Branded was an early backer of Mighty Quinn’s, the New York City-born barbecue brand founded in 2012 by pitmaster Hugh Mangum, Micha Magid and Christos Gourmos. What started under a tent at Smorgasburg in Brooklyn became one of the most recognized barbecue brands in the country, earning a celebrated New York Times review within months of opening its East Village flagship and growing to roughly fifteen locations across New York, New Jersey, Florida and Dubai, with outposts inside Yankee Stadium and Madison Square Garden.
Wonder is one of the most closely watched companies in the food industry, assembling a vertically integrated platform that spans delivery, owned restaurant brands, meal kits, media, loyalty and automation. The acquisition of Mighty Quinn’s continues Wonder’s strategy of bringing beloved, proven brands onto a single platform built to scale them further and faster than they could go alone.
“From a tent at Smorgasburg to the Wonder platform, that is what backing the right team looks like,” said Jimmy Frischling, co-founder of Branded Hospitality and co-host of The Hospitality Hangout podcast. “Micha, Christos, Hugh and the entire Mighty Quinn’s team built something honest and durable over thirteen years. They skated to where the puck was going, stayed off the fads and kept the quality that made people fall in love with the brand in the first place. This outcome is a testament to them, and we could not be prouder to have been part of the ride.”
The acquisition of Mighty Quinn’s by Wonder represents more than a single brand transaction. It reflects a broader shift in how the restaurant industry’s most distinctive brands find their next chapter, increasingly through platform acquirers with the technology, capital and distribution to take a proven concept to a national and eventually global scale.
Branded congratulates the Mighty Quinn’s founding team and full roster of employees on this milestone, and looks forward to watching the brand grow within the Wonder ecosystem.
