World of Beer, the Tampa-based craft-beer franchise, declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy after closing 14 locations over the past year, leaving the 17-year-old chain with 33 restaurants. The company blamed its problems on disputes with its franchisees, the pandemic, weak traffic, and inflation, as well as three troubled locations opened after 2020.
Italian concept Buca di Beppo also filed for bankruptcy protection about a week after closing over a dozen underperforming locations. In its filing, the company said it owes at least $15 million to $50 million to at least 30 creditors.
More than four years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, cities are still trying to figure out the future of popular pandemic-era outdoor dining structures. In March, New York City announced a new outdoor-dining program with revised rules, like no completely enclosed sheds allowed. Interested restaurant and bar applicants had four months until last Friday to apply, but surprisingly only around 3,200 applicants were submitted out of the 12,000 dining structures that have popped up on sidewalks and roadways over the past several years.
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