Tazinos, an all you can eat pizza and salad restaurant chain based in St. Francis, has raised about 25 percent of its $1 million stock offering in just two weeks.
The company, which has restaurants in Menomonee Falls, Oak Creek and Pleasant Prairie, is offering shares of its common stock for $1 per share to up to 100 investors under the Wisconsin Issuer-Exemption by Filing. The Issuer Exemption allows any qualified Wisconsin resident to purchase the stock without accredited investor registration under the Wisconsin Securities Act.
Offers will be made only pursuant to a Private Placement Memorandum. Investors must meet certain suitability standards, including Wisconsin residency, minimum net worth or income and a purchase of at least 10,000 shares. Before investing, each will have an opportunity to ask questions and receive answers about the offering.
Tazinos was founded in 2007 and its first restaurant opened in 2008, said Jim Purcell, owner and president. It has 80 employees.
The stock offering will allow the growing company to add two more locations, provide it with working capital, and begin the process of franchising the Tazinos model. Once he has opened 10 Tazinos locations in Wisconsin, Purcell will offer franchise opportunities, he said.
Purcell plans to introduce a second stock offering within six months, which would raise $1 million at $2 per share. With those funds, four to five more restaurants can be constructed. Eventually, the company would go public, he said.
Tazinos is raising money through a stock offering because there are few traditional financing options available right now, Purcell said.
“Conventional financing the last several years has really dried up,” he said.
The pizza restaurant differentiates itself from competitors by using fresher and more natural ingredients for its food, Purcell said. No bleached or bromated flour, high fructose corn syrup, MSG or modified corn starch is used.
“We’re really trying to do it on a healthier basis,” he said. “American consumers are getting smarter—they’re starting to buy better.”
The local, Wisconsin-based restaurant can be appealing to those who want to help create jobs in their community and see where their investments are going, said Jim Prange, who is serving as an independent consultant on the offering.
Prange was vice president in charge of business development for Orion Energy Systems when the Plymouth company made a successful Wisconsin Issuer Exemption offering in 2001.
Unlike a conventional Regulation D offering, the Issuer Exemption allows Tazinos to advertise its offering so the average customer can invest in the restaurant, Prange said.
“It’s hard to invest in a company if you don’t know they’re looking for money,” he said. “Now (the customer) can actually be a part owner and can help an early stage company grow.”
