GEN Restaurant Shares Rise After Signing LOI to Sell Operations at 47 US Restaurants for $100 Million

02:36 PM EDT, 10/14/2026 (MT Newswires) -- GEN Restaurant (GENK) shares were up 13% in Wednesday trading after signing a binding letter of intent with Chubby Group to sell operations at 47 US restaurants, while retaining the GEN brand and the GEN CPG business for $100 million. The deal is expected to strengthen the company's balance sheet by reducing its roughly $160 million of lease liabilities and by adding a term note receivable as an asset, the company said. Additionally, GEN Restaurant may deploy additional capital toward reinvestment in growth, dividends and or share repurchases, according to a statement. GEN Restaurant said it will retain about three restaurants to support training, staffing, and CPG research and development, and that its corporate overhead and infrastructure will be fully restructured to solely support the CPG business. Price: 1.66, Change: +0.21, Percent Change: +14.14