Savory Fund closes $201.5m third investment fund
The Salt Lake City private-equity firm has already deployed 35% of Savory Fund III across four fast-casual and bakery brands, led by new CEO Clay Dover.
Savory Fund III has closed at $201.5 million, above its $200 million target, the Salt Lake City private-equity firm said in a Tuesday press release, giving it fresh capital to back emerging US restaurant chains.
About 35% of the fund is already deployed across four brands: South Block, a Washington DC-area acai and smoothie chain; Bonrue Bakery, a European-style patisserie based in St. George, Utah; Hawkers Asian Street Food, an Orlando-based cocktails-and-small-plates chain; and Zao Asian Grill, a Salt Lake City-area fast-casual brand that Restaurant Dive reports has posted roughly 20% same-store sales growth.
Savory Fund III's four brands so far
What our investors are really backing is the team behind the checks.
Savory plans to back eight or nine portfolio companies in total across quick-service, fast-casual and casual dining. The fund is led by chief executive Clay Dover, who joined Savory in January. Most of Fund III's limited partners also invested in the firm's first two funds, and major banks joined this round, according to Nation's Restaurant News.
"Raising a fund is a vote of confidence, and our investors voted loudly," said Andrew K. Smith, Savory's co-founder and managing director. Co-founder and managing director Shauna K. Smith said: "What our investors are really backing is the team behind the checks."
A decade of founder-led bets
Founded in 2018, Savory takes controlling stakes in restaurant brands while leaving founders in charge of day-to-day operations. Its best-known exits are Swig, which grew from 17 to 46 units before the Larry H. Miller Company bought a majority stake in 2022, and Mo' Bettahs, which grew from six to 56 locations before Blue Marlin Partners and Trive Capital took a majority stake in 2024; Savory kept minority positions in both.
The firm now holds 13 brands and more than 400 restaurants across 27 states, with over $750 million in assets under management. The close lands the same week a rival chain changed hands for $100 million, a reminder of how much private capital is moving through the same mid-size restaurant segment. Savory has not named which four or five brands will absorb the rest of Fund III.
