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Former Olympic Rower Turned to Minimalism to Pay Down $82,000 in Debt
Bloomberg News reports that Uno Restaurant Holdings -- which operates Pizzeria Uno -- is the latest in a string of restaurants that can't stay afloat as consumers reverse splurge on their recession diets. It follows Bennigan's and Steak & Ale among those national restaurant chains that couldn't feed banks' hunger for loan repayment.
Bloomberg reports that Uno won't pay the interest due on its debt as scheduled, and S&P downgraded it as a result. It wrote that Uno "will delay paying interest, making use of a 30-day grace period allowed in the terms of its $142 million of notes due 2011, according to a statement from Standard & Poor's. S&P cut Uno by two levels to CC and said it would downgrade again to its lowest rating of D if the West Roxbury, Massachusetts-based company fails to pay on Aug. 15."
In addition to Bennigan's, Bloomberg reported that a big Pizza Hut chain filed for bankruptcy this month -- "Ohio-based Midland Food Services LLC, the operator of 92 Pizza Hut restaurants." I am a big fan of Uno's pizza and its nachos, but I guess that Uno has borrowed more money than its declining sales and rising food and labor costs permit it to repay. It remains to be seen whether it can renegotiate terms with its creditors.
If not, it will probably join its brethren in taking the hit for a lousy economy that's likely to get worse.
Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter
Retailers, Restaurants Closing Doors
Store: Limited Too
Why? Citing weak sales, Tween Brands Inc. plans to close 26 of its Limited Too preteen stores and convert 560 to its lower-priced Justice brand.
Mark Lennihan, AP
Store: Steve & Barry's
It appears that Steve & Barry's will get a second shot, as Bay Harbour Management, which specializes in turning around distressed and bankrupt properties, offers to buy out some of the teen apparel retailer's assets. The Port Washington, N.Y., had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month and could have closed most if not all of its 276 stores.
Mark Lennihan / AP
Store: Boscov's
The Boscov's at the Monmouth Mall in Eatontown, N.J., is one of 10 locations the chain -- the nation's largest family-owned department store -- announced it will shut down.
Mike Derer, AP
Store: Bennigan's, Steak & Ale
Why? The Bennigan's and Steak & Ale restaurant chains, owned by the Metromedia Restaurant Group, filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, in which a company seeks to shut down and liquidate its assets. Bennigan's indicated in the filing that it has 38 outstanding creditors and will have no funds remaining after they are repaid.
AP
Store: Linens 'n Things
Stores Closing: 177
Why? In a sign that its fortunes are beginning to turn, retailer Linens 'n Things, which filed for bankruptcy in May, announced that it would close fewer stores than it had anticipated. The chain will shut down 57 stores in its latest restructuring, 30 fewer than it had originally planned to close. Combined with its list of 120 closings announced along with its bankruptcy filing, the company will close a total of 177 stores.
Richard Lee, Detroit Free Press / MCT
Store: Mervyns
The future is in doubt for the low-end department store chain, which has been steadily closing stores since its purchase by several private equity houses in 2005. Mervyns' shelves are thinning as vendors and lenders have held up shipments and financing after the shop fell silent about its finances.
Douglas C. Pizac, AP
Store: Starbucks
Stores Closing: 600
Why? After years of ambitious expansion, the coffee retailer plans to close 500 more U.S. stores than it initially planned, most of which were opened only in the last two years. Starbucks says it will try to place affected employees in neighboring coffee shops.
Paul J. Richards, AFP / Getty Images
Store: Goody's Family Clothing
Stores Closing: 103
Why? Tennessee-based Goody's announced June 9 that it was filing a voluntary petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in Delaware, where the company is registered.
shopgoodys.com
Store: A.C. Moore Arts & Crafts
Stores Closing: 7-10 Stores
Why? Citing the current tough retail environment, the East Coast crafts retailer said it was closing 5 to 7 percent of its 139 stores and will rein in plans to expand.
A.C. Moore
Store: Home Depot
Stores Closing: 15
Why? In a first for Home Depot, at the start of May it announced plans to close 15 underperforming stores in the U.S., following 1,450 job cuts since December.
Justin Sullivan, Getty Images
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Reader Comments (Page 5 of 5)
8-20-2008 @ 10:25PM
Bill Scott said...
Put aside the regional biases over which style of pizza is best. Of course Chicago-style pizza is different from Manhattan-style or California-style pizza. Just because you don't like Uno's doesn't mean that all Chicago-style pizza is terrible. That would as ridiculous as judging all pizzas in Manhattan (the Mecca of American pizzas) by a single visit to Papa John's. And just for the record, I prefer the English Elizabethan-style pizzas from Barnaby's, which began in Chicago in 1969! It's all a matter of personal taste!
And don't complain about waiting 45 minutes or more for a deep dish, because that is normal for Chicago-style. If anything, the wait is shorter at Uno's, thanks to the Malnati family in Chicago, who introduced a modified "butter crust" recipe in the 80's, which when combined with modern ovens, shortened the wait.
The big picture that is being missed here is that Uno's was where Chicago-style pizza began back in 1943 at the corner of Ohio & Wabash. Sure, even if Uno's goes away, the deep dish Chicago-style pizza will never go extinct. For me though, a piece of history will be lost forever. (Or, as the cartoon character Mr. Peabody might call it, "a pizza history will be lost forever." :)
(BTW, people who hate puns are often people who can't write their own.)