Baltimore Business Journal
A nearly 50-year-old regional Italian restaurant chain has sold its 10 locations as its owner looks to retire. Three Brothers Restaurants, which has Baltimore-area locations in Halethorpe, Columbia and Odenton, was acquired by a West Coast pizza owner looking to relocate, according to Jim McGinnis, the president of the Restaurant Broker, which helped facilitate the sale. The long-running Italian restaurant group’s ownership change comes as the last remaining brother, Pete Repole, wanted to retire.
McGinnis declined to share the sale price, but said the buyer, Reagan Dahl, acquired the business operations and recipes and worked out deals for the restaurant leases. Dahl’s LinkedIn shows he has been involved with pizza places, including Domino’s Pizza, for several decades in Spokane, Washington. McGinnis said Dahl wanted to move to the East Coast to be closer to family. Pete Repole will help with the ownership transition, he added.
“It’s a great concept that has been around for a long time,” McGinnis said.
Michael, Mario and Pete Repole, who moved to the U.S. from Italy, opened the first Three Brothers restaurant in Greenbelt after relocating the family business from New York City in 1976. At one point, the brothers owned 18 locations, with several company-owned restaurants and licensing deals instead of franchises, McGinnis said. Three Brothers is now down to 10 restaurants, including locations in Prince George’s, Calvert and Charles counties. The family-owned restaurants bring in over $13 million in sales per year, according to McGinnis.
Pete Repole initially looked to sell his restaurants during the pandemic, but it did not gain much traction at the time and the chain was taken off the market, McGinnis said. Dahl found the most recent listing and the process from start to finish took around four to five months. The new owner plans to continue the restaurant chain’s long history, with the potential to grow its presence in the next two to three years, McGinnis said. The sale of Three Brothers comes as other local chains are moving into the region. D.C.-based Timber Pizza Co. has opened two locations in Anne Arundel County in the past year. Capo Deli also opened its first Baltimore-area location in Annapolis this summer.
Regional Italian restaurant chain changes hands
