Sponsored By

Hardee’s franchisee Summit Restaurant Holdings files for bankruptcy

The operator has closed multiple locations in recent weeks in the Midwest and South

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

May 5, 2023

1 Min Read
Nation's Restaurant News logo in a gray background | Nation's Restaurant News

Hardee’s franchisee Summit Restaurant Holdings LLC, which has closed multiple locations in recent weeks, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Thursday.

The bankruptcy filing includes multiple Summit limited liability subsidiaries including Bighorn Restaurants, Summit Restaurant Holdings, Empire Restaurants, Heartland Restaurants, Atlantic Star Foods, and Summit Restaurant Development. Together they have recently closed 39 restaurants and 108 restaurants remain open in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Kansas, Missouri, Wyoming, and Montana.

The restaurants that remain open are operated by Empire, Heartland, Bighorn, and Atlantic Star.

According to documents filed with the Colorado Bankruptcy Court, Summit has assets of between $1 million and $10 million and debt of between $10 million and $50 million.

Summit is based in Boulder, Colo.

CKE Restaurants Inc., the Franklin, Tenn.-based franchisor of Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. brands, said Summit “expects to enter into an asset purchase agreement with a qualified and well-capitalized buyer, with a record of success across the restaurant, entertainment, food, beverage and retail markets. The buyer would acquire a majority of Summit’s remaining open and operating restaurants.”

It added that those restaurants which have not closed will continue to conduct business, including paying and providing benefits to employees, paying vendors and serving customers.

Related:Multiple Hardee’s locations close in the Midwest and South

“CKE’s goal is to maintain the maximum number of stores continuing to operate, backed by a capital structure that is sustainable and poised for long-term growth and success, and we are working with all parties to achieve that goal,” it said.

According to the court filing, Summit is one of CKE’s largest franchisees. There are more than 2,100 Hardee’s locations nationwide.

Contact Bret Thorn at bret.thorn@informa.com 

Read more about:

Hardee’s

About the Author

Bret Thorn

Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor of Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality.

Hi is responsible for spotting and reporting on F&B trends across the country for both publications. 

He is the co-host of a podcast, Menu Talk with Pat and Bret, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities, and other experts in foodservice operations.

From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.

He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN. 

A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.

He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.

Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.

He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.

A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends. 

Bret Thorn’s Experience: 

Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008 
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989

Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988 
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986

Email: bret.thorn@informa.com

Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bret.thorn.52
Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
Instagram: @foodwriterdiary

Subscribe Nation's Restaurant News Newsletters
Get the latest breaking news in the industry, analysis, research, recipes, consumer trends, the latest products and more.

You May Also Like