Chubby Group raises $50m to absorb GEN Korean BBQ
A Prysm Capital-led Series A at a $500m valuation is bankrolling the Los Angeles operator's takeover of 47 GEN Korean BBQ restaurants.
Chubby Group's $50 million Series A, which closed on 15 October, is the financing behind the Los Angeles operator's move to absorb 47 GEN Korean BBQ restaurants.
Prysm Capital led the round at a $500 million valuation. It is Chubby Group's first institutional funding after relying on operating cash flow, its founders, local operating partners and family offices, which together put more than $90 million into the company before this round.
The money arrives alongside a separate, binding letter of intent with GEN Restaurant Group, the Nasdaq-listed chain whose board approved the deal on 14 October. Chubby will take over operations at 47 US restaurants and four development sites, in a transaction valued at up to $100 million.
Twenty locations became seventy, and the new money is meant to make seventy into a hundred.
How the GEN restaurants change hands
The handover runs in four phases over 12 months, with the first 12 locations targeted for 1 November. GEN keeps its packaged foods business and about three restaurants, and will hold a note that can convert into Chubby equity at a $1.5 billion valuation. GEN expects the deal to cut roughly $160 million in lease liabilities.
Chubby plans to relaunch the converted sites as GEN X, a wagyu-focused Korean barbecue concept, or fold them into its existing Chubby Club brands. The company says some units it has already converted from other operators saw revenue rise as much as sixfold, a stated maximum rather than a typical outcome.
Chubby Group now runs more than 70 locations across brands including Chubby Cattle, Wagyu House, The X Pot and Niku X, spanning premium hot pot, Korean barbecue and fast-casual formats. It buys whole cattle and chickens and sources seafood directly, rather than through distributors.
A hot pot operator chasing scale
Systemwide revenue grew from $1.5 million in 2016 to $233 million in 2025, and the company projects $400 million for 2026, a jump of more than 70%. Prysm's Matt Roberts said the business grew from about 20 to about 70 locations while staying profitable, though no audited figures were disclosed. It is the latest private money to back a chain's expansion this year, alongside Savory Fund's third investment fund.
The new capital is earmarked for supply chain expansion and further openings, including 30 new Mr. Chubby and Chubby Bowls restaurants planned for 2027, on top of the GEN integration already under way.
Closing the GEN transfer still depends on licence transfers, lease assignments and regulatory approvals, with definitive agreements targeted roughly 30 days after the letter of intent was signed.
