MEMPHIS Tenn. The largest franchisee of the Captain D’s quick-service seafood chain has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, said a spokeswoman for the company, Serve Holdings LLC.
The Memphis-based company’s largest creditor, according to court records, is franchisor Captain D’s LLC, a holding of Sagittarius Brands. Serve Holdings owes Captain D’s $245,000. Sagittarius is also the franchisor and operator of the Del Taco quick-service chain.
Serve Holdings operates 26 Captain D’s restaurants and employs approximately 750 people in the Memphis area. “We do not know at this time to what extent closures and/or layoffs may be necessary,” Clarence A. Mitchell III, Serve Holdings’ president and chief executive, said in a statement. He said that all restaurants would remain open in the interim.
Mitchell said a financial restructuring of the company would put it on "solid financial ground."
Serve Holdings spokeswoman Alayna Adams said she did not know when a reorganization of the franchise would be complete.
Serve Holdings became a Captain D’s franchisee in 2003 by purchasing 20 units from the franchisor. It announced last year that it had entered into a contract to open five Del Taco’s in Tennessee’s Shelby County, with 10 more stores to follow. It was not clear at press time if Serve Holdings still plans to open the Del Tacos.
The Captain D’s system consists of more than 600 restaurants.
