DALLAS, TX, December 21, 2023 — Pinecrest Capital Partners (“Pinecrest”) is proud to announce that Fuego Tortilla Grill, a leading fast-casual Mexican Restaurant concept with 4 locations across Texas, has been acquired by Crux Capital (“Crux”). Pinecrest served as the exclusive advisor to Fuego in this transaction.

Founded in 2010 by David Lovelace with the launching of its first location in College Station, TX, Fuego has since become a staple to Texas A&M students and locals. After the success of its first location, David has helped lead the expansion of the brand across Texas, with additional locations now open in San Marcos, Waco, and San Antonio. Fuego has built a bit of a cult like following by consistently providing unique, incredible quality food at a reasonable cost that customers have come to know and love. The new partnership with Crux will provide Fuego with key support and capital to continue to expand and bring the greatness of Fuego to additional markets across Texas and beyond.

Pinecrest Director Wes Romanowski served as the investment banker on the transaction.

“The Fuego team is very excited to have found such a like-minded partner in Crux Capital. We had many
options, but it became clear very early in the process that they were the right fit for our brand. They
understood where we’ve been, where we are today, and what the enormous potential of this brand is,” said David Lovelace, Founder of Fuego. "Pinecrest was excellent in guiding us through this process from start to finish. They did a phenomenal job understanding exactly what our goals and objectives were and they ran an efficient process that helped us achieve every single one of our goals. We are very thankful to have worked with them on this transaction.”

“David and his team have built what truly is one of the best fast-casual taco restaurants in Texas and we
couldn’t more thankful to have been able to come alongside the Company and achieve a successful outcome. It was a pleasure to be able to work with the entire Fuego team to help them achieve their transaction goals,” added Wes Romanowski. “We’re thrilled to see the continued success that we know the brand will have under Crux’s leadership.”

Testimonials may not be representative of the experience of other customers and are no guarantee of future performance or success.

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Barrett Kingsriter and Bobby Renkes are registered representatives of Securities and Investment Banking Services, offered through BA Securities, LLC Member FINRA SIPC. Pinecrest Capital Partners and BA Securities, LLC are separate and unaffiliated entities.