Pizza chain hunts for $40M

TAMPA — The parent company of the Philly Westshore pizza chain, with more than 30 locations in the Tampa area, seeks $40 million in capital to expand.

Orlando-based Big Three Restaurants Inc., the publicly traded firm that owns Philly Westshore Franchising Enterprises, signed an agreement for the capital raise with a New York investment bank, according to a release. The agreement includes a potential offering of up to $30 million in shares. The bank will also look to raise another $10 million for Philly Westshore through financing separate from the stock market.

Big Three Chairman and CEO John Whitman Jr. says the financing will accelerate the firm's growth. “We have launched an aggressive acquisition program, beginning due diligence on several acquisition targets,” Whitman says in the release.

Big Three Restaurants, formerly Bella Pretella's Holdings, owns both the Philly Westshore franchise chain and Bobby V's Original Westshore Pizza, an 83-seat sports bar in Tampa. It also sells a line of pizza and pasta sauces. The firm bought the Philly Westshore chain and separate restaurant in September 2011 from Tampa entrepreneur Robert Vasaturo for $3.7 million.

Big Three Restaurants shares are traded over the counter. (symbol: BTHR; recent price: 7 cents.)