Kahala Corp. has completed its first acquisition in Australia for an undisclosed price as part of its growth plans in the Land Down Under. Kahala closed on its purchase of Nrgize, a chain of juice bars located throughout the eastern coast of Australia, including locations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Wollongong.

All Nrgize locations in Australia, which include eight units currently open and more than 30 new units under development, will be immediately rebranded as Surf City Squeeze outlets, giving Kahala’s Surf City Squeeze brand an immediate and significant market presence in Australia. As part of the rebranding to Surf City Squeeze, the former Nrgize locations will continue to operate with their same menu with the addition of some of Surf City Squeeze’s proprietary products and formulations.

“The acquisition of Nrgize signifies Kahala’s commitment to developing its quick-service restaurant concepts throughout Australia,” said Kevin Blackwell, Kahala’s chairman and CEO. “We spoke to a number of juice bar market competitors, but in the end chose Nrgize as our first acquisition in Australia, given their strong management team and well-developed plans to capture this growing market sector. With our plans to complete two or three more juice bar chain acquisitions in Australia in the next 120 days, Surf City Squeeze will immediately become one of the leaders in the juice bar industry in Australia, and it will give Kahala the foothold necessary to develop our other brands in the country. We expect Australia to become one of the largest markets for Surf City Squeeze and several of our other brands over the next few years.”

Kahala’s other brands include Great Steak & Potato, Taco Time, Samurai Sam’s Teriyaki Grills, Ranch * 1, Frullati Cafe, and Rollerz.