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SuperBurger

Difficulty: Advanced
Interviewer-led
1.2k Ratings
Times solved: 16.4k

Case Prompt:

Our client is SuperBurger, a fast food chain that operates in the same class as McDonalds, Wendy's, Burger King and so on. They're the fourth largest fast food chain worldwide in terms of number of stores in operations. SuperBurger owns some of its stores, but 85% of its stores are owned by franchisees. As part of its growth strategy, the company has analyzed some potential acquisition targets including Tasty Donuts which is a growing doughnut producer active in the US and internationally. 

The client asked us to help him decide whether he should acquire the company or not. 

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I. Background – 1

What areas would you want to explore to determine if SuperBurger should acquire Tasty Donuts?

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I. Background – 2

Assume we want to dig a bit deeper into the possible value of Tasty Donuts to SuperBurger, how would you approach it?

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II. Analysis – 1

We've started thinking about potential synergies that could be achieved post-acquisition. What synergies do you think that can be realized based on key data.

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II. Analysis – 2

The client thinks that with these synergies it should be possible to double the market share of Tasty Donuts in the US and increase their US stores by 2.5 times in 5 years. What sales per store will Tasty Donuts require in 5 years to achieve these goals? Assume that doughnut consumption is now $10/person and will grow to $20/person in 5 years and that US population is 300 m. You can also use data from Table 1 & 2.

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II. Analysis – 3

Another form of synergy that could be valuable is the sale of doughnuts in SuperBurger's stores. How would you approach calculating/assessing the impact of this on profitability?

II. Analysis – 4

What would the extra profit per store be if we sell 60,000 doughnuts per store at a price of $3 and a 70% margin along with a cannibalization rate of 15% of SuperBurger sales?

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III. Solution

What would you recommend so far to our client?

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Further Questions

  • Can you think of factors that could fail such an acquisition even when synergies in revenue & costs can be achieved?
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Practice makes the difference
Practicing alone helps – with a partner it’s even better. Solve this case in a realistic mock interview.
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