Strategic Capital Infusion Propels Cooper's Hawk Into Next Growth Phase

Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurants has secured a significant capital partnership with Ares Management Corporation’s Private Equity Group, marking a pivotal moment for the wine-centric dining lifestyle brand. While financial specifics remain undisclosed, the investment underscores growing institutional confidence in the company’s distinctive business model.

The Wine Club Engine Driving Expansion

Since 2005, Cooper’s Hawk has engineered a unique lifestyle ecosystem rather than a conventional restaurant chain. The company currently operates 36 locations while maintaining an impressive membership base of nearly 400,000 wine club members. This dual-revenue model—combining proprietary wine sales with experiential dining—creates recurring customer engagement and measurable competitive advantages in the casual dining sector.

The concept blends multiple hospitality components into a singular destination: a modern casual restaurant, Napa Valley-style tasting room, on-site winery, and specialty retail marketplace. This integrated approach has resonated with consumers seeking curated wine country experiences in their local communities. The company’s wine portfolio has garnered over 500 awards and holds the distinction of being the Official Wine of the Screen Actors Guild Awards through 2020.

Capital Partnership Accelerates Strategic Vision

Ares Management, operating as a publicly traded alternative asset manager with approximately $137 billion in assets under management, identified Cooper’s Hawk as an aligned opportunity within its consumer growth investment thesis. The Private Equity Group saw the potential to leverage its platform resources—including operational expertise, capital access, and network infrastructure—to accelerate unit expansion while preserving the brand’s distinctive community-focused positioning.

David Kaplan, Co-Founder of Ares Management and Global Co-Head of the Private Equity Group, emphasized the investment thesis: “The founder conceived a genuinely disruptive hospitality concept with exceptionally loyal consumer engagement, reflected in exceptional unit economics and above-market growth trajectories.”

Founder-Led Growth With Institutional Support

Founder and CEO Tim McEnery retained meaningful equity ownership through the transaction, signaling continued founder leadership and alignment with long-term value creation. This structure—where founders maintain substantial stakes alongside institutional partners—has emerged as a preferred model in consumer business acquisitions, enabling preserved entrepreneurial culture while accessing growth capital.

Previous investor KarpReilly, which had held a minority position for nine years, exited as part of the transaction. Their partnership had provided operational guidance and industry connections during Cooper’s Hawk’s foundational growth phase.

Path Forward

The company projects 41 operating locations by end of 2019, with Ares’ capital and operational infrastructure positioned to support continued geographic expansion. The wine club membership base—the largest globally within the category—provides a scalable customer acquisition and retention engine, while proprietary wine production offers differentiated supply chain management.

Cooper’s Hawk stock and investor interest reflect broader consumer trends favoring experiential dining, wine consumption growth, and lifestyle brand integration. The partnership represents institutional validation of the creator-founder’s original vision to deliver wine country experiences within accessible, community-based hospitality environments.