“Back in the Big Chair”: Andy Wiederhorn’s Return to FAT Brands, What It Means, and Why Your Milkshake Still Brings All the Guests to the Yard

Published By Robert Kuypers
September 6, 2025

If you follow the restaurant biz for sport (we do, professionally and recreationally), you’ve probably seen the headline: Andy Wiederhorn is back—not just as the longtime chairman of FAT Brands, but officially back in the CEO seat as of early September 2025. That’s right: the man who stitched together a quilt of burger, pizza, wings, shakes and sports-lodge brands is again running the day-to-day show while continuing to chair the board. ir.fatbrands.com GlobeNewswire

This post is your slightly humorous, operator-minded explainer of what “back in the big chair” actually means—for franchisees, for portfolio strategy, for marketing, for unit economics—and yes, for those of us who judge a holding company by the quality of its onion rings.

The quick version (in case your prep list is screaming)

Status update: FAT Brands announced Andy Wiederhorn’s return as Chief Executive Officer, while he continues as Chairman. The company said the move is about re-accelerating growth and simplification. ir.fatbrands.com GlobeNewswire
Context: He stepped away from the CEO role in 2023 during a legal fight; federal charges were dropped in mid-2025, clearing the path for a comeback. ir.fatbrands.com
Now: Former co-CEO Ken Kuick focuses on CFO duties; Taylor (Thayer) Wiederhorn continues driving development—the growth engine of the house. Yahoo Finance Restaurant Dive
Portfolio check: FAT is an 18-brand hydra that includes Fatburger, Johnny Rockets, Round Table Pizza, Fazoli’s, Twin Peaks, Great American Cookies, Marble Slab Creamery, Pretzelmaker, Hurricane Grill & Wings, Hot Dog on a Stick, Elevation Burger, Native Grill & Wings, Yalla Mediterranean, Ponderosa & Bonanza, Buffalo’s Cafe & Express, Smokey Bones, and friends—2,300+ units worldwide. (Yes, we needed a breath after that sentence.) ir.fatbrands.com Nasdaq

If that’s all you needed, go forth and service your Friday rush. If you want the operator’s take—with a little snark and a lot of numbers—pull up a barstool.

Act I: The Chairman Was Always…Chairman

Let’s clear up the headline confusion. In the soap opera of corporate titles:

Chairman runs the board (governance, strategy oversight).
CEO runs the business (operations, P&L, “why is the kitchen printer screaming?”).

Andy never stopped being Chairman. What changed in early September is that he added CEO back to his nameplate, the same plate that once said “please grow another couple hundred stores before Q2.” The company made it explicit: he is Chairman and CEO again, effective Sept. 3, 2025. ir.fatbrands.com GlobeNewswire

Why the timing? The Department of Justice dropped all charges in late July 2025—at which point the chessboard simplified. With the legal fog lifted, FAT Brands announced the leadership reshuffle promptly (and publicly) in the first week of September. ir.fatbrands.com GlobeNewswire

Act II: The Portfolio (a.k.a. “Do we own that brand too?”)

FAT Brands has never been shy about acquisitions. The portfolio is now a yearbook of American cravings:

Burgers & shakes: Fatburger, Johnny Rockets, Elevation Burger, Marble Slab Creamery, Great American Cookies, Pretzelmaker, Hot Dog on a Stick
Pizza & pasta: Round Table Pizza; Fazoli’s flies the drive-thru pasta flag
Wings & casual: Hurricane Grill & Wings; Native Grill & Wings; Buffalo’s
Steaks & throwbacks: Ponderosa & Bonanza
Sports-lodge & barbecue: Twin Peaks (acquired for $300M in 2021), Smokey Bones (brought in 2023) ir.fatbrands.com Nation’s Restaurant News FAT Brands Inc.

And yes, that’s a lot of brands. (If your menu engineer just fainted, that’s normal.) The upside: franchise development can cross-sell categories (“You already operate pizza—how about adding a drive-thru pasta box next to it?”). The downside: the spreadsheet tabs multiply like rabbits.

In recent years, FAT has also explored capital-unlocking moves—notably, a plan to spin off Twin Peaks (and, for a time, Smokey Bones) to highlight their different growth and margin profiles. Even pre-return, the company had been public about IPO and listing options around Twin Peaks. Translation: portfolio pruning, packaging, and presenting depends on market windows and appetite. Expect more of that, not less. The Wall Street Journal Restaurant Business Online Restaurant Dive

Act III: What changes when “the founder’s founder” is CEO again?

1) A bias for deals (still) and operational streamlining (more)

Wiederhorn’s playbook has historically prioritized acquiring cash-flowing brands and scaling through franchising. With the return, don’t be surprised by more active portfolio management—consolidating overhead, sharpening technology standards, and ensuring unit-level economics are front and center. (You cannot spreadsheet your way out of a negative four-wall P&L.) The company’s own communications around the move emphasize renewed focus on growth and execution. ir.fatbrands.com

2) A re-accelerated development drumbeat

Development didn’t stop during the CEO interregnum, but a founder-style CEO tends to lean harder on pipeline and international franchising. Expect louder messaging about open territories across burgers, pizza, dessert, and the always-thirsty sports-lodge category. (Somewhere, a fryer is pre-heating in anticipation.)

3) Cleaner governance optics

Regardless of personal views, markets prefer clarity. Charges were dropped in July; leadership is consolidated in September; lines of authority are obvious. In franchising, clarity sells: prospects want to know who decides and how the decisions cascade to marketing funds, tech mandates, and supply agreements. ir.fatbrands.com

Act IV: Where the burgers meet the balance sheet (operator takeaways)

If you own or are considering a FAT brand, here’s what we’d watch—and how we’d hedge.

A) Technology standardization (please and thank you)

Multi-brand portfolios can drown in a sea of POS variants, loyalty systems, KDS rules, and online ordering hacks. A confident CEO often drives stack discipline: fewer vendors, stronger data fidelity, faster analytics. The practical test:

Is your menu data clean and consistent across brands?
Can you forecast demand and prep with minimal swivel-chair?
Are royalty reporting and marketing fund analytics transparent?

If the answer is “not yet,” that’s where incremental EBITDA is hiding. (And if you’re a franchisee: lobby for this. You’ll feel it in labor and food cost.)

B) Brand-by-brand storytelling (not just “we own lots of logos”)

FAT’s strength—scale across categories—can become a marketing blur if not handled with care. The best holding companies let each brand feel specific while quietly sharing the back-office plumbing. Expect pushes for clear brand promises (e.g., “Round Table equals crispy, cheesy nostalgia with a West Coast wink” vs. “It’s pizza, we swear”). Multi-brand halo is nice; brand-level conversion pays the bills.

C) Capital recycling and “own the real estate of the mind”

Don’t be shocked if you see asset sales, spinoffs, or JV structures that monetize a concept’s equity story while FAT retains control or royalties. Meanwhile, at the store level, the real opportunity is owning the occasion: getting your brand to be the reflex for “it’s Friday,” “we need a watch-party,” or “the kids demand milkshakes.” That’s marketing’s job—helped by menu engineering and loyalty that actually knows your guest (not just spams them).

D) Smokey Bones + Twin Peaks: the sports & smoke puzzle

Smokey Bones has been in strategic motion (location rationalization, conversions, performance triage). Twin Peaks, by contrast, has been the grower since FAT bought it for $300M in 2021 and then explored a separate listing. Watching how the company positions and capitalizes the “sports & smoke” duo will be one of 2026’s better business case studies. ir.fatbrands.com The Wall Street Journal

Act V: The legal interlude (brief, necessary, and now historical)

Yes, there was a high-profile indictment in 2024; yes, it created a leadership shuffle; and yes, those charges were dropped in the summer of 2025 (the company trumpeted that in an investor notice). That sequence—storm, then clearing—matters because it informs why this return happened now and not six months ago. We’re not here to relitigate; we’re here to note the timeline and its business effect: governance clarity and strategic momentum. Department of Justice ir.fatbrands.com

Act VI: What success looks like in the Wiederhorn 2.0 era

Here’s our slightly cheeky but totally sincere scoreboard for the next 12–18 months:

Development math that pencils
Signed deals are cute; open restaurants pay interest. Track net new units by brand and geography, not just announcements.
Menu + ops upgrades where it counts
Burger lines love a crisper KDS and fewer modifiers; pizza loves first-order conversion and “second pie” attach; Twin Peaks loves sports calendar campaigns and bucket math. Each brand should show one tangible ops win per quarter.
Marketing that’s more loyalty than lanyard
Less trade-show fanfare, more first-party ordering, segment-smart offers, and guest lifetime value that moves up and to the right.
Portfolio actions with a why
Spinoff? Sale? JV? Great—show the math (debt paydown, growth capital, margin mix). Investors and franchisees both sleep better when the why is quantified.
Franchisee love (and discipline)
Nothing accelerates growth like happy operators—and nothing kills it like “the mothership isn’t listening.” Expect regular franchisee councils, transparent marketing fund reporting, and clear tech roadmaps as table stakes.

For franchise prospects: Is “more brands = more better”?

Short answer: sometimes. The upside of a multi-brand parent:

Shared buying power (hello, cheese futures).
Institutional playbooks (site selection, opening sequences, marketing calendars).
Brand laddering (graduate from a dessert kiosk to a burger box to a sports lodge).

The catch:

Complexity can eat initiatives for breakfast.
Tech fragmentation can turn marketing into interpretive dance.
Debt & capital cycles at the parent can ripple downstream.

This is why Wiederhorn’s return as CEO matters: love him or argue with him on Twitter, he’s a decider. Deciders reduce ambiguity. Ambiguity is the enemy of development.

“But what does the guest feel?” (the only KPI guests care about)

All the portfolio theory in Beverly Hills won’t save a soggy fry. Success lands when guests feel:

Speed: ordering that doesn’t require a PhD in QR codes.
Consistency: the burger tastes like the last burger (in a good way).
Delight: one signature thing per brand that makes people text friends (yes, the milkshake still works).
Value: not just price, but occasion value—the feeling that you made a night of it.

If Wiederhorn’s second tour delivers those four across burger, pizza, wings, pasta, sports lodge and desserts, then the debate about strategy becomes academic—and the cash flow becomes…well, fat. (We had to.)

A few predictions we’ll own (and you can screenshot)

Twin Peaks remains the loudest growth story, whether inside FAT or as a partially separated/IPO’d asset—sports + shareables + beer math isn’t going out of style. ir.fatbrands.com The Wall Street Journal
Fazoli’s drive-thru pasta takes more share as value-seeking families trade for comfort + convenience; expect a marketing push there.
Round Table doubles down on West-coast heritage positioning and first-party digital conversion; two-pie bundles become a budget hero.
Fatburger/Johnny Rockets lean harder into retro-modern nostalgia (photo-forward shakes, late-night energy, limited-time collabs).
Across the portfolio, tech gets less bespoke, more standard, which is boring—and incredibly profitable.

If we’re wrong, you can roast us with the heat lamp. If we’re right, you owe us a Pretzelmaker cinnamon twist.

Why the return matters beyond FAT

Leadership changes at a multi-brand platform ripple across franchising. Lenders watch, landlords watch, suppliers watch, and rivals absolutely watch. A clear, founder-driven mandate tends to speed decisions, and in restaurant operations, speed is a strategy. Menus launch on time; patio season doesn’t sneak up on anyone; “pilot” stops meaning “perpetual maybe.”

With charges dropped and titles settled, the story turns from courtroom to cookline. (We prefer cookline. It smells like garlic bread and EBITDA.)

One more thing: how to evaluate the next press release

Every holding company has a greatest hits LP of announcements. To cut through it, ask:

Does this add units or add noise?
Does this improve unit economics in the next 12 months?
Is there a guest-facing benefit I can feel on a Tuesday?
Will franchisees clap in private, or only in public?

If you can answer “yes, yes, yes, and yes,” then you’re looking at a win, whether it’s a tech standard, a supply deal, or a brand divestiture that funds real openings.

Closing thoughts (and a toast)

In hospitality, comebacks are judged not by headlines but by habits: hot food hot, cold food cold, systems that sing, teams that smile, and a P&L that doesn’t make your CFO whisper into a paper bag.

Andy Wiederhorn is back as CEO and still Chairman at FAT Brands, a portfolio whose whole is only as strong as its store-level parts. If the next year is about boring excellence—cleaner tech stacks, sharper development, tidier brand promises—then the comeback narrative writes itself, one drive-thru pasta and game-day tower at a time. ir.fatbrands.com GlobeNewswire

Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’re off to run contribution margins on a hypothetical cross-brand meal that starts with a Great American Cookies sample, detours for a Fatburger double, sneaks a Round Table slice “for later,” and ends with a Marble Slab scoop you allegedly bought for the kids. Purely professional research, obviously.