Bobby Flay Plans IPO For Bobby's Burger Palace

Celebrity chef Bobby Flay is tapping the public market and will 'mini-IPO' his burger chain called Bobby's Burger Palace, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Flay's company is looking to raise around $15 million to better support his restaurant chain that has just 17 locations. The relatively small size of the offering does call into question if the burger chain compete with the likes of bigger chains with a much larger footprint, including Five Guys, Smashburger, and public names like Shake Shack Inc SHAK and Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc. RRGB.

John Zolidis, a restaurant analyst, told WSJ that Flay's name may not be powerful enough to attract investor interest when it comes to a burger chain. The "Iron Chef" personality is better known for high-end and gourmet restaurants.

Bobby Flay's company will trade under the ticker "FLAY" on the New York Stock Exchange but no date has been established yet.

Shaken

Investors are hoping the stock will have a better fate than Shake Shack's.

Shake Shack began trading in early 2015 and more than doubled in value on its first day to close at $45.90 after pricing its IPO at a range of $14 to $16.

Expectations were high for the restaurant chain and the stock's momentum carried over for some time before peaking north of $90 per share in May. However, fast forward to 2017 and the stock traded as low as $30.36 in March and hasn't shown much strength near the $40 per share level.

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