CMG in Integration Mode as Multi-Brand Franchisee Also Adds Arby’s, Dunkin’ to Portfolio
Last year was a period of onboarding for leaders at CMG Companies, after the ownership group inked 14 deals across three brands for 118 locations.
In 2024, the Plano, Texas-based group added well over 100 units with Ace Hardware, Little Caesars and Sonic Drive-In, all of it completed with the organization's own capital. It marked the expansion of a portfolio with several restaurant concepts and brands in other industries, and the flurry of deals earned CMG a Franchise Times Dealmakers award last year.
Today, the group has 160 stores with both KFC and Taco Bell, along with 271 Sonic units, 61 Little Caesars restaurants, 40 Ace Hardware outlets and seven Valvoline Instant Oil Change shops. CMG also added Arby's and Dunkin' to its system, acquiring 121 units with the former and developing a pipeline of new coffee shops with the latter.
Established 25 years ago, CMG Companies operates more than 600 units across the aforementioned brands, along with other concepts. For much of its history, founding partner Al Bhakta said its expansion has largely come through M&A activity.
"We develop in our brands and the franchisors want us to develop so we continue to do that," Bhakta said. "However, we like the potential of acquisitions. The opportunities come along, and we'll buy 100 stores at a time if we can get them. We're opportunistic, and sometimes the deals are larger, while sometimes we have to do a lot more smaller deals to get where we want to be."
That was the case in 2024, with a plethora of transactions taking place, and many of those were completed late in the year. Cory Posey, director of M&A at CMG, said all that activity led to a slowdown in transactions for 2025 as the organization worked to manage the new locations, and the accompanying employees.
"For 2025, with that many units, we wanted to focus on them being acclimated into our system," Posey said. "We did a transaction with Little Caesars. It didn't mean we were less busy, because we're still taking on those new stores. We were just more focused on the existing portfolio."
Navin Nagrani, another founding partner with CMG, said while it takes plenty of effort to integrate new units, doing so has become second nature for the group thanks to its years of M&A experience.
"You create muscle memory from doing a lot of transactions," Nagrani said. "There's a symphony of over 100 things that have to happen, from dealing with landlords to dealing with the people, along with the culture being implemented and everything else to let those businesses excel. There's no secret or special sauce. It's just a matter of rinsing and repeating a formula that we like and think works."
"I think the most important thing for us is making sure that we can adapt and adopt our new employees into our system," Posey said. "We sit with our groups and set up 30-, 60-, 90-day plans, and make sure everyone gets paid for their first paycheck. There can be some anxiety with the crews, especially with the larger transactions, and we want them to know they're not just a number."
While 2025 was slower for M&A, transactions didn't completely halt. Posey said across its brands, the company added 33 stores at the end of October, and another 20 in December. With new brands Arby's and Dunkin' added in 2026, leaders called the year one of transaction and change.
"Even though you have two concepts under Inspire Brands, they're completely different animals," Nagrani said. "With Arby's, we acquired more than 100 stores and we're integrating that, and with Dunkin', it's like having a new baby. We have only one store right now and we're going to be building it. It's different when you're starting from scratch and not inheriting existing cultures or businesses. We have the opportunity to set the foundation from day one. With Arby's, it's a new QSR for us, and there are nuances to get acclimated to."
As for deciding which locations and brands to acquire in the transaction process, Bhakta said store-level performance and average unit volume are factors. CMG, he continued, is also interested in stores that may be struggling, but still have potential.
"We find ourselves fixing businesses and looking for turnaround opportunities," Bhakta said. "We have seen a lot of that over the years, and we've been successful at bringing in underperforming businesses, and infusing the culture that gets us the results we're proud of."
