Posted on 11/10/2023 10:28:35 AM PST by george76
Premier Kings, a 172-unit Alabama and Georgia operator whose owner died in 2022, declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing substantial operating losses.
Premier Kings, a 172-unit Burger King franchisee whose owner died in 2022, declared bankruptcy protection, saying that operating losses even after the company closed restaurants forced the issue.
It’s the third time this year that a major Burger King operator has taken such a step, while several others closed restaurants around the country in the aftermath of the chain’s sales and profit challenges.
In this case, Premier Kings’ Chapter 11 filing follows the untimely death of its owner, Patrick Sidhu, whose Popeyes stores were placed into bankruptcy earlier this year for the same reason.
The company put the restaurants up for sale and hired the investment banker Raymond James & Associates to market the restaurants. The company closed several restaurants to “avoid further losses” and stabilize the business to prepare a sale.
But those cost cutting measures didn’t work. The company said that it faced pressure from landlords, vendors and with secured lenders.
Premier Kings generated $223 million in sales in 2022 and had an operating loss of $27 million. Bankruptcy court documents also reported $134.5 million in assets and $123.1 million in liabilities.
The company has deals with a pair of “stalking horse” bidders vying for parts of the company totaling about $34 million. One is for $15.5 million with RRG of Jacksonville for 44 stores in the Savannah, Ga., and Jacksonville, Fla., regions. The other is for $18.5 million for the purchase of 31 stores in North Alabama with the Newell-Berg Alliance AL.
A stalking horse bid is used as an opening bid in an auction. There are at least 44 potential bidders for at least some of the restaurants.
Burger King struggled with weak sales coming out of the pandemic while costs for labor and food took off. Two large-scale operators, Meridian Restaurants and Toms King, filed for bankruptcy and were sold. In both cases, however, not all of the stores were sold and numerous locations were shut down.
The company has been steering many stores into the hands of smaller operators it believes are more capable of improving operations at the restaurants and generating stronger sales in the process.
Burger King earlier warned that it expected to spend the rest of the year working with franchisees to close underperforming stores. It also said that most of $10 million of bad debt expense it expects to record in the fourth quarter will come from Burger King U.S.
The company has shown stronger sales this year while traffic last quarter outperformed its competitors. Burger King is investing $400 million into marketing and remodels to lift sales and has focused intently on improving operations and franchisee profits. The company said that franchisee profitability is up in the “double digits” so far this year.
Get rid of that damn creepy mascot and business will surge!
It scares children!.................
Actually the home delivery part of the quick service restaurant business — which is huge — is primarily serving younger customers. It is true the younger folks don’t utilize dining room service very much but it is dying for all age categories.
McWhoppers slop joints are a rip off.
Fast food was supposed to be fast and cheap. Those days are gone!
It all depends on the franchise. I consistently have positive experiences at the local BKs and expect others do as well unless they don’t like FF at all.
The only thing that I would eat there is their Impossible Veggie Burger.
It is still reasonably priced if you almost exclusively utilize app promotions and loyalty points as I do.
I like it too but we are in a severe minority around here.
im with you
mom and pops are the best
i have a favorite in my area
i cant remember ever going anywhere else for a night out
My preference is mom and pop anything. When the owner is on the job, they care about the product. It's that simple.
The Whopper. Flame broiled and I think still one of the best. Same with Carl’s Jr. Char broiled.
I still remember my first Wopper. In High School, 1973. Just loved it. Been a while since I've been back.
I assume it's my taste, because none of the fast food burgers taste good at all.
Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce...bankruptcy doesn’t upset us.
Didn’t sell enough gayburgers (tm)?
The last time I ate at a BK was at least 5 years ago. I ordered a Whopper and a fish sandwich, along with fry’s and drink.The two sandwiches tasted like cardboard. The only way to really tell them apart is that the Whopper had a ketchup base on it and the fish had a tartar sauce base on it.
I had noticed this on a couple of previous stops. I don’t plan on ever buying any thing from them again.
I am not a Whataburger fan either. In my opinion the worse mom & pop is better than the best of the fast food giants...
There go all those raises....
How can that be when they’re charging $12 for the regular whopper meal.
BK was good in the ‘90’s. About a year ago I stopped there, and the burger was like eating a shoe.
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