{"id":265091,"date":"2026-04-24T23:36:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T23:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/265091\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T23:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T23:36:11","slug":"dallas-great-american-food-chain-completes-merger-with-phoenixs-greenmatter-biotech-dallas-innovates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/265091\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas&#8217; Great American Food Chain Completes Merger With Phoenix&#8217;s GreenMatter Biotech \u00bb Dallas Innovates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dallas-based restaurant holding company Great American Food Chain has completed its merger with GreenMatter Biotech, which commercializes plant-based, biodegradable alternatives to traditional plastics, to bring existing R&amp;D, distribution, and retail partnerships in the regenerative materials space.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGreenMatter goes into this next chapter with real momentum\u201d, Joe H. Wicker Jr., CEO of Phoenix-based GreenMatter, said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe closed 2025 with $2.5 million in revenue and the market is moving in our direction,\u201d the CEO added. \u201cThe demand for biodegradable materials is not a future conversation. It\u2019s happening now, and we\u2019ve built the product platform and the partnerships to meet it at scale. Our goal is to become a leader in the plant-based biodegradable industry. The public markets give us the visibility and the capital access to accelerate what we\u2019ve already put in motion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wicker will assume the roles of CEO and chairman<\/p>\n<p>Edward Sigmond\u2014who served as chairman, president, and CEO of Great American Food Chain since its founding in 2003\u2014is stepping down with the merger, as his leadership paved the way for the transition. Wicker is assuming the roles of CEO and chairman of the board of directors of the combined company and will lead GreenMatter Biotech\u2019s next phase of growth across product development, distribution, and strategic partnerships, the company said.<\/p>\n<p>Under Wicker\u2019s leadership, GreenMatter Biotech had a profitable first year and $2.5 million in revenue in 2025 and now moves into more public markets with the merger, the company said. With an active pipeline, expanding distributor relationships, and growing demand for biodegradable materials, the combined company is ready for continued expansion into the second half of 2026 and beyond, Green Matter added.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t miss what\u2019s next. Subscribe\u00a0to\u00a0Dallas\u00a0Innovates.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0 0 10px 0;\">Track Dallas-Fort Worth\u2019s business and innovation landscape with our curated news in your inbox Tuesday-Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\tR E A D\u00a0\u00a0 N E X T\t<\/p>\n<p>\t<a href=\"https:\/\/dallasinnovates.com\/the-last-word-tech-fw-on-how-nanoscopes-watch-us-moment-could-help-blind-patients-see-again\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"970\" height=\"464\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/digital-scanning-of-the-retina-blue-eye-vector-illustration-vector-id1354733246-970x464.jpg\" class=\"attachment-rp4wp-thumbnail-post size-rp4wp-thumbnail-post wp-post-image\" alt=\"\"  \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>North Texas&#8217; Nanoscope just filed an FDA bid for its gene-agnostic therapy. If approved, it could help restore sight for people with inherited blindness, and potentially millions more with other retinal diseases.<\/p>\n<p>\t<a href=\"https:\/\/dallasinnovates.com\/dallas-regional-chamber-offering-human-help-to-talk-to-machines\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"970\" height=\"464\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DRC-TalkToMachines-adobe1-970.jpg\" class=\"attachment-rp4wp-thumbnail-post size-rp4wp-thumbnail-post wp-post-image\" alt=\"\"  \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>AI seem overwhelming? Just go to office hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Fort Worth oncology company tapped former Salarius Pharmaceuticals CEO David Arthur to lead its push toward commercialization, including a planned IND for a rare pediatric brain cancer program.<\/p>\n<p>\t<a href=\"https:\/\/dallasinnovates.com\/hunger-fighting-canstruction-dallas-competition-is-up-at-northpark-through-sept-14\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"970\" height=\"464\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/NorthTexasFoodBank_CANstruction-3up2025-970.jpg\" class=\"attachment-rp4wp-thumbnail-post size-rp4wp-thumbnail-post wp-post-image\" alt=\"\"  \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Sprinkled all around NorthPark, the 29th annual CANstruction Dallas design-and-build exhibit features 26 science-fiction-themed canned-food sculptures. The public decides on the winners by voting for their favorite and kicking in $5 for the North Texas Food Bank.<\/p>\n<p>\t<a href=\"https:\/\/dallasinnovates.com\/north-texas-caris-life-sciences-to-collaborate-with-genentech-on-novel-therapeutic-targets-for-cancers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"970\" height=\"464\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/CarisLifeSciences_2up_970.jpg\" class=\"attachment-rp4wp-thumbnail-post size-rp4wp-thumbnail-post wp-post-image\" alt=\"\"  \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Under the terms of the agreement, Caris is eligible to receive upfront and near-term payments of $25 million and is also eligible for up to $1.1 billion of potential research, development, commercial, and net sales payments, as well as potential tiered royalties on net sales of collaboration therapies, the company said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dallas-based restaurant holding company Great American Food Chain has completed its merger with GreenMatter Biotech, which commercializes plant-based,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1148,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[99215,102,104,103,99216,99217,99218,99219,99220],"class_list":{"0":"post-265091","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-biodegradable-plastics","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-headlines","11":"tag-dallas-news","12":"tag-edward-sigmond","13":"tag-great-american-food-chain","14":"tag-greenmatter-biotech","15":"tag-joe-wicker","16":"tag-restaurant-holding-company"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}