JAB Holdings, the Luxemburg-based investment firm, has quickly become a force in the US restaurant industry thanks to a spending spree that kicked off in 2012 with the acquisition of Peet’s Coffee. In the six years since, JAB has amassed a nearly 5,000-unit portfolio featuring some of the most recognizable brands in the coffee, breakfast, bakery and sandwich space.

JAB followed up the Peet’s acquisition with the purchase of Caribou Coffee (2013), Einstein Noah (2014), and Krispy Kreme (2016). Since then, the pace has quickened and the deals have gotten bigger. In the last 18 months alone, JAB has swept up no less than Panera, its primary competitor Au Bon Pain, Bruegger’s, and UK-based Pret a Manager. (For good measure, we can’t forget the January 2018 acquisition of Dr. Pepper Snapple). In recent weeks, the company announced its next target – upstart cookie bakery-and-delivery concept Insomnia Cookies.

Insomnia will be handed over to Krispy Kreme, much like JAB’s niche acquisitions in 2015, Stumptown Coffee Roasters and Intelligentsia Coffee, came under the purview of Peet’s.

The map of JAB’s rapidly growing restaurant empire was created using CSG’s Restaurant Locations Database, the same database that our real estate, investment and foodservice clients rely upon to meet their locational data needs.