[Elvis]

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em?

http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news ... jamba.html

Peacock group closes $25 million deal for Jamba Juice stores

An investor group led by former Anheuser-Busch President Dave Peacock has closed on a $25 million deal to buy 73 Jamba Juice stores in California.

The group, which is called Vitaligent, bought the stores from Jamba Inc. as part of Jamba’s accelerated refranchising program.

The investment group is led by Peacock, who serves as chairman; Paul Edgerly, managing director of Bain Capital in Boston; and Terry Matlack, co-founder of Tortoise Capital in Kansas City. Other local investors include Dean VandeKamp, a former partner at Ernst & Young who will serve as Vitaligent’s CEO; Holton Capital’s Rick Holton; Bob Hermann, Jr.; and Mike and Steve Carr of Carr Textiles, among others.

The deal makes Vitaligent the largest Jamba franchisee, with more than 10 percent of Jamba’s sales. The stores are all located in northern California, with locations in Sacramento and the San Jose area.

Initially, the group was said to be buying 100 Jamba stores for $36 million. However, Vitaligent didn’t buy stores in San Diego, as the group wanted to focus on the northern California market, Peacock said. “We may revisit San Diego down the road,” he said.

James D. White, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Jamba, said given the size and complexity of the deal, the company has decided to delay the refranchising of the San Diego stores to the end of this year.

Peacock already is an investor in Jamba Juice franchises. In 2013, he led a group of investors, which included sportscaster Joe Buck and Saint Louis University basketball star Scott Highmark, in creating Show Me Smoothie LLC to develop 15 Jamba Juice stores in Missouri and Kansas.

Peacock said Show Me Smoothie and Vitaligent will merge to form one ownership group under the Vitaligent name.

[den-the-coach]

Excellent I'm sure Stan would be more than happy to give Peacock some space in the City of Champions area around the greatest NFL venue of its time.

[BuiltRamTough]

Peacock is a good little boy.

[snackdaddy]

Maybe he's going to move them all to St. Louis.

[den-the-coach]

Maybe he's going to move them all to St. Louis.

I think Peacock is a smarter business man than that, in fact, last time he spoke to Kroenke Stan told him..."It's nothing personal David, it's just business."

[Elvis]

I think snack was joking but maybe, just to be safe, we should start a Save Our Jamba Juice Facebook page?