Cotton Patch Cafe, the Southlake-based casual-dining chain known for hand-breaded chicken-fried steak and scratch-made Texas comfort food, has been snapped up by Dallas restaurant group Local Favorite Restaurants. The roughly 46-unit brand now joins a roster of other regional fixtures, and the deal comes with a shakeup in the executive ranks. Financial terms were not disclosed.
According to a release from PR Newswire, Local Favorite acquired Cotton Patch from private-equity owner Altamont Capital Partners and is pitching the move as a homecoming that returns the Texas-born chain to local ownership. The companies said they plan to lean on shared operations and real estate expertise to support growth. The announcement was distributed on Monday.
Brandon Coleman III, who had been serving as Cotton Patch CEO, will step into the top job at Local Favorite Restaurants and keep Cotton Patch under his watch. He said, "The heart of the Cotton Patch experience is not changing," according to the release from PR Newswire. The materials credit his tenure with six straight quarters of positive same-store sales and a push on everyday value, including the chain's $9.99 Texas Value Meals, and point to recent local readers' choice wins as proof that the brand has a solid foothold in DFW.
Local Favorite Adds Another Texas Mainstay
Local Favorite already runs a stable of well-known Texas concepts and will tuck Cotton Patch into a portfolio that now spans about 99 restaurants across ten brands, according to CultureMap Fort Worth. Its lineup includes El Fenix, Snuffer’s, Meso Maya, Taqueria La Ventana, Wok Star Chinese and Twisted Root. Local Favorite also owns Sunrise Mexican Foods, a producer of chips, tortillas and other products, and founder Mike Karns will stay on as "Founder and Free-Range Creative," overseeing creative direction and growth strategy.
Numbers And Neighborhoods
Founded in Nacogdoches in 1989, Cotton Patch has grown to about 46 locations across Texas and New Mexico. In DFW, restaurants are clustered in Arlington, Burleson, Cedar Hill, Garland, Grapevine, Irving, Lake Worth, North Richland Hills and Watauga, according to Business Wire. The buyer did not disclose financial terms. The same coverage notes that Harrington Park Advisors served as Cotton Patch's exclusive financial adviser on the sale.
What Diners And Workers Should Expect
Local Favorite says it plans to keep the menu and friendly small-town style of service that regulars know while using its operating playbook to speed Cotton Patch's growth. Industry reporting points out that groups like Local Favorite commonly use shared purchasing, distribution and real estate experience to trim costs and accelerate openings, moves that can fuel faster expansion but may also translate into operational shifts at some units. As Verdict Foodservice notes, the new ownership gives Cotton Patch access to a broader Texas-based operating platform while keeping the brand anchored in the state.
For now, the sale keeps Cotton Patch under Texas stewardship and hands day-to-day strategic control to leaders who say they intend to protect the brand's small-town feel even as they chase growth. Observers will be watching to see whether Local Favorite races to open new units or focuses first on tightening operations at existing restaurants, and whether staples like the $9.99 Texas Value Meals remain untouched. Altamont's exit fits into a broader pattern of portfolio shuffling by private-equity owners in the restaurant sector, analysts told PE Hub.
