BBQ Holdings, INC.: insider trades · United States · SEC (Form 4)

About BBQ Holdings, INC.

BBQ Holdings, Inc. was a U.S.-based multi-brand restaurant company focused on casual dining, family dining, and barbecue-led concepts. The company was incorporated in Minnesota in 2019 as part of a holding-company reorganization around Famous Dave’s of America, whose operating history dates back to 1994. BBQ Holdings built its platform through a roll-up strategy, using acquisitions and brand diversification to broaden its restaurant portfolio across several formats rather than relying on a single concept. The company was headquartered in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and its public-market profile was tied to the United States and the NASDAQ market. ([sec.gov](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1021270/000155837022003759/bbq-20220102x10k.htm?utm_source=openai)) Operationally, BBQ Holdings developed, owned, operated, and franchised a collection of restaurant brands that included Famous Dave’s, Village Inn, Granite City, Real Urban Barbecue, Clark Crew BBQ, Tahoe Joe’s Steakhouse, and Bakers Square. That portfolio gave the group exposure to several dining occasions: barbecue, grill-and-brew pub dining, breakfast-and-family dining, and bakery/comfort-food occasions. The business model blended company-owned restaurants with franchised units, and at times included non-traditional formats such as ghost kitchens, which helped extend brand reach while limiting capital intensity relative to a purely company-owned expansion strategy. ([sec.gov](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1021270/000155837022003759/bbq-20220102x10k.htm?utm_source=openai)) From a competitive standpoint, BBQ Holdings operated in a fragmented and highly competitive U.S. restaurant industry, where scale, brand recognition, local market relevance, and operating discipline matter significantly. Its key competitive advantage was not dominant national share, but rather the combination of a recognizable flagship brand in Famous Dave’s and a broader portfolio that could be expanded through M&A. That approach allowed management to pursue adjacency and consolidation opportunities, but it also left the company exposed to industrywide pressures such as food and labor inflation, shifting consumer traffic patterns, execution risk, and the challenges of integrating acquired banners. ([sec.gov](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1021270/000155837022003759/bbq-20220102x10k.htm?utm_source=openai)) Recent corporate history was defined by the proposed and then completed acquisition by MTY Food Group. In August 2022, BBQ Holdings announced a merger agreement under which MTY would acquire the company for $17.25 per share in cash, implying an enterprise value of roughly $200 million including net debt. The company had already expanded meaningfully before that transaction, including the acquisition of Village Inn and Bakers Square in 2021, Granite City earlier, and Barrio Queen in 2022. For investors, this means BBQ Holdings should be viewed primarily as a former U.S. listed restaurant consolidator on NASDAQ, rather than as a standalone growth story today. ([sec.gov](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1021270/000102127022000012/bbq-20220703.htm?utm_source=openai))