Fat Brands promotes Taylor Wiederhorn to co-CEO

Aneurin Canham-Clyne

Wed, Apr 30, 2025, 1:47 AM 2 min read

Taylor Wiederhorn, son of Fat Brands founder and former CEO Andrew Wiederhorn, has been promoted from chief development officer to co-CEO, effective April 29, the restaurant company announced Tuesday.
He will serve alongside Ken Kuick, Fat’s CFO and co-CEO since mid-2023. Kuick is also interim CEO at Twin Hospitality.
Rob Rosen, who was appointed co-CEO alongside Kuick after Andrew Wiederhorn’s 2023 resignation, will shift to a consulting position focused on debt/capital markets for the company.

Dive Insight:

This co-CEO change puts another Wiederhorn in charge of Fat again, less than a year after Andrew Wiederhorn was indicted over an alleged $47 million fraudulent loan scheme and for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.

Taylor Wiederhorn, who has worked as chief development officer at Fat Brands since 2017, according to his LinkedIn profile, said in a statement that he was confident his background would ensure a seamless leadership transition.

Fat managed to open significant numbers of new units in recent years through franchised unit development, though its development has slowed since 2022. Fat opened 142 new stores in 2022, followed by 125 in 2023 and 92 in 2024, according to respective earnings releases.

The multi-brand platform is in the process of refranchising company-owned Fazoli’s units and plans to refranchise its Hot Dog on a Stick locations, according to its Q4 2024 earnings release. Combined with the spinoff of Twin Peaks, these moves would shift Fat’s store system to being almost 100% franchisee-operated.

Like many competitors, Fat has suffered from declining same-store sales, with that metric falling 2.5% in fiscal 2024 and 1.6% in Q4.

Systemwide sales increased in Q4, however, driven by the scale of Fat’s new openings. But the company’s net losses more than doubled from $90.1 million in 2023to $189.8 million in 2024.

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