Why the Restaurant Firm Behind Fatburger and Johnny Rockets Is Embracing Bitcoin

Franchise house owners of restaurant manufacturers Johnny Rockets, Fatburger, Spherical Desk Pizza, Nice American Cookies, and different FAT Manufacturers entities can now pay franchisee royalty funds in Bitcoin. 

The publicly traded FAT Manufacturers (Nasdaq: FAT), which boasts 18 totally different franchise ideas and greater than 2,300 areas worldwide, stated the transfer “underscores its dedication to monetary and technological innovation.” 

“Over time, Bitcoin has reworked right into a mainstream asset and, as an organization, we see nice worth in increasing our types of funds for our franchisees,” stated FAT Manufacturers COO Thayer Wiederhorn in an announcement. He stated that worldwide franchisees specifically, which function over 20% of its eating places, could particularly profit from the shift.

“We sit up for using Bitcoin as an environment friendly instrument for streamlining and simplifying the cost course of,” Wiederhorn added.

Franchisees, or those who personal one in every of FAT Manufacturers’ quick-service, informal eating areas, will pay franchise and growth charges, in addition to their royalty funds by sending Bitcoin to a “crypto pockets enterprise account,” a FAT Manufacturers consultant informed Decrypt. At that time, FAT Manufacturers can resolve whether or not or not it needs to promote the Bitcoin for USD, or maintain it. 

As for including different cost choices like Ethereum or Solana, it may “presumably” occur “sooner or later,” a consultant for FAT Manufacturers informed Decrypt, “however we’re beginning with Bitcoin.”

What about paying for a Fatburger or milkshake from Johnny Rockets with Bitcoin? 

“Doubtlessly, however not at the moment,” they replied.

The overlap of cryptocurrency and eating places has grown in recent times. In 2024, on-chain eating rewards platform Blackbird helped bring crypto payments to a few of New York’s most acclaimed eating places. Plus, quick meals chains McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut have all run collaborations in Web3.

Moreover, there’s a rising pattern of publicly traded firms embracing Bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset, popularized by Strategy (previously MicroStrategy) and its outspoken chairman Michael Saylor. His agency now holds some $44 billion price of Bitcoin, and the agency’s mannequin has inspired dozens of followers.

Edited by Andrew Hayward