Secondary Buyout • Franchising

Rhône Group Acquires Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

On September 4, 2025, private equity firm Rhône Group acquired franchising company Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers from Thompson Street Capital Partners and Golub Capital

Acquisition Context
  • This is Rhône Group’s 1st transaction in the Franchising sector.
  • This is Rhône Group’s 16th transaction in the United States.
  • This is Rhône Group’s 1st transaction in Kansas.

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M&A Deal Summary

Date September 4, 2025
Target Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers
Sector Franchising
Buyer(s) Rhône Group
Sellers(s) Thompson Street Capital Partners
Golub Capital
Deal Type Secondary Buyout
Advisor(s) William Blair
North Point Advisors (Financial)

Target Company

Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

Wichita, Kansas, United States
Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers is a franchisor of fast-casual restaurants. Freddy’s fast-casual restaurants feature steakburgers, shoestring fries, and freshly churned frozen custard. The Company’s family-friendly restaurants focus on premium quality ingredients, cooked-to-order food, and best-in-class hospitality. Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers was founded in 2002 and is based in Wichita, Kansas.
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Buyer Overview 1

Buyer

Rhône Group

New York, New York, United States

Category Private Equity Firm
Founded 1996
PE ASSETS 11.0B USD
Size Mega
Type Sector Agnostic
DESCRIPTION

Rhône Group is a private equity and financial advisory firm focused on large-scale buyouts across North America and Western Europe. Areas of interest include energy, materials, industrials, retail, consumer products, healthcare, and financial services. Rhône was formed in 1995 and has offices in New York, Paris, and London.


Deal Context for Buyer #
Overall 35 of 35
Sector: Franchising 1 of 1
Type: Secondary Buyout 10 of 10
State: Kansas 1 of 1
Country: United States 16 of 16
Year: 2025 1 of 1
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2024-08-07 Sweet Oak

Roswell, Georgia, United States

Sweet Oak is a privately held portfolio of businesses across sweeteners and other foods, grilling and fire-making products, and flavor enhancers for B2B. Sweet Oak is based in Roswell, Georgia.

Buy -

Seller Profiles 2

SELLER

Thompson Street Capital Partners

St. Louis, Missouri, United States

Investor Investor Investor Investor Investor


Category Private Equity Firm
Founded 2000
PE ASSETS 4.5B USD
Size Large
Type Sector Agnostic
DESCRIPTION

Thompson Street Capital Partners is a private equity firm that targets control stakes in profitable, mid-sized North American companies with $5 to $50 million of EBITDA. Thompson Street looks for family businesses, private companies seeking liquidity, corporate divestitures, and public companies going private. Areas of interest include healthcare services, business services, electronics, information technology, and engineered products companies. Thompson Street will not consider investments in start-ups, early stage companies, or real estate. Thompson Street Capital was founded in 2000 and is based in St. Louis, Missouri.


Deal Context for Seller #
Overall 50 of 52
Sector: Franchising 1 of 1
Type: Secondary Buyout 17 of 19
State: Kansas 1 of 1
Country: United States 50 of 52
Year: 2025 3 of 5
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2025-08-05 DDC Solutions

San Diego, California, United States

DDC Solutions is a designer and manufacturer of innovative data center cabinets and cooling solutions. The company provides superior, cost-effective cooling options for the high-density GPU clusters that are required to run artificial intelligence (AI) and other compute-intensive applications. Its products combine the efficiency of water cooling with the flexibility of traditional air cooling. DDC Solutions is based in San Diego, California.

Sell -
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2025-09-17 Isto Biologics

Hopkinton, Massachusetts, United States

Isto Biologics is an orthobiologics company providing advanced solutions for the spine and orthopedics markets. Isto Biologics offers an innovative portfolio of products, including InQu Bone Graft Extender & Substitute, Influx Trabecular Bone Graft, and CellPoint Concentrated Bone Marrow Aspirate System. Isto Biologics was founded in 2016 and is based in Hopkinton, Massachusetts.

Sell -
SELLER

Golub Capital

New York, New York, United States

Investor Investor Investor Investor Investor


Category Lender
Founded 1994
PE ASSETS 75.0B USD
Size Mega
Type Sector Agnostic
DESCRIPTION

Golub Capital is a private investment firm focused on making debt and equity investments in US based middle-market companies. Golub looks to invest between $5 and $75 million in businesses with established operating cash flow, strong customer relationships, and 'sustainable proprietary positions in their markets'. Prospective investment structures include refinancings, recapitalizations, buyouts, and growth financings. Sectors of interest include consumer products, business and consumer services, defense, manufacturing, value-added distribution, media, healthcare services and restaurants. Golub Capital was formed in 1994 and maintains offices in New York City, Atlanta, and Chicago.


Deal Context for Seller #
Overall 43 of 43
Sector: Franchising 2 of 2
Type: Secondary Buyout 20 of 20
State: Kansas 2 of 2
Country: United States 41 of 41
Year: 2025 1 of 1
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2024-12-09 Metal Supermarkets

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Metal Supermarkets operates convenience stores for metal, providing solutions to customers’ metal needs in both the business-to-business and business-to-consumer categories. Metal Supermarkets was formed in 1985 and is based in Toronto, Ontario.

Buy -