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All the bankruptcy news from around the restaurant industry in 2021All the bankruptcy news from around the restaurant industry in 2021

Leigh Anne Zinsmeister, Managing Editor

December 17, 2021

11 Slides
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It was a bizarre year for restaurants where bankruptcies are concerned, with very few filing and none after early June, perhaps partially due to courts being closed and short-staffed throughout the pandemic.

Still, there was a lot of interesting news in the restaurant finance world. Many chains that filed bankruptcy in 2020 restructured and emerged in early 2021, including Punch Bowl Social and Ruby Tuesday. The brand now known as Beatnic, formerly By Chloe, at long last resolved ongoing legal disputes, emerged from bankruptcy and fully rebranded throughout the year.

Golden Corral’s second-largest franchisee filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April, following in the footsteps of that brand’s largest franchisee, which filed in October 2020. And Casa Bonita, a Colorado icon, filed for bankruptcy and was eventually purchased by none other than the creators of the TV show “South Park.”

Click through the gallery to catch up on the financial news from 11 restaurants companies who filed or emerged from bankruptcy in the second year of the pandemic.

Contact Leigh Anne Zinsmeister at [email protected]

About the Author

Leigh Anne Zinsmeister

Managing Editor

Leigh Anne Zinsmeister is a managing editor for Informa’s Foodservices Vertical, specifically Nation’s Restaurant News, Restaurant Hospitality, and Foodservice Director.  Leigh Anne works on all of the brands’ special reports, including Nation’s Restaurant News’ annual Top 500 report and Restaurant Hospitality’s Best Cocktails and Best Sandwiches contests. She also manages the group’s digital engagement team, and was the managing editor for Supermarket News until December 2024.

Leigh Anne lives in New York City, but also claims Phoenix, Dallas and Cleveland as hometowns. Leigh Anne holds a bachelor’s degree in print journalism from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, where she also studied European history. 

Email Leigh Anne at [email protected] 

Leigh Anne Zinsmeister’s experience: 

  • Group Managing Editor, Informa’s Foodservices Vertical (Aug. 2021-present)

  • Group Content Manager, Informa Restaurant and Food Group (Feb. 2020-Aug. 2021)

  • Digital Content Manager, Informa Restaurant and Food Group (April 2018-Feb. 2020)

  • Digital Content Producer, Informa Restaurant and Food Group (June 2016-April 2018)

  • Community Moderator, Mail Online (March 2014-June 2016)

  • Wire Editor, Gannett’s Phoenix Design studio (The Arizona Republic, The Reno Gazette-Journal, The Statesman Journal, The Great Falls Tribune, The Visalia Times-Delta, The Tulare Advance Register, The Salinas Californian, The St. George Spectrum, The Desert Sun, The Coloradoan) (Jan. 2012-March 2014)

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