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Fast-growing North Texas franchisee Ampex Brands is continuing its rapid expansion with the acquisition of 77 Pizza Hut units. The company purchased the pizza restaurants, all located in North Texas, from Pizza Hut’s corporate office last month. The deal adds $88 million to Ampex’s top line and makes it Plano-based Pizza Hut’s largest franchisee in North Texas, said CEO Tabbassum Mumtaz.

In the past three months, Ampex has also purchased 52 KFC restaurants in Columbus, Ohio, and Oklahoma City. Those deals have added another $144 million to Ampex’s top line. Ampex now owns 128 Pizza Hut units and 218 KFCs across the country. Its full portfolio, which stretches across 15 states, also includes 38 Taco Bells, 68 Long John Silver’s, and 49 Tim Hortons. “When you look at the team and they have the capabilities to grow, that’s exciting,” Mumtaz of what’s driving his company’s growth. “We give them part ownership in some of the stores. The owners that we have in our own company, we make them part owners based on their titles and how long they’ve worked with us. We make sure that our team grows along with us.” Funding for the acquisitions has come from Ampex’s profits and investments from the team’s friends and families. Mumtaz said the company is staying away from private equity investment. “We don’t go into acquisitions that we can’t afford,” he added. “We try to buy low and ensure that we turn the markets around.”  Additional unit growth is on the menu for Ampex this year. It expects to announce at least two more large acquisitions in 2018, and open 17 stores across all of its brands. Last year, Ampex also expanded its real estate holdings, acquiring a nearly 17,000-square-foot Richardson office building that doubled the size of its previous headquarters. Employees moved from Ampex’s former Carrollton facility to the new campus at the end of the year. Mumtaz said he plans to convert the Carrollton building into a training and operations center. With the move, the company said in September it would consolidate 24 positions – potentially relocating employees – from its Cleveland office in hopes of bringing all of its workers under one roof. “Dallas is our base; it’s where our heart is,” Mumtaz said at the time. “People know us as being in Dallas. It’s the center of the world and it’s the most convenient place for our office today.” As Ampex continues to grow, Mumtaz added that he eventually hopes to open a build-to-suit headquarters along the Dallas North Tollway. He is already searching for potential sites. “We have already been talking to a couple of land owners that have shown an interest to sell,” Mumtaz added. “That area suits us; it’s central to our locations and close to Addison Airport, Love Field, DFW Airport — it would be very exciting to us.” – Source: Dallas Business Journal.

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