Sponsored By

Pizza Hut franchisee EYM files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protectionPizza Hut franchisee EYM files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection

The restaurant company, which operates units in the South and Midwest, is the lastest to seek financial restructuring

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

July 22, 2024

1 Min Read
pizza hut
Pizza HutPizza Hut

Pizza Hut franchisee EYM Pizza L.P. and affiliated companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the Eastern District of Texas on Monday.

The filing, which includes related companies in Wisconsin and Indiana, only listed two creditors: Manufacturers Bank, which it owes  more than $21 million, and Pizza Hut itself, which is owed just under $2.25 million.

The filing comes after Pizza Hut sued EYM, which operates around 140 Pizza Hut restaurants in the South and Midwest, for not paying royalties on time even after a forbearance period granted last year that ended in February.

EYM had previously sued Pizza Hut for breach of fiduciary duty, among other claims, but the case was dismissed, opening the way for Pizza Hut’s own lawsuit.

EYM, which was founded by former McDonald’s Mexico president Eduardo Diaz in 2008, has been operating Pizza Hut restaurants since 2015, but recently closed more than 15 locations in Ohio and Indiana.

This is the latest in a spate of restaurant bankruptcies. Since April, Red Lobster, Rubio’s Coastal Grill, Melt Bar & Grilled, Sticky’s, Tijuana Flats, One Table Restaurants (parent of Tender Greens and Tocaya), Louisiana-based Arby’s franchisee Miracle Restaurant Group, and San Antionio-based Subway franchisee River Sub have all filed for protection. MOD Pizza reportedly narrowly avoided declaring bankruptcy by finding a buyer.

Related:Pizza Hut closes several restaurants in Indiana, Ohio

The moves for financial restructuring come after many operators took on debt as they struggled to get through the pandemic, which was followed by costly supply chain disruptions, rising labor costs, and inflation that both drove up the cost of doing business and also caused many consumers, especially low-income ones, to cut back on spending.

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected] 

Read more about:

Pizza Hut Inc.

About the Author

Bret Thorn

Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor for Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality for Informa’s Restaurants and Food Group, with responsibility for spotting and reporting on food and beverage trends across the country for both publications as well as guiding overall F&B coverage. 

He is the host of a podcast, In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn, 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: [email protected]

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.