Gastropub locations under the Public School brand remain open, and some temporarily closed Daily Grill units may reopen as market conditions improve
The Los Angeles-based parent company of casual-dining brands Public School on Tap and Daily Grill has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, saying pandemic-related restrictions on dine-in service “completely devastated” the company’s operations.
Grill Concepts Inc., which currently operates eight restaurants under the Public School gastropub brand, along with the legacy Daily Grill brand and the luxury steakhouse Grill on the Alley, filed bankruptcy on April 28 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of Central District California, San Fernando Valley Division. The company also manages three more restaurants in management agreements with various hotels.
In a reorganization plan filed as part of court documents, the company said it has implemented “drastic cost-cutting measures to safeguard and maintain its business operations.” Grill Concepts has closed 14 restaurants, though the company plans to reopen some as market conditions improve.
It’s unclear how many have closed permanently and under which brand.
Court documents indicate the company rejected leases from underperforming locations, including units in Adventura, Fla.; Denver; and Santa Monica and Studio City in the Los Angeles area.
The company’s website indicates that three locations of the Grill in the Alley brand have closed permanently, including the Adventura, Chicago and Dallas locations. The only Grill in the Alley remaining open under Grill Concepts is in San Jose, Calif.
Two other Grill on the Alley units — including the original location in Beverly Hills, and one in Westlake Village, both in California — were reportedly sold to a separate entity called BH White Corp., and those locations remain open.
Neither the company, nor attorneys representing Grill Concepts, responded to requests for comment or more information.
Grill Concepts was founded more than 30 years ago by Bob Spivak with partners Mike Weinstock and Dick Shapiro, who first opened the original Grill on the Alley in Beverly Hills, once a Hollywood power lunch spot. In one of the court filings, Spivak was listed as one of the top unsecured creditors with a claim of $150,000.
Operated for years as a publicly traded company as it grew the Daily Grill brand, investors took Grill Concepts private in 2008. In 2012, the company launched the craft-beer-oriented Public School brand as a concept for the 21st Century.
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