Huddle House recently announced its requisition of 15 restaurants from franchisee Litco Petroleum. Its plan is to operate them as corporate locations.

Litco Petroleum has been a Huddle House franchisee for more than 16 years and has played a key role in the growth of the Huddle House system that now includes more than 400 restaurants open and under development.

Litco opened its first restaurant right after the turn of the millennium and in the years since has expanded its footprint throughout Mississippi and Tennessee, including some of the most successful operations in the Huddle House chain.

Litco Petroleum owned Huddle House franchises in Tupelo, Booneville, New Albany, Pontotoc, Corinth, Fulton, Oxford, Holly Springs and West Point. Litco also had the stores in Columbus, Grenada and Batesville, as well as two Tennessee stores in Dyersburg and Milan.

The Huddle House in Oxford is located on West Jackson Avenue.

The management team at Litco Petroleum decided to focus more time on their wholesale oil and fuels business.

“Doing so meant we would no longer have the time needed to devote to our restaurant business, but it was important that we turn the franchises over to someone best capable of continuing to grow the business and developing the people associated with them,” Mark Little at Litco Petroleum said in a written press release.

For Huddle House, the decision to acquire the Litco portfolio presented a unique opportunity.

“This allows us to significantly expand the number of markets in which we can test and fine-tune new operational efficiencies, menu items, LTOs and automation programs prior to introducing them to the franchise system,” Huddle House CEO Michael Abt said.

The transition to take over the Litco Huddle Houses began in August.