Goat Farm or Franchise Investment Platform? A Look at Tucker’s Farm Platform Wonder Franchises

Adam graduated from Harvard Business School and then joined Tucker’s Farm, an investment firm named after the goat farm that the founder, Kyle Tucker, grew up on. When we learned Tucker’s Farm subsidiary Wonder Franchises had acquired a niche home services franchisor with $75M in system sales, we had to learn more, and Adam graciously broke down this story for us.

Goat Farm after Harvard Business School? Not exactly

Tucker’s Farm is a value-oriented holding vehicle founded by Kyle Tucker. Branded after the goat farm Kyle grew up on, Tucker’s Farm has launched several subsidiary investment platforms. Adam joined Tucker’s Farm as a partner and then became the CEO of Tucker’s Farm’s franchise-focused platform, Wonder Franchises.

The goat farm is still active!

Tucker’s Farm previously invested in VIO Med Spa, the leading med spa franchisor, which had a successful exit in September 2024. Most recently, Wonder Franchises acquired Christmas Decor. Here’s why:

• ~$75 million in system sales
• ~200 franchisees
• ~240 territories
• ~26 years in business
• “killer zee economics”

How do I get into this?

If you bring investors a good deal, they will fund it.

Kyle Tucker previously worked at Apollo and Viking. He and a partner left the institutional finance world and raised capital for a couple deals before Kyle launched Tucker’s Farm, which now has pools of committed capital. Adam’s take is that there is a lot of appetite from investors to fund deals in this lower end of the market, so people with strong backgrounds or a deal-in-hand are likely to be able to secure investment.

Kyle Tucker with his family at the original Tucker’s Farm in Bermuda

Why is Wonder 100% focused on franchising?

We’re more of a franchisor holding company rather than a private equity roll-up play.

Founded in 2023 with $30 million of committed, long-term equity capital from Tucker’s Farm and select institutional partners, Wonder Franchises aggregates emerging franchisors, franchisee portfolios, and select multi-site retail assets. Here is why they like the franchisor model:

• Asset-light scalability: you can increase the number of franchisees in a way that is non-linear with your cost structure
• Recurring diversified revenue base from franchisees across the country
• Incentive alignment between the franchisees and franchisor – the franchisor’s business grows along with the franchisees’
• Long-term time horizon: if you’re not in a rush to sell units, you can grow the system sustainably over time

Christmas Decor services commercial and residential clients

Private Equity firms have a mixed reputation in franchising. Here is what Adam thinks:

Some PE firms focus on growing unit numbers at all costs, which makes it hard for franchisees to succeed. Wonder approaches businesses with a long-term perspective, planning to hold for 5+ years.

“We focus on choosing franchises with a strong underlying business. Instead of changing things immediately, we want to learn the business and see where we can add value” Adam shared.

This is Wonder’s criteria for selecting investment targets

We’re looking for a system with great unit economics that we can help grow to the next level.

• Industry agnostic
• Healthy franchisees
• $1M+ in royalty revenue

Tucker’s Farm previously invested in VIO Med Spa (successful exit in September 2024)

Why do franchisees choose Christmas Decor?

There are plenty of independent holiday lighting businesses out there, but what makes Christmas Decor different is the training they offer across implementation, sales, and marketing that allows franchisees to offer a premium service. Additionally, the system offers a product supply chain, ongoing support, and a network of other franchisees. These factors should help make a franchisee more likely to succeed than going at it alone.

Wonder’s next move:

Over the coming years, Wonder is looking for five to ten great brands to acquire, hold, and grow. Wonder is flexible on deal structure, is open to backing existing management or bringing in new leadership and prioritizes being great partners to work with. Wonder’s next acquisition, a restaurant franchisor with ~$95M in system sales, is slated to close in the next few days.