Pizza restaurant house owners have handled a number of financial challenges for the reason that Covid-19 pandemic which have triggered monetary misery requiring operators to typically shut places, promote eating places, and file for chapter safety.
Competitors for the pizza greenback is gigantic, because the variety of pizza eating places within the U.S. in 2024 amounted to over 74,000. On high of fierce competitors, restaurant house owners have confronted rising labor and meals prices pushed by inflation that has minimize deep into their income.
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Meals prices elevated by a mean of 29%, and labor prices rose by 31% from 2019 to 2024, in accordance with the Nationwide Restaurant Affiliation. Menu costs adopted this development, as common costs elevated by 27.2% from February 2020 to June 2024.
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Shoppers have turn into extra reluctant to eat out at eating places as they watch their budgets in these unsure inflationary instances. These rising menu costs are an enormous purpose why many are staying at house and sliding a frozen pizza into the oven as a substitute of taking a visit to the pizza parlor.
Main nationwide pizza chain franchisees have been closing and promoting eating places, typically submitting for chapter, as properly.
Nationwide pizza chain franchisees file for chapter
Big Pizza Hut franchisee EYM Pizza L.P., which at one time operated 142 Pizza Hut places in Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, South Carolina, and Wisconsin, filed for Chapter 11 chapter safety in July 2024 and offered 77 of its eating places at a chapter public sale.
The franchisee mentioned it could shut one other 50 places that it was not in a position to promote.
International pizza chain Domino’s largest franchisee, Domino’s Pizza Enterprises, in February 2025 mentioned it’s going to shut down 205 low-performing places, which is able to embody 172 items in Japan “to sharpen market focus and enhance profitability.”
Domino’s Pizza Enterprises mentioned it’s going to conduct location closings from April 2025 to June 2025 and expects to save lots of about $9.72 million yearly with a one-time value of $60.8 million.
One other Domino’s Pizza franchisee in Yorba Linda, Calif., Individuals First Pizza Inc.,filed for Chapter 11 chapter safety to reorganize its enterprise, going through over $500,000 in disputed claims. The franchisee plans to proceed working the restaurant.
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Bertucci’s recordsdata for Chapter 11 chapter
Iconic East Coast pizza chain Bertucci’s Eating places LLC, which operates 16 places in six states, filed for Chapter 11 chapter safety for the third time in seven years to reorganize its enterprise.
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The debtor, which operates Bertucci’s Brick Oven Pizza & Pasta eating places in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut, Maryland, and Virginia, had 31 places when it final filed for chapter in December 2022, however has closed 15 items for the reason that submitting. Bertucci’s filed for chapter the primary time, looking for to promote its property in April 2018, Nation’s Restaurant Information reported.
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Earl Enterprises, the father or mother firm of Planet Hollywood, acquired Bertucci’s for $20 million in a June 2018 chapter sale.
The Orlando, Fla.-based debtor listed $10 million to $50 million in property and money owed, with its largest unsecured creditor, Price Management Associates, owed over $630,000, in accordance with its petition filed on April 24 within the U.S. Chapter Courtroom for the Center District of Florida.
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