Bennigan's Closing Company Owned Restaurants in Midst of Bankruptcy Filing

Bennigan's Grill & Tavern used to be the Metro Media Restaurant Group owned mock Irish family dining spot where Friday and Saturday night food and fun made for a great date locale. Today Bennigan's news is not good and all company owned restaurants have closed their doors without warning. As these Bennigan's closing news is a surprise to employees and the lunch crowd alike, franchisees scramble to let their clientele know that they are still open.

Bennigan's restaurant closures are seen throughout the United States and those who never saw the end of their casual dining establishment coming were dumbfounded to learn that the company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy relief in the early morning hours of July 29^th, 2008. Employees were not made aware of the impending loss of their jobs until this very morning, and tensions are running high. Adding insult to injury is the rumored possibility that employees may not even get their last paychecks as all company assets are now under bankruptcy court control!

CBS 2 News out of Chicago reports that the company owned stores -- which are the only Bennigan's closing their doors - make up half of all locations but customers usually do not know which locale is company owned and which is a franchise. This has led to a number of frustrated lunch bunch meetups and of course also put speculation over possible reasons for the sudden closure into overdrive.

The fate of the closed Bennigan's restaurants is not openly mentioned, deferring all decisions to the bankruptcy trustee; however, since the filing was a Chapter 7 - necessitating a complete liquidation of all assets - rather than Chapter 11 reorganization, the odds are good that the doors will be closed indefinitely. The fate of the franchise restaurants at this point is still unclear.

Even as the franchised Bennigan's restaurants remain open, the future use of the name, and also the relationship with the company that held all the rights to it may prove dicey. As of yet they are open and promise to remain so - until further notice.

In the wake of recent Starbucks closures one can only wonder if this is a sign of the times and a floundering economy or if it was simply the time for this chain to go. No matter what the future news of the restaurant chain reveals (and speaking from personal experience), leaving workers standing in front of locked doors without a job, paycheck and without warning is a low blow and any company executive that considers this acceptable business practice is lower than a snake's belly!

Source:
http://www.bennigans.com/
http://www.metromediarestaurants.com/default.php
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/bennigans.restaurant.shutdown.2.782428.html