Publix Selling Crispers Restaurants

Publix Super Markets Inc. said this week it would sell Crispers, the fresh salads, soups and sandwiches restaurant chain it acquired in February 2007, to Healthy Food Concepts LLC, an affiliate of Miami-based invesment company Boyne Capital Partners. Terms and agreements of the sale were not disclosed.

“For more than 80 years, we have been the grocery retailer of choice for Floridians,” noted Ed Crenshaw, CEO of Lakeland, Fla.-based Publix. “This opportunity gives us the ability to continue to be passionately focused on our core business, our customers, and the products and services we offer within our grocery retail environment. While we were able to share best practices with Crispers, we recognized that now was the time to refocus our business priorities.”

Healthy Food Concepts will operate Crispers as a stand-alone business, and retain the restaurants’ management and associates.

Founded in 1989, Crispers, operates 36 locations in north, central and south Florida. Publix made an equity investment in Crispers in 2002 and then again in 2004 before buying the fast-casual format in 2007 and operating it as a wholly owned subsidiary.