Why Roark Capital Group: Interviews, Careers, & Portfolio

Roark Capital Group Overview

Roark Capital Group is a private equity firm which is focused on LBO investments in middle-market companies – specifically in the multi-location/franchise, health and wellness, business services, and restaurant and food sectors.

The firm requires their potential investments to have an experienced management team, sustainable competitive position, identifiable growth, and predictable cash flow.

Roark Capital’s typical investment size are as follows:

• Revenue: $20 million to > $5+ billion
• EBITDA: $10 million to > $500+ million
• Equity Investment: $50 million to > $1+ billion

Roark Capital is named after Howard Roark, the main protagonist in Ayn Rand’s novel – The Fountainhead. The firm stated that its name is not meant to connote any political philosophy, but rather to signify Roark Capital’s admiration for the independence and self-assurance demonstrated by the main figure in The Fountainhead.

The current Managing Partner Neal K. Aronson founded Roark Capital and is currently based in Atlanta, Georgia. Prior to establishing the firm in 2001, he was a co-founder of US Franchise Systems.

Roark Capital Group AUM

According to the latest regulatory filings, Roark Capital Group has $30.5 BB in assets under management as of March 31, 2023.

Roark Capital Group Interview Process & Questions

Despite the changes in the interview changes for each candidate, the general nature of the process stays the same for the most part. In fact, you can anticipate the following:

• Interview rounds: 4-6
• Initial interviews are supervised by junior professionals, while later rounds are handled by more senior folks
• Unless it’s on-campus or on-cycle recruiting, expect that the entire process will last for multiple weeks

Get ready to answer a mixture of behavioral questions, technical questions, and fit questions when you interview at Roark Capital Group.

To help you with preparation, I’ve created a Growth Equity Interview Guide. Feel free to check it out.

Why Roark Capital Group

One of the questions you must prepare for is the “Why this firm” question.

If you’ve met employees at the firm during your networking efforts, make sure to mention them and how their experiences and testimonies helped in choosing their firm.

Also, do your homework and research the firm. You can try listening to interviews with its founders, management team, and investors to get to know them better.

For starters, here’s an interesting discussion with Brad Henderson, Vice President of Data & Analytics at Roark Capital Group:

Roark Capital Group Case Study

Communication skills and technical knowledge are two traits that investment firms highly value. To evaluate these, firms like Roark Capital Group ask candidates to perform case studies.

Most case studies will have you do financial modeling and investment recommendations. But for junior roles, a cold calling case study may also be part of the process.

I’ve discussed case studies in great detail inside my Growth Equity Interview Guide course.

Roark Capital Group Salary & Compensation

According to Glassdoor, analysts & associates at Roark Capital Group have an estimated total pay of $95,395 and $127,924 per year, respectively. These figures may vary depending on several factors such as location, education, and experience.

Analyst

Associate

Roark Capital Group Careers, Jobs, & Internships

Feel free to visit our job board to stay updated with Roark Capital Group’s opportunities. We also feature open roles for other similar firms.

Roark Capital Group Portfolio & Investments

According to Crunchbase, Roark Capital Group has made 10 investments across four funds. Some of their notable deals include Culver’s, Opennity, and US Sports Camps

Notable Transaction: The Cheesecake Factory

The Cheesecake Factory is one of the leaders in experiential dining. Their bakery division operates 2 facilities that create high quality cheesecake and other top-notch baked products for their international licensees, third-party bakery customers, and restaurants.

In 2020, The Cheesecake Factory was included in Fortune Magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” for the 17th consecutive year.

The Cheesecake Factory has around 300 restaurants in Canada and the US.

In April 2020, The Cheesecake Factory shares rose by 4% after Roark Capital invested $200 million in the company.

As part of the transaction, Paul Ginsberg, Roark Capital President, became part of The Cheesecake Factory’s Board of Directors.

Next Steps

If you decide to send your application and build your investing career at Roark Capital Group, I would highly recommend that you check out my Growth Equity Interview Guide first before attending interviews.

Growth Equity Interview Guide helps professionals get a good grasp of topics that are typically covered during interviews such as financial modeling, case studies, and more. Check it out and start learning today!