Retail Zoo

Retail Zoo is an Australian company that owns multiple major restaurant chains, including Boost Juice, Betty’s Burgers and Salsa's Fresh Mex Grill.^[1] It also previously owned the Hatch Chicken Shop and Cibo Espresso chains.

Retail Zoo

Company type	Private
Industry	Fast food
Founded	2000; 25 years ago (2000)
Founder	Janine and Jeff Allis
Revenue	$178 million (2022)
Net income	$15 million (2022)
Parent	Adamantem Capital

Valued at around half a billion dollars,^[2] it is a private company that has explored a public listing on at least two occasions, first exploring and then putting on pause the idea in 2019; before resuming its pursuit of an IPO again in 2022.^[2]

In 2023, Australian private equity firm Adamantem Capital acquired a majority stake in the company for $350 million.^[3][4][5]

History

Retail Zoo was founded by Janine and Jeff Allis in 2000.^[6] The company acquired the Cibo Espresso coffee chain in December 2012 and launched the Hatch Chicken Shop chain in 2013.^[7][8]

A majority stake in Retail Zoo was later sold to private equity investor Riverside Company. In 2014 Riverside's shareholding was purchased by Bain Capital.^[9][10] During this time, it explored a public listing on the ASX in 2019, but the listing ultimately didn't go ahead that year; and remained owned by Bain.^{[11][12][13][14]} In 2022 the company lodged documents with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission to change its status to a public company.^[1] However, it was later acquired by Australian private equity firm Adamantem Capital following a $225m capital raise through debt syndication by the Commonwealth Bank.^[15]

Its reported valuation history is as follows:

Date	Valuation	Source
2014	majority stake = $185m	SmartCompany[4]
October 2019	$482m	Goldman Sachs estimate (sponsor-broker)[16]
April 2022	$400m	AFR estimate[2]
February 2023	majority stake = $350m	SmartCompany[4]

In November 2024, Retail Zoo sold the Cibo Espresso chain to Retail Food Group for A$2.7 million.^[17]