NORCROSS Ga. A franchisee of the 138-unit Sonny's Real Pit Bar-B-Q chain has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closed four of its Atlanta-area stores.
Norcross-based Greater Atlanta Bar-B-Q LLC made its bankruptcy filing last Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Georgia. It was unclear in the filing what prompted the bankruptcy or how many stores the franchisee operated. Reports indicated there were 14 Sonny's restaurants in northern Georgia.
Calls to Sonny's and Greater Atlanta Bar-B-Q were not returned by press time.
Sonny's posted a statement on its website last week announcing the closure of four of Greater Atlanta Bar-B-Q's restaurants, but the company made no mention of the franchisee's bankruptcy.
In the statement, Ron Donley, owner of Greater Atlanta Bar-B-Q, said that "periodically, we must make the very difficult decision to close a store as we strive to renovate and/or relocate older locations in order to expand our presence in each market."
The shuttered stores were in Austell, Smyrna, Cheshire Bridge and Norcross, Ga., according to Sonny's, which said most employees at those stores were offered jobs at nearby Sonny's units.
In its bankruptcy filing, Greater Atlanta Bar-B-Q estimated that its assets and liabilities were both in the $1 million to $10 million range. Its largest creditor is Sysco Food Service, to which the franchisee owes nearly $400,000. The company also said it owes franchisor Sonny's more than $26,000 in royalties.