--- title: "Savory Fund’s latest fundraise proves its worth" url: https://burnaze.com/article/157193ef-b30a-42d4-a101-8252a0b4c9eb source: "Restaurant Business" original_url: https://restaurantbusinessonline.com/financing/savory-funds-latest-fundraise-proves-its-worth category: "Finance" topics: ["Finance & M&A"] published: 2026-10-16T14:25:44.000Z modified: 2026-10-31T14:58:00.760Z image: https://cdn.informaconnect.com/platform/files/public/2026-10/background/Hawkers%20exterior.jpg?VersionId=1Q2YxQu4BzzrSN5Zh.VJ5C2YeXUoReqr --- # Savory Fund’s latest fundraise proves its worth **TL;DR:** Savory Fund, a Salt Lake City private-equity firm, has closed its third fund, raising $201.5 million. The firm invests in innovative growth chains, including restaurant brands like Bonrue Bakery and Hawkers Asian Street Food. *originally published in Restaurant Business on 2026-10-16. [Read the original](https://restaurantbusinessonline.com/financing/savory-funds-latest-fundraise-proves-its-worth).* ## Key facts - Savory Fund raised $201.5 million - 11.6% of capital raised at private-equity firms came from emerging fund managers - Savory invests in innovative growth chains ## Story Savory Fund, the Salt Lake City private-equity firm that owns restaurant chains like Bonrue Bakery, Hawkers Asian Street Food, and Via 313 Pizzeria, just closed its third fund, raising $201.5 million in the process. The third fund must have been easier to raise, right? Not quite. “Hardest thing that I’ve ever done in my whole career,” Andrew Smith, Savory’s cofounder and managing director, said in an interview. ## Fundraising challenges That’s saying a lot, given Savory’s history, given everything that Smith and his wife, Shauna, have done over the past two decades, from opening a bakery during the Great Recession to tearing up a successful franchise operation to start an investment firm a decade later — during COVID-19. The investment environment is difficult right now, especially for newer funds. Private-equity firms are struggling with assets that they need to unload, because valuations in many industries, notably restaurants, are down since 2021. That has created a “logjam” that has slowed activity. Fundraising has slowed. Global middle market investment fundraising is down 7% in the first half of the year, according to S&P Global. And 194 middle market funds were closed last year, down 21% from the previous year. And the share that emerging fund managers such as Savory get these days has diminished. Just 11.6% of capital raised at private-equity firms came at emerging fund managers, or firms that are on their first three fundraises. That’s down from 18.6% a decade earlier, according to the asset management company Nuveen. Meanwhile, the restaurant industry is tough right now, which has generated more caution among potential investors. To get it done, Savory had to prove it could still find some assets. So the firm, which was an early investor in the dirty soda concept Swig and bought companies like Mo’Bettahs, Houston TX Hot Chicken, and Saigon Hustle, got to work again. It acquired the acai brand South Block, then bought Bonrue Bakery, then Hawkers Asian Street Food, then more recently Zao Asian Café. That helped get the third fund over the finish line. “We raised the last $60 million in the last three months of this fundraising cycle, which just closed this last month, because investors were like, ‘It’s working,’” Andrew said. “They’re incredible assets. They’re not shutting down. “We’re niche operators and we have a good track record of success, that really helped.” ## Savory's unique approach Savory operates one of the more unique private-equity funds out there. It invests in innovative growth chains, keeps the founders around, and supports the brands with a team experienced in the restaurant business, which these days is led by CEO Clay Dover. That uniqueness is a symptom of the firm’s unique history. Shauna was a stay-at-home mom nearly two decades ago and decided she wanted to open a restaurant. They opened a Kneader’s Bakery and Café in Lehi, Utah. “It’s funny, because [Andrew] had zero faith that it was a good idea,” said Shauna, Savory managing director and cofounder. “But I was determined, and he was so supportive, and he was like, ‘You know, I think that’s great,’ and he supported me through the whole thing, and here we are.” But it’s also worth pointing out, as Andrew did, exactly when this was going on: in late September of 2008. On September 29 that year, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 777 points, the largest single-day point drop in the index’s history. And just to prove that it wasn’t done it fell another 485 points the next day. The world was on the precipice of a financial crash, and Andrew was convinced that the business would fail. That didn’t happen. “She opened up and I’m like, ‘Holy shit, that’s busy!’” Andrew said. “Like, why is everybody so happy in there with everything going on outside of it? So yeah, that was how we started.” They would ultimately own 140 restaurants, including Kneaders and Little Caesars. The business was profitable and generated a lot of cash. But they also had risk. “It was a lot of cash,” Andrew said. “But I will say this, we also had a lot of liabilities, a lot of debts, like all founders do. Your name is on every lease. We had every bank note in our names. So as good as life was, every single day we’re like, ‘And tomorrow it could all be gone. We could be homeless.’” Andrew used to race Porches, and after a race one time, a friend who was a private equity managing partner suggested that he create his own fund. “That’s how the whole concept started,” Shauna said. “I don’t know that I would have ever been like, ‘I have an idea, private equity.’” They sold the business, kept the workers, and floated everything through savings before raising the first $100 million fund, which closed in 2020, which itself was potentially poor timing. But Savory made some interesting deals, including Swig (which was sold to The Larry H. Miller Company in 2022) and Mo’Bettahs (flipped to Blue Marlin Partners and Trive Capital in 2024). ## Investment strategy The success helped with the second fund, which closed in 2021, and now with the third. These days, Savory is one of the few firms doing a regular number of emerging chain investments. It puts money into scalable growth chains and provides them assistance as they grow, keeping debt to a minimum while emphasizing cashflow. And keeping the founders is crucial. “I know fanaticism is a scary word,” Shauna said. “But we want that fanaticism to stay intact because it’s a commitment to keeping the brand to what drove it to success in the first place.” Now the fund can keep investing. More than a third of the fund has already been deployed. Savory is working on some other investments, and is targeting four or five more deals. And with Dover as CEO, the firm can handle the additional investments. “He’s been awesome,” Shauna said. The firm is a resource, they said. They provide support for the restaurant teams when they need it, so they can learn from everything the Smiths learned during their time operating restaurants. “We’ve made all the mistakes already,” Shauna said, “so we’re just trying to keep people from making them again.” ## Entities - restaurant industry (topic) - private equity (topic) - Finance (sector) - Restaurant Business (publication) - fundraising (topic) - Swig (company) - investment strategy (topic) - Savory Fund (investor) - Andrew Smith (person) - S&P Global (company) - Mo'Bettahs (company) - Nuveen (investor) --- Originally reported by Restaurant Business (https://restaurantbusinessonline.com/financing/savory-funds-latest-fundraise-proves-its-worth). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/157193ef-b30a-42d4-a101-8252a0b4c9eb).