Company Description
Captain D's is the leader in the seafood quick service restaurant segment, with 244 franchised and 285 company-owned locations across 22 states. Founded in 1969, Captain D's offers its customers great seafood at reasonable prices in a warm and inviting atmosphere. Captain D's serves a wide variety of fish and seafood, including freshly prepared entrees and its signature hand-battered fish fillets prepared to order.

Background
After two years of solid performance under Sentinel ownership, in March 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic caused significant disruption to Captain D's operations. With Captain D's restaurant operations severely curtailed, same-store sales were down 30% during the initial lockdown period.

The Challenge
During the Covid-19 lockdown, Captain D's had to manage periods of negative cash flow and adjust operations to meet changing state and local regulations and consumer preferences and needs. These challenges began during Lent, which is historically Captain D's strongest period of the year due to increased demand for seafood.

Accomplishments
Significantly Modified Operations: To meet regulatory guidelines during the Covid lockdown, Captain D's closed all dining rooms, which historically comprised ~35% of sales. Captain D's then implemented contactless drive thru, carry out, and delivery options to replace dine-in service. To accommodate more customers outside of the dining room with limited staff, management limited Captain D's menu offering to streamline operations. Captain D's further managed its cash flow by reducing marketing expenses and ad fund contributions and offering fewer coupons and discounted products. As it made these rapid and significant changes, Captain D's management team maintained frequent communication with its franchisees and local directors.

Proactively Managed Unpredictable Supply Chain: Captain D's supply chain faced significant disruption throughout the pandemic. Management responded by making larger inventory purchases to ensure sufficient supply. Management also made menu changes when necessary, while maintaining high standards of quality and taste.

Outcome
Management's actions drove positive same-store sales and higher operating margins in the year following the initial lockdown, which flowed to the bottom line and boosted profitability. Having achieved significant growth through the pandemic and having demonstrated extraordinary resilience during a hugely disruptive period, Captain D's was sold in May 2022 to another private equity firm in a highly successful management buyout transaction.



Case studies have been selected for illustrative purposes for management teams of midmarket companies considering a partnership with Sentinel and should not be considered an offer or solicitation of services or an actual or implied endorsement of Sentinel or any security, investment, or portfolio company. The portfolio companies highlighted are not representative of all current and prior investments of Sentinel. A list and description of investments since Sentinel’s inception is available on this website.

Company Description
LTI Boyd is the leading global manufacturer and supplier of high performance, custom engineered components for large, multinational OEMs. LTI Boyd offers specialized solutions for gasket, sealing, insulation, and impact protection applications in the heavy truck, recreational vehicle, enterprise electronics, off-highway, aerospace, and consumer electronics markets.

Background
On the evening of Friday, September 4, 2009, four days after Sentinel made a follow-on investment in LTI Boyd, a fire destroyed its Newnan, Georgia facility, resulting in a total loss of the building and equipment. Fortunately, no one was in the building at the time and no one was injured.

The Challenge
The fire completely destroyed LTI Boyd’s office building, computers, and production equipment, rendering the company unable to produce a major portion of its product line. As a result, LTI Boyd’s customers—predominately large, multinational OEMs—risked having to shut down their own production lines because of supply interruption. Further compounding the crisis was that LTI Boyd was in the midst of integrating a recent tuck-in acquisition, and establishing relationships with many new customers who had been buying from LTI Boyd for only a short time. Under these circumstances, retaining customers—especially new customers—posed a significant challenge.

Accomplishments
Stabilized the Business: By the next afternoon, the Sentinel deal team had identified a consultant that specialized in managing property casualty events. Together, we immediately initiated discussions with LTI Boyd’s insurance carrier, who advanced $1 million of property and casualty insurance within seven days of the fire. LTI Boyd would ultimately go on to receive more than $13 million in property and casualty and business interruption insurance to completely replace its destroyed facility and to fund its business operations.

Outsourced Manufacturing: Within a week of the fire, we had replaced LTI Boyd’s computer servers and began to reach out to customers as well as potential suppliers who could assist with outsourced manufacturing. Over the course of the next three weeks, LTI Boyd outsourced hundreds of components used to supply its more than 200 customers, established logistics supply arrangements, and began re-shipping products to its multinational customer base. LTI Boyd never caused a shutdown of an OEM customer’s production line.

Completely Rebuilt Facility: Within three months of the fire, LTI Boyd had signed a lease for a new facility in nearby Fairburn, Georgia. Three months later, LTI Boyd was producing in its new Fairburn facility, and within nine months of the fire, all production was back in-house. During this tumultuous time, LTI Boyd retained more than 95% of its customers. LTI Boyd’s Fairburn facility is best-in-class, and the company is the go-to provider for many of the world’s leading OEMs.

Outcome
After successfully managing the business following the fire, LTI went on to complete a transformational acquisition that more than doubled its size. Having achieved significant growth over the six-year investment period, Sentinel sold LTI Boyd in July 2012 to another private equity firm in a highly successful transaction.



Case studies have been selected for illustrative purposes for management teams of midmarket companies considering a partnership with Sentinel and should not be considered an offer or solicitation of services or an actual or implied endorsement of Sentinel or any security, investment, or portfolio company. The portfolio companies highlighted are not representative of all current and prior investments of Sentinel. A list and description of investments since Sentinel’s inception is available on this website.

Company Description
MB2 Dental is a leading "Dental Partnership Organization" that employs a differentiated doctor-centric business model through which affiliated dentists enjoy the clinical benefits of a private practice and the infrastructure, compliance, marketing, and purchasing advantages of the traditional DSO model. MB2 draws on the energy of highly-engaged and deeply committed dentist partners with aligned economic interests.

Background
After several successful years of organic and acquisition-based growth, in March 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic caused MB2 to temporarily close its clinics, except for emergency procedures. The closures caused an enormous disruption to MB2's operations and halted its acquisition growth engine.

The Challenge
During the lockdown, MB2's cash flow was negative. When its clinics were allowed to reopen, MB2 was required to follow continually changing state and local regulations, and also deal with shortages of personal protective equipment and reassure patients, dentists, and employees concerned about their safety.

Accomplishments
Maintaining Operations through Lockdown: Sentinel worked with MB2's management team and partner dentists to weather the clinic shutdown. MB2 created a crisis management center to share best practices amongst its clinics, secure sufficient personal protective equipment, and develop protocols to keep patients and staff safe. Sentinel and MB2 management also developed a plan to conserve cash while preparing MB2 for a strong reopening.

Quickly and Safely Reopening Clinics: When state governments allowed dental clinics to reopen, MB2 was ready and prepared. MB2 had secured a surplus of personal protective equipment, educated its dentist partners and office staff, proactively communicated with existing patients, and grown its new patient pipeline during the lockdown. Within weeks, MB2's revenue had returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Restarting Acquisition Growth: Sentinel worked with MB2's existing lenders to secure favorable amendments to address the financial impact of the lockdown. In addition, Sentinel led a financing round that included injecting additional capital from existing and new lenders and MB2's shareholders. This capital raise allowed MB2 to play offense at a time when many of its competitors were on the sidelines and interest from solo practitioners was spiking as they realized they would be better equipped to survive another shutdown as part of a bigger organization, like MB2.

Outcome
Having successfully managed through the lockdown while preparing to play offense, MB2 accelerated its acquisition pace and closed 50 new affiliations in the second half of 2020. Having achieved significant growth over a 3½ year investment period and demonstrating extraordinary resilience during the pandemic, MB2 was sold in January 2021 to another private equity firm in a highly successful management buyout transaction.



Case studies have been selected for illustrative purposes for management teams of midmarket companies considering a partnership with Sentinel and should not be considered an offer or solicitation of services or an actual or implied endorsement of Sentinel or any security, investment, or portfolio company. The portfolio companies highlighted are not representative of all current and prior investments of Sentinel. A list and description of investments since Sentinel’s inception is available on this website.