Back Yard Treats Get Gobbled

A fast food burger chain announced that it was going to be acquired today, but its patties aren't square. It's Back Yard Burgers (Nasdaq: BYBI  ) -- not Wendy's (NYSE: WEN  ) -- that succumbed to the charms of a private equity firm, which offered $6.50 a share for the charbroiled hamburger specialist.

Oh, it's easy to see why Back Yard Burgers is punching out. Expansion growth is a sweet catalyst for any chain that relies on active franchisees, yet there have only been three new Back Yard Burgers locations opened so far this year.

You have to go back 27 months to find the last time that the company's stock traded for greater than $6.50 a stub, and things haven't been looking so hot since then. Between quarterly filing delays, investigating its stock option grants, and posting meager profitability, Back Yard Burgers never grew out of the microcap skin that more successful burger chains were able to shed.

It's not that the model didn't work. Pitching premium burgers and hand-dipped shakes seems to be working for chains like Steak-n-Shake (NYSE: SNS  ) , Red Robin Gourmet Burgers (Nasdaq: RRGB  ) , and Johnny Rockets. Back Yard Burgers isn't an exact match to any of those concepts, but it's not a stretch to imagine the chain working under more seasoned management.

The private equity consortium offers that. In the group of buyers is a former CEO of Shoney's and Sonic (Nasdaq: SONC  ) . Will that be enough to get Back Yard Burgers off the quick-service dining industry's backburner? One can only hope that flipping the patty will create a heartier meal.

For more on the battle of the burgers, check out:

• Wendy's Wants a Biggie Deal
• Higher Costs Ground Red Robin
• What to Make of Steak-n-Shake?

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz enjoys charbroiled burgers, but he does not own shares in any of the companies in this story. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy.