First Watch to acquire 16 restaurants in $49M deal

Daytime dining company First Watch, based in east Manatee County, plans to acquire 16 restaurants in North Carolina and South Carolina, bringing them under corporate ownership. The deal includes 15 franchise restaurants and one under construction expected to open for business before the transaction closes.

The deal, for an aggregate purchase price of $49 million, is expected to close by mid-April 2025, according to a statement from First Watch, which operates 547 restaurants nationwide as of the third quarter. Of those, 466 are company-owned and 81 are franchise-owned.

“Strategic acquisitions of franchise-operated restaurants … continues to be an important part of our long-term growth and value creation strategy,” First Watch CEO and President Chris Tomasso says in a statement.