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Sbarro Pizza Preparing Chapter 11 Filing
Wall Street Journal ^ | 04/01/2011 | MIKE SPECTOR

Posted on 03/31/2011 6:31:01 PM PDT by iowamark

Sbarro Inc., the fast-food pizza chain that dots shopping-mall food courts, is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as soon as next week, said people familiar with the matter...

"Sbarro continues to work constructively with our key stakeholders to restructure our debt and position the company for long-term success," the company said. "Throughout this restructuring process, the company expects to continue to operate in the normal course and without interruption."

The company has been battered during the recession amid lower consumer confidence. Several months ago it warned of substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern...

Sbarro, based in Melville, N.Y., employs about 5,000 people and started cutting jobs and closing stores in the wake of the global financial crisis...

The eatery was founded in the late 1950s when the Sbarro family opened a grocery store in Brooklyn, N.Y., offering homemade mozzarella, imported cheese, sausage and salami. Sbarro opened its first mall location in 1967 in Brooklyn's King Plaza Shopping Center, which marked its transition to fast-food service. It grew to operate more than 1,000 stores in some 40 countries, becoming a staple in malls and airports from Egypt and Israel to Japan and New Zealand.

Battered by the recession, however, the company closed more than 150 restaurants in the past two years. It showed a loss of about $29.3 million during the first nine months of last year on sales of roughly $239 million. For 2009 it reported a loss of $ 37.2 million. It had about $12.67 million cash and cash equivalents at the end of September.

The losses prompted the company in December to raise salaries and hand out bonuses for top executives and managers to keep them from leaving. Meantime, Sbarro's lackluster earnings caused it to violate debt terms.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: economy; fastfood; obamanomics; pizza; sbarro
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1 posted on 03/31/2011 6:31:03 PM PDT by iowamark
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To: iowamark

I’m not surprised...Their pizza sucks big time.


2 posted on 03/31/2011 6:32:07 PM PDT by Emperor Palpatine (Tosca, mi fai dimenticare Iddio!!!)
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To: Emperor Palpatine

And you can get a whole pizza anywhere for the price of two of their slices. The Butthats can’t fold fast enough for me.


3 posted on 03/31/2011 6:34:11 PM PDT by omega4179 (Did Obama promise to cut the availability of energy by 30% Coal Nuclear and Oil are just 30%?)
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To: iowamark

Never heard of it.


4 posted on 03/31/2011 6:35:40 PM PDT by org.whodat
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To: Emperor Palpatine

Greasy crap.


5 posted on 03/31/2011 6:36:04 PM PDT by rabidralph (http://www.conservativedna.com/)
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To: Emperor Palpatine

Yea, they announced that they would accept PESOS a few years ago.
Guess that worked out well?/S


6 posted on 03/31/2011 6:36:24 PM PDT by 9422WMR (Illegal is not a race. Obamacare is a crime)
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To: iowamark

Their pizza does gross me out. I have only eaten it a few times because it has been the only place, but I agree with others...it isn’t good.

Not that I want to see people lose their jobs, but failures are as much a part of a healthy capitalist environment as successes.


7 posted on 03/31/2011 6:37:14 PM PDT by rlmorel (Capitalism is the Goose that lays The Golden EggÂ…)
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To: iowamark

Really? Couldn’t sell enough slices of pizza with dog-food on it, eh?


8 posted on 03/31/2011 6:38:22 PM PDT by Antoninus (Fight the homosexual agenda. Support marriage -- www.nationformarriage.org)
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To: rlmorel

I should not have included the word “healthy”...we don’t have that in our economy.


9 posted on 03/31/2011 6:38:22 PM PDT by rlmorel (Capitalism is the Goose that lays The Golden Egg.)
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To: iowamark

“The losses prompted the company in December to raise salaries and hand out bonuses for top executives and managers to keep them from leaving”

And freepers wonder sometimes why people are sick of these companies.


10 posted on 03/31/2011 6:38:58 PM PDT by Tolsti2
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To: Emperor Palpatine

Heresy. For food court food, Sbarro’s rocks. Yes, it’s greasy. Yes it’s overpriced, but for those of us with fond memories of mall wandering in our youth, it was one of the best ways of spending an allowance/odd job money you could have.


11 posted on 03/31/2011 6:39:57 PM PDT by garbanzo (You better hold on; This one's about to get bumpy.)
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To: iowamark
Ahhh. Mall food court pizza!

Only thing better is retail Soviet boxer shorts.

12 posted on 03/31/2011 6:40:06 PM PDT by SkyPilot
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To: Antoninus

You know...my dog loves pizza...and even HE turns up his nose at Sbarro’s crap.


13 posted on 03/31/2011 6:41:16 PM PDT by Emperor Palpatine (Tosca, mi fai dimenticare Iddio!!!)
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To: iowamark

Not a good sign. Say what you will. This country is having an incredibly hard time and small businesses are taking a huge hit.

Imho, we really need to start examining what’s best for the US and implementing some major policy changes. Period.


14 posted on 03/31/2011 6:41:44 PM PDT by khnyny (The mystery of government is not how Washington works but how to make it stop. P. J. O'Rourke)
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To: khnyny

A company in 40 countries, (and every mall in the USA), is NOT a small business.

DeMino’s in Brookline or Vincenzo’s in Forest Hills are small businesses...and have great pizza.


15 posted on 03/31/2011 6:44:31 PM PDT by Emperor Palpatine (Tosca, mi fai dimenticare Iddio!!!)
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To: iowamark

Wow! I have rarely seen so many people despise a pizza.


16 posted on 03/31/2011 6:44:52 PM PDT by mylife
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To: khnyny

I agree, after two years of Soviet rule, perhaps we should permit some limited expression of capitalism!;))


17 posted on 03/31/2011 6:46:33 PM PDT by Frank_2001
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To: garbanzo

I was never a mall rat when I was a kid.

I was too car-crazy and would rather cruise in my ‘74 Challenger


18 posted on 03/31/2011 6:47:07 PM PDT by Emperor Palpatine (Tosca, mi fai dimenticare Iddio!!!)
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To: iowamark
Every time I've been in NYC I see folks eating pizza at Sbarro. I said to myself... you folks are in one of the great pizza captials of the world and you're setting for Sbarro?

I guess these are mostly tourists/out-of-towners that eat there for the comfort/consistency factor.

Bizarre.

19 posted on 03/31/2011 6:47:33 PM PDT by Trajan88 (www.bullittclub.com)
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To: khnyny

Across the board 50% cuts, and nothing is untouchable. That includes the military.


20 posted on 03/31/2011 6:47:40 PM PDT by walterandrews
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