GB Foods Seeks to Buy JB Restaurants

Shareholders of GB Foods Corp., which owns the Green Burrito Mexican fast-food chain, will be asked in September to approve the company’s purchase of JB’s Family Restaurants Inc.

GB Foods announced in February that it will buy JB’s Family Restaurants from Anaheim-based CKE Restaurants Inc., operator of the Carl’s Jr. hamburger chain, for 1 million shares of GB Foods stock.

The price will be based on the stock’s closing price on Sept. 1, the date set for the shareholder vote. GB Foods’ stock closed Monday at $7.50 in Nasdaq trading, up 81 cents a share.

GB Foods has said the purchase of JB’s Family Restaurants, which are scattered throughout the Midwest, will help the Newport Beach company expand into the family-style restaurant business.

CKE acquired 95 JB’s restaurants last year when it bought parent company Summit Family Restaurants Inc., based in Salt Lake City. Twelve of the restaurants were sold earlier this year to Utah-based Star Buffet Inc.

The remaining 83 restaurants will be sold to GB Foods if shareholders approve the acquisition agreement. “By selling these, we can focus on quick-service restaurants, which is where we want our energies to be,” CKE spokeswoman Suzi Brown said Monday. GB Foods shareholders will also be asked to approve the purchase of Minnesota-based Timber Lodge Steakhouse, a deal announced in December.