Operators. Fixers. Investors.
And your next brand partner.
Operon is an operator-led franchise acquisition firm focused on acquiring and restoring underperforming units within established restaurant systems across the Southeast.
We acquire existing franchise units from established restaurant brands, and turns them into high-performing, institutional-quality assets through disciplined operations, proven turnaround playbooks, and a long-term commitment to your system's health.
When a franchisee needs to exit and you need someone who can step in fast, operate at standard, and grow from there, that's exactly what Operon was built to do.
Are you ready for a professional group of operators who will get in the boat and row with you, even through the toughest of storms?
Who We Help
We work with franchisors of established restaurant brands who are looking for a qualified, institutional-grade operator to take on units they can no longer or no longer want to run themselves. If any of the following sounds familiar, we should talk.
S C E N A R I O 1
You have a franchisee who needs to exit — and you need someone ready to step in now.
A distressed franchisee creates compounding risk: brand standard violations, customer experience degradation, legal exposure, and comps pressure on neighboring units. You need a buyer who can close fast and operate from day one. That's us.
S C E N A R I O 2
You're refranchising company-owned stores and need an institutional buyer for a cluster of units.
Moving to asset-light is the right strategy. Finding an operator with the capital discipline to underwrite a multi-unit transfer and the operational depth to actually improve performance is harder. We've built Operon to be exactly that buyer.
S C E N A R I O 3
You want better operators in your system — and you're ready to make a strategic change.
Franchisee quality is a system health issue, not just a performance issue. When underperforming operators drag down your EBITDA, your SSS comps, and your ability to attract institutional capital, the answer isn't another coaching conversation. It's a transfer to someone who will run it right.
The Operon Way
We follow a structured, repeatable playbook developed across decades of multi-unit operations and institutional investment. From initial conversation to long-term system partnership, here is how an engagement with Operon works.
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1.Structured asset transfer
We move quickly and deliberately. Our due diligence process is built on PE-grade underwriting — real unit economics, labor cost modeling, throughput analysis — so we're not learning about the business after we close. We are ready to operate the day the keys transfer.
2.Capital infusion and operational reset
We budget for meaningful investment in each acquired unit: equipment upgrades, refresh where needed, and the working capital to stabilize operations. We do not undercapitalize acquisitions and hope to catch up later.
3.Rapid brand standard alignment
Within 30 days of transfer, we are operating to brand standards. Full stop. We understand what franchisors need to see, because our principals helped write the playbook at some of the largest franchise systems in the country.
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4.Labor model optimization
Labor is the largest controllable cost in any restaurant unit. We apply institutional KPI tracking — coverage ratios, throughput per labor hour, scheduling discipline — from week one. Not eventually. Week one.
5.Revenue channel activation
Most underperforming units are leaving money on the table in digital ordering, catering, and off-premise. We activate every available channel and track contribution by channel — because same-store sales growth is the most reliable path to unit-level EBITDA improvement.
6.Margin discipline with institutional tracking
We report against the metrics institutional investors care about — unit-level EBITDA, four-wall margins, COGS as a percentage of net sales — because that's how we hold ourselves accountable and how we demonstrate system value to you.
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7.Active franchise system participation
We show up. Franchise advisory councils, franchisee peer groups, brand summits — we participate as invested system partners, not silent owners. We want your brand to win, because when your system performs, our units perform.
8.In-market DMA expansion
Once a unit hits performance benchmarks, we expand. We have committed to specific DMAs in the Southeast for a reason: we believe in the demographics, we know the labor markets, and we intend to be a meaningful multi-unit presence in every market we enter — not a one-unit experiment.
Meet the Team
We are the buyer franchisors have been waiting for: operator-led, PE-disciplined, and built to acquire 1–10 unit clusters at speed, without disrupting brand standards or culture.
Lauren Fernandez
Lauren is the founder and CEO of Full Course, a restaurant development and investment firm that incubates and accelerates emerging fast casual brands. She brings nearly two decades of experience in product development, licensing, franchising, and multi-unit operations. Previously, Lauren served as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Focus Brands (Cinnabon, Moe’s, Auntie Anne’s, Carvel and others), overseeing a global franchise system of more than 4,000 locations. She has also been a multi-unit franchisee (Chicken Salad Chick) and currently manages a blended capital strategy all Full Course investing in restaurant brands, combining legal, operating, and private equity expertise.
Nikhil Khanna
Nikhil is a seasoned CEO, COO, and transformation leader with more than 20 years of experience driving performance turnarounds and value creation for private-equity backed multi-unit businesses. Most recently, he served as CEO and President/COO of Miller’s Ale House, a $600M+ casual dining platform with 100+ locations, where he led a comprehensive operational and commercial transformation that expanded EBITDA by more than 60% year-over-year and significantly increased enterprise value. Prior to Miller’s, Nikhil spent a decade partnering with PE sponsors and Fortune 50 clients at McKinsey & Company and Alvarez & Marsal, serving in interim C-suite roles to deliver 20–45% EBITDA improvements, $1B+ in incremental revenue gains, and substantial cash and working-capital enhancements across consumer, retail, telecom, and healthcare sectors. His background combines deep operator experience, rigorous analytical discipline, and a track record of building scalable systems, making him uniquely equipped to lead multi-unit optimization, brand conversions, and operational playbooks that unlock measurable unit-level growth.
