Gumby’s Pizza

Video Walkthrough

 

Need case interview practice cases to prepare for your upcoming interviews? Start with this Bain case study.

Case Prompt

This is a PE/ due diligence case. Bain has been hired by a private equity firm to evaluate whether they should buy a mom and pop pizza chain that runs pizza restaurants primarily in college towns throughout the south.

The mom and pop owners are retiring and have put the business up for sale. The chain has about 30 stores and annual revenues of about $125 million.

In order for the private equity firm to want to buy this chain, they need to be able to double gross margin in 3-5 years. They’re looking for 2-3 feasible ideas of how to do that, as they would like to sell the chain to another family owner in 3-5 years.

Sketch out a framework on how you would tackle this case.

Also, provide a hypothesis about which side—revenues or costs—you would like to focus on.

Case Overview

In this case interview practice case, the client – a private equity firm – has hired you to look into a potential acquisition of a pizza chain. The firm wants you to come up with 2-3 ideas to double gross margins in 3-5 years.

We recommend that you use the M&A Framework to create the structure for tackling this problem. In an M&A case, pay attention to the type of buyer you’re serving – corporate or financial. They have different goals! This case involves a financial buyer.

The case contains several math exhibits for you to interpret. With a qualitative difficulty score of 3/4, this is an advanced-level case study that will set you up for a Bain final round interview.

Bain Interview Tips

Bain is looking for candidates that are able to step out of the case and into real life. The firm wants to be able to see how you would react to and navigate complex business problems in real life.

Don’t get so focused on cracking the case that you lose sight of the bigger picture.

In this case, focus on your overall communication and polish (think “land the offer!”).

Need a leg up with your interview prep? Work with an expert coach today.

Click back to the Case Library for more case interview practice cases like this.