there are a lot of similarities.

“They are both consumer-facing businesses that sell very different products and experiences but require the same level of operational expertise,” said Flynn, the CEO of Flynn Group. “The main difference is the velocity of transactions, with our restaurants turning out a crazy amount of volume every day, every meal, with a lot more employees required to work at a pretty big pace, while our Planet Fitness gyms are a subscription model that offer basically a self-serve model for our members.”

The founder of Flynn Group has become something of an authority on multi-concept ownership. His company owns more than 930 Pizza Huts, 430 Applebee's units, 280 Taco Bells, 360 Arby's stores, 130 Panera Breads and 190 Wendy's locations across 44 states, plus Australia and New Zealand.

The past two years have been a period of rapid growth and diversification for Flynn and his $4.5 billion company. After 25 years, Flynn Restaurant Group dropped the “restaurant” in its name and became the Flynn Group in late 2023 after the purchase of 37 Planet Fitness units from longtime franchisee Alder Partners. The first non-restaurant acquisition followed Flynn Group’s foray into international franchising with the acquisition of Pizza Hut Australia and buying development rights for the entire continent.

Flynn Group signed a master agreement for Wendy’s in Australia in 2024 and followed that with its third international expansion last year by acquiring Wendy’s New Zealand’s 20-plus-unit portfolio from Wendco Limited.

“We opened our first Wendy’s in Australia in January and it was an absolute raging success. In a 1,400-square-foot inline restaurant in Surfers Paradise, a popular tourist town in Queensland, we did almost $270,000 in sales, Australian dollars, in our first week,” Flynn said. (That’s about $176,000USD.) “We had two-hour lines around the block waiting to get in and it was that way throughout the day and it’s been super busy ever since.”

Lauren Leahy, the chief transformational officer who oversees Flynn Group’s international business and its Planet Fitness and Panera domestic assets, said the plan is to open 200 Wendy’s units overseas over the next 10 years.

Richard Wallis, the president of Flynn Group ANZ, which oversees the company’s Pizza Hut and Wendy’s businesses overseas, said the aim is to grow the Pizza Hut portfolio in the two island nations by building 100 restaurants in the next five years.

Wallis agreed with Leahy and Flynn that tight labor and costly real estate markets, and navigating complex regulations in Australia and New Zealand, have been their biggest challenges. He didn’t sound too concerned about competing for territory with more established brands there like McDonald’s and KFC, citing the growing appetite of Australians and New Zealanders for American fast food.

“It’s true we’ve got some very strong players in the pizza, burger and chicken spaces here with high penetrations, which makes it hard for new brands to succeed. But we’re confident we can compete with them despite pretty much starting from scratch with Flynn’s capabilities in marketing, supply chains and construction,” Wallis said from Queensland, Australia.

“We want to use our success in Australia in particular as a model for future international growth and create a global presence with a diverse portfolio,” continued Wallis, who joined Flynn Group in April. He previously ran KFC Asia Pacific.

After Planet Fitness deal, Flynn still in buyer mode

Flynn, meanwhile, said he’s pleased with the progress made with his group’s acquisition of Alder Partners, which has Planet Fitness gyms in Massachusetts and Georgia. Stan DeMartinis, who founded Alder Partners and is now president of Flynn Planet Fitness, said his group’s portfolio is up to 43 gyms with two under construction in Georgia as part of an ongoing area development agreement.

“[Planet Fitness has 96 gyms in Massachusetts] so we don’t really have a lot more room to grow there, so we’re focusing our development efforts now in the Atlanta area,” said DeMartinis, also a founding board member of the Planet Fitness Independent Franchise Association. “We’re still in learning phase with each other and how we operate, but I will say the communication has been great along with the mutual respect for each other and that makes me very excited for our future.”

Flynn said the biggest challenge growing his Planet Fitness portfolio—other than navigating rising construction costs and finding good lease deals for 20,000-square-foot gyms—has been integrating new units and their staffs with updated systems. He credited Chief Operating Officer Ron Bellamy and DeMartinis for making it a relatively smooth transition.

He also reiterated that Flynn Group, which also owns but doesn’t operate 121 hotels, is not done growing and diversifying its business.

“We track everything in and now outside the restaurant space and are exploring expansion with other concepts in health and beauty and, home and medical services,” Flynn said. “We’re getting educated on all of that and we’re always looking for new concepts. But honestly, we have so much room left to grow with Planet Fitness that we will likely focus on growing our footprint there before we plant our next flag.”