🍸New Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing - BL Restaurants Holding LLC (Bar Louie)🍸

BL Restaurants Holding LLC

January 27, 2020

Another day, another Sun Capital Partners’ portfolio company* in bankruptcy. Texas-based BL Restaurants Holding LLC — known to most as Bar Louie — and 3 affiliated entities filed for bankruptcy in the District of Delaware. Bar Louie is a gastrobar concept that operates 110 owned locations plus 24 franchises across 26 states and the District of Columbia. In 2019, it did $252mm of sales, down 3.7% YOY.

We hate to feed into the private-equity-destroys-everything-it-touches-trope but, well, judge for yourself…

The company notes:

Over the past several years, the opening of new locations was the primary driver for sales and profit growth for the Company. This growth was partially funded through new debt, but also utilized cash flow from operations, which ultimately over time restricted liquidity otherwise needed for store refreshes and equipment maintenance and modernization, resulting in inconsistent delivery of the brand promise across the system. This inconsistent brand experience, coupled with increased competition and the general decline in customer traffic visiting traditional shopping locations and malls, resulted in less traffic at the Company’s locations proximate to shopping locations and malls and contributed to sales falling short of forecast. These customer declines were also driven by major changes in consumer behavior, including the general national trend away from casual dining. The combination of these factors had a particularly major impact on a significant segment of the Company’s footprint.

Indeed, all of that growth — coupled with disruptive trends confronting both malls and casual dining — took its toll. Indeed, 38 locations, in particular, really saddled the company. Apparently it’s a bad sign when a third of your footprint has negative same store sale comps of 10.9%. 😬 This brought down the rest of the enterprise (which “only experienced a 1.4% SSS decline.”). Only. The debtors closed the aforementioned 38 locations pre-filing.

What of the debt? The company has $87mm of funded debt, $8mm of trade debt and approximately $6mm of other unsecured debt excluding lease termination claims. Things aren’t looking so great for the trade. The pre-petition lenders have agreed to place a $22mm DIP.

So now the debtors will use that DIP to give themselves time to attempt a sale in bankruptcy. The debtors’ first lien secured lenders and the pre-petition first lien secured agent will serve as a stalking horse via a credit bid. They are owed approximately $56.4mm. Pursuant to the sale motion filed with the court, they seek a 3% breakup fee in connection with the agreement to be the stalking horse which, if you asked us, seems a bit ridiculous under the circumstances. Why do they need a breakup fee at all when they’re trying to shed this turd? Do they really want to own this business? A multi-month pre-petition marketing campaign would seem to indicate otherwise. This reeks of greed and ought to spark an objection from creditors who will be hoping there’s some buyer who comes out of the wood work and overbids for this thing.

We wouldn’t bet on it.

*The debtors’ first day declaration only refers to its private equity sponsors as “its current owners”. While it’s not entirely clear from the bankruptcy papers, it appears that Sun Capital may also be the second lien lender agent here (and lenders) — a presumption that is bolstered by the appearance of Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP as counsel. Morgan Lewis has represented Sun Capital portfolio companies in a number of recent chapter 11 bankruptcy filings. Curious how, with one exception, there was virtually no mention of Sun Capital’s involvement in any of the papers.

• Jurisdiction: D. of Delaware (Judge Walrath)

• Capital Structure: $42mm Term Loan + $14.4mm RCF (Antares Capital LP), $23.6mm second lien debt (BL Restaurants Group Holding Corp.)

• Professionals:

  • Legal: Klehr Harrison Harvey Branzburg LLP (Domenic Pacitti, Michael Yurkewicz)

  • Financial Advisor/CRO: Carl Marks Advisory Group LLC (Howard Meitiner)

  • Investment Banker: Configure Partners LLC (Vin Batra)

  • Claims Agent: Epiq Bankruptcy Solutions LLC (*click on the link above for free docket access)

• Other Parties in Interest:

  • Prepetition First Lien Secured Agent and DIP Agent: Antares Capital LP

    • Legal: Latham & Watkins LLP (James Ktsanes, Jeremy Webb) & Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor LLP (Michael Nestor, Andrew Magaziner)

  • DIP Lenders: Midcap Funding XVI Trust, Midcap Funding XXX Trust, Midcap Financial Trust, Woodmont 2017-2 Trust, Woodmont 2017-3 LP, Woodmont 2018-4 Trust

  • Prepetition Second Lien Agent:

    • Legal: Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP (Barbara Shander)

  • Purchaser: BLH Acquisition Co., LLC

🍤New Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing - RUI Holding Corp.🍤

RUI Holding Corp.

July 7, 2019

Back in October 2016, in the context of Sun Capital Partners’-owned Garden Fresh Restaurant Intermediate Holdings bankruptcy filing, we asked, “Are Progressives Bankrupting Restaurants?” We wrote:

Morberg's explanation for the bankruptcy went a step farther. He noted that cash flow pressures also came from increased workers' compensation costs, annual rent increases, minimum wage increases in the markets they serve, and higher health benefit costs -- a damning assessment of popular progressive initiatives making the rounds this campaign season. And certainly not a minor statement to make in a sworn declaration.  

It's unlikely that this is the last restaurant bankruptcy in the near term. Will the next one also delineate progressive policies as a root cause? It seems likely.

There have been a plethora of restaurant-related bankruptcy filings between then and now and many of them have raised rising costs as an issue. Perhaps none as blatantly, however, than Sun Capital Partners’ portfolio companies: enter RUI Holding Corp and its affiliated debtors, Restaurants Unlimited Inc. and Restaurants Unlimited Texas Inc. (the “Debtors”).

On July 7, 2019, the Sun Capital-owned Debtors filed for bankruptcy in the District of Delaware. The Debtors opened their first restaurant in 1969 and now own and operate 35 restaurants in 6 states under, among 14 others, the trade names “Clinkerdagger,” “Cutters Crabhouse,” “Maggie Bluffs,” and ”Horatio’s.” The Debtors note that each of their restaurants offer “fine dining” and “polished casual dining” “situated in iconic, scenic, high-traffic locations.” Who knew that if you want something to scream “iconic” you ought to name it Clinkerdagger?

As we’ve said time and time again, casual dining is a hot mess. Per the Debtors:

…the Company's revenue for the twelve months ended May 31, 2019, was $176 million, down 1% from the prior year. As of the Petition Date, the Company has approximately $150,000 of cash on hand and lacks access to needed liquidity other than cash flow from operations.

The Debtors have over $37.7mm of secured debt; they also owe trade $7.6mm. There are over 2000 employees, of which 168 are full-time and 50 are salaried at corporate HQ in Seattle Washington.

But enough about that stuff. Back to those damn progressives. Per the Debtors:

Over the past several years, certain changes to wage laws in the Debtors’ primary geographic locations coupled with two expansion decisions that utilized cash flow from operations resulted in increased use of cash flow from operations and borrowings and restricted liquidity. These challenges coupled with additional state-mandates that will result in an additional extraordinary wage hike in FYE 2020 in certain locations before all further wage increases are subject to increases in the CPI and the general national trend away from casual dining, led to the need to commence these chapter 11 cases.

They continue:

Over the past three years, the Company’s profitability has been significantly impacted by progressive wage laws along the Pacific coast that have increased the minimum wage as follows: Seattle $9.47 to $16.00 (69%), San Francisco $11.05 to $15.59 (41%), Portland $9.25 to $12.50 (35%). As a large employer in the Seattle metro market, for instance, the Company was one of the first in the market to be forced to institute wage hikes. Currently in Seattle, smaller employers enjoy a statutory advantage of a lesser minimum wage of $1 or more through 2021, which is not available to the Company. The result of these cumulative increases was to increase the Company’s annual wage expenses by an aggregate of $10.6 million through fiscal year end 2019.

For a second we had to do a double-take just to make sure Andy Puzder wasn’t the first day declarant!

Interestingly, despite these seemingly OBVIOUS wage headwinds and the EVEN-MORE-OBVIOUS-CASUAL-DINING-CHALLENGES, these genius operators nevertheless concluded that it was prudent to open two new restaurants in Washington state “in the second half of 2017” — at a cost of $10mm. Sadly, “[s]ince opening, the anticipated foot traffic and projected sales at these locations did not materialize….” Well, hot damn! Who could’ve seen that coming?? Coupled with the wage increases, this was the death knell. PETITION Note: this really sounds like two parents on the verge of divorce deciding a baby would make everything better. Sure, macro headwinds abound but let’s siphon off cash and open up two new restaurants!! GREAT IDEA HEFE!!

The Debtors have therefore been in a perpetual state of marketing since 2016. The Debtors’ investment banker contacted 170 parties but not one entity expressed interested past basic due diligence. Clearly, they didn’t quite like what they saw. PETITION Note: we wonder whether they saw that Sun Capital extracted millions of dollars by way of dividends, leaving a carcass behind?? There’s no mention of this in the bankruptcy papers but….well…inquiring minds want to know.

The purpose of the filing is to provide a breathing spell, gain the Debtors access to liquidity (by way of a $10mm new money DIP financing commitment from their prepetition lender), and pursue a sale of the business. To prevent additional unnecessary cash burn in the meantime, the Debtors closed six unprofitable restaurants: Palomino in Indianapolis, Indiana, and Bellevue, Washington; Prime Rib & Chocolate Cake in Portland, OR; Henry’s Tavern in Plano, Texas; Stanford’s in Walnut Creek, California; and Portland Seafood Co. in Tigard, Oregon. PETITION Note: curiously, only one of these closures was in an “iconic” location that also has the progressive rate increases the Debtors took pains to highlight.

It’s worth revisiting the press release at the time of the 2007 acquisition:

Steve Stoddard, President and CEO, Restaurants Unlimited, Inc., said, “This transaction represents an exciting partnership with a skilled and experienced restauranteur that has the requisite financial resources and deep operating experience to be instrumental in strengthening our brands and building out our footprint in suitable locations.”

Riiiiight. Stoddard’s tenure with Sun Capital lasted all of two years. His successor, Norman Abdallah, lasted a year before being replaced by Scott Smith. Smith lasted a year before being replaced by Chris Harter. Harter lasted four years and was replaced by now-CEO, Jim Eschweiler.

A growing track record of bankruptcy and a revolving door in the C-suite. One might think this may be a cautionary tale to those operators in the market for PE partners.*

*Speaking of geniuses, it’s almost as if Sun Capital Partners thinks that things disappear on the internets. Google “sun capital restaurant unlimited” and you’ll see this:

Source: Google

Click through the first link and this is what you get:

Source: Sun Capital Partners

HAHAHAHAHA. WHOOPS INDEED!

THEY DELETED THAT SH*T FASTER THAN WE COULD SAY “DIVIDEND RECAP.”

---

• Jurisdiction: D. of Delaware (Judge Silverstein)

• Capital Structure: $37.7mm (plus $1.7mm of accrued and unpaid interest)(Fortress Credit Co LLC)

• Professionals:

  • Legal: Klehr Harrison Harvey Branzburg LLP (Domenic Pacitti, Michael Yurkewicz, Sally Veghte)

  • Financial Advisor: Carl Marks Advisory Group LLC (David Bagley)

  • Investment Banker: Configure Partners LLC

  • Claims Agent: Epiq Bankruptcy Solutions LLC (*click on the link above for free docket access)

  • Board of Directors: Stephen Cella, Jonathan Jackson, James Eschweiler

• Other Parties in Interest:

  • PE Sponsor: Sun Capital Partners Inc.

  • Prepetition Agent & DIP Agent ($10mm): Fortress Credit Co LLC

    • Legal: Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP (Tyler Brown, Justin Paget) & Gellert Scali Busenkell & Brown (Michael Busenkell)

    • Financial Advisor: Grant Thornton LLP

  • DIP Lenders: Drawbridge Special Opportunities Fund LP, NXT Capital LLC

    • Legal: Goldberg Kohn Ltd. (Randall Klein, Prisca Kim)

Updated 7/7/19

🍤Casual Dining is a Hot Mess. Part VIII. New Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing - RUI Holding Corp.🍤

Back in October 2016, in the context of Sun Capital Partners’-owned Garden Fresh Restaurant Intermediate Holdings bankruptcy filing, we asked, “Are Progressives Bankrupting Restaurants?”* We wrote:

Morberg's explanation for the bankruptcy went a step farther. He noted that cash flow pressures also came from increased workers' compensation costs, annual rent increases, minimum wage increases in the markets they serve, and higher health benefit costs -- a damning assessment of popular progressive initiatives making the rounds this campaign season. And certainly not a minor statement to make in a sworn declaration.  

It's unlikely that this is the last restaurant bankruptcy in the near term. Will the next one also delineate progressive policies as a root cause? It seems likely.

There have been a plethora of restaurant-related bankruptcy filings between then and now and many of them have raised rising costs as an issue. Perhaps none as blatantly, however, than Sun Capital Partners’ portfolio companies: enter RUI Holding Corp and its affiliated debtors, Restaurants Unlimited Inc. and Restaurants Unlimited Texas Inc. (the “Debtors”).**

On July 7, 2019, the Sun Capital-owned Debtors filed for bankruptcy in the District of Delaware. The Debtors opened their first restaurant in 1969 and now own and operate 35 restaurants in 6 states under, among 14 others, the trade names “Clinkerdagger,” “Cutters Crabhouse,” “Maggie Bluffs,” and ”Horatio’s.” The Debtors note that each of their restaurants offer “fine dining” and “polished casual dining” “situated in iconic, scenic, high-traffic locations.” Who knew that if you want something to scream “iconic” you ought to name it Clinkerdagger?

As we’ve said time and time again, casual dining is a hot mess. Per the Debtors:

…the Company's revenue for the twelve months ended May 31, 2019, was $176 million, down 1% from the prior year. As of the Petition Date, the Company has approximately $150,000 of cash on hand and lacks access to needed liquidity other than cash flow from operations.

The Debtors have over $37.7mm of secured debt; they also owe trade $7.6mm. There are over 2000 employees, of which 168 are full-time and 50 are salaried at corporate HQ in Seattle Washington.

But enough about that stuff. Back to those damn progressives. Per the Debtors:

Over the past several years, certain changes to wage laws in the Debtors’ primary geographic locations coupled with two expansion decisions that utilized cash flow from operations resulted in increased use of cash flow from operations and borrowings and restricted liquidity. These challenges coupled with additional state-mandates that will result in an additional extraordinary wage hike in FYE 2020 in certain locations before all further wage increases are subject to increases in the CPI and the general national trend away from casual dining, led to the need to commence these chapter 11 cases.

They continue:

Over the past three years, the Company’s profitability has been significantly impacted by progressive wage laws along the Pacific coast that have increased the minimum wage as follows: Seattle $9.47 to $16.00 (69%), San Francisco $11.05 to $15.59 (41%), Portland $9.25 to $12.50 (35%). As a large employer in the Seattle metro market, for instance, the Company was one of the first in the market to be forced to institute wage hikes. Currently in Seattle, smaller employers enjoy a statutory advantage of a lesser minimum wage of $1 or more through 2021, which is not available to the Company. The result of these cumulative increases was to increase the Company’s annual wage expenses by an aggregate of $10.6 million through fiscal year end 2019.

For a second we had to do a double-take just to make sure Andy Puzder wasn’t the first day declarant!

Interestingly, despite these seemingly OBVIOUS wage headwinds and the EVEN-MORE-OBVIOUS-CASUAL-DINING-CHALLENGES, these genius operators nevertheless concluded that it was prudent to open two new restaurants in Washington state “in the second half of 2017” — at a cost of $10mm. Sadly, “[s]ince opening, the anticipated foot traffic and projected sales at these locations did not materialize….” Well, hot damn! Who could’ve seen that coming?? Coupled with the wage increases, this was the death knell. PETITION Note: this really sounds like two parents on the verge of divorce deciding a baby would make everything better. Sure, macro headwinds abound but let’s siphon off cash and open up two new restaurants!! GREAT IDEA HEFE!!

The Debtors have therefore been in a perpetual state of marketing since 2016. The Debtors’ investment banker contacted 170 parties but not one entity expressed interested past basic due diligence. Clearly, they didn’t quite like what they saw. PETITION Note: we wonder whether they saw that Sun Capital extracted millions of dollars by way of dividends, leaving a carcass behind?? There’s no mention of this in the bankruptcy papers but….well…inquiring minds want to know.

The purpose of the filing is to provide a breathing spell, gain the Debtors access to liquidity (by way of a $10mm new money DIP financing commitment from their prepetition lender), and pursue a sale of the business. To prevent additional unnecessary cash burn in the meantime, the Debtors closed six unprofitable restaurants: Palomino in Indianapolis, Indiana, and Bellevue, Washington; Prime Rib & Chocolate Cake in Portland, OR; Henry’s Tavern in Plano, Texas; Stanford’s in Walnut Creek, California; and Portland Seafood Co. in Tigard, Oregon. PETITION Note: curiously, only one of these closures was in an “iconic” location that also has the progressive rate increases the Debtors took pains to highlight.

It’s worth revisiting the press release at the time of the 2007 acquisition:

Steve Stoddard, President and CEO, Restaurants Unlimited, Inc., said, “This transaction represents an exciting partnership with a skilled and experienced restauranteur that has the requisite financial resources and deep operating experience to be instrumental in strengthening our brands and building out our footprint in suitable locations.”

Riiiiight. Stoddard’s tenure with Sun Capital lasted all of two years. His successor, Norman Abdallah, lasted a year before being replaced by Scott Smith. Smith lasted a year before being replaced by Chris Harter. Harter lasted four years and was replaced by now-CEO, Jim Eschweiler.

A growing track record of bankruptcy and a revolving door in the C-suite. One might think this may be a cautionary tale to those operators in the market for PE partners.

******

Speaking of geniuses, it’s almost as if Sun Capital Partners thinks that things disappear on the internets. Google “sun capital restaurant unlimited” and you’ll see this:

Click through the first link and this is what you get:

HAHAHAHAHA. WHOOPS INDEED!

THEY DELETED THAT SH*T FASTER THAN WE COULD SAY “DIVIDEND RECAP.”

*Turns out that Congressional Budget Office is of the view that $15/hour federal minimum wage may, in fact, have widespread repercussions that include significant job losses.

**Sun Capital is having a tough go of things in the restaurant space of late. This week, Restaurant Business reportedthat Boston Market, a Sun portfolio company, closed 45 locations over the past week as part of an operational restructuring. The company blames shifting consumer preferences and rising costs for its issues.

New Chapter 11 Filing - Gordmans Stores Inc.

Gordmans Stores Inc.

• 3/13/17 Recap: Clearly Warren Buffett doesn't own this dog. The Omaha, NE-based publicly-traded (GMAN) specialty retailer (apparel and home fashions) with 72 stores in 16 states (according to PE sponsor Sun Capital Partners) or 106 stores in 22 states (according to the company) filed bankruptcy to continue the 5-month long evisceration of Sun Capital Partners' retail portfolio. Oh, and liquidate. Choice quote: "It is likely that other retailers may commence chapter 11 cases in the near term, as retail is set to replace the troubled oil and gas industry as the most distressed sector this year." Just in case anyone is scratching their heads as to how this liquidation could possibly be happening, note that e-commerce made up less than 1-percent of the Company's sales. This REALLY begs the question: what value was Sun Capital Partners bringing to the table? Do they not have operating partners? Sheesh.
• Jurisdiction: D. of Nebraska
• Capital Structure: $68.75mm RCF (Wells Fargo) + $31.25mm RCF (PNC Bank NA) of which $29mm in total outstanding, $30mm TL (Wells Fargo - $15mm, Pathlight - $7.5mm & Gordon Brothers Finance - $7.5mm)($27.9mm outstanding). 
• Company Professionals:
  • Legal: Kirkland & Ellis LLP (Jayme Sprayragen, Patrick Nash, Brad Weiland, Jamie Netznik, Alexandra Schwarzman) & Kutak Rock LLP (Lisa Peters, Jeffrey Wegner)
  • Financial Advisor: Clear Thinking Group LLC (Joseph Marchese)
  • Investment Banker: Duff & Phelps Securities LLC (Joshua Benn)
  • Proposed Stalking Horse Liquidators: Tiger Capital Group LLC & Great American Group LLC
  • Claims Agent: Epiq Bankruptcy Solutions LLC (*click on company name for docket)
• Other Parties in Interest:
  • Wells Fargo Bank, NA
    • Legal: Riemer & Braunstein LLP (Donald Rothman, Steven Fox) & Greenberg Traurig LLP (Jeff Wolf) & (local) Croker Huck Kasher DeWitt Anderson & Gonderinger LLP (Robert, Gonderinger, David Skalka)
  • Sponsor: Sun Capital Partners
    • Legal: Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP (Neil Herman)
  • Potential Bidder: Hilco Merchant Resources LLC & Gordon Brothers Retail Partners LLC
    • Legal: Paul Hastings LLP (Chris Dickerson, Matthew Murphy, Marc Carmel) & (local) Telpner Peterson Law Firm LLP (Charles Smith, Nicole Hughes)
  • Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors
    • Legal: Frost Brown Todd LLC (Ronald Gold, Douglas Lutz, Adam J. (A.J.) Webb) & (local) Koley Jessen PC (Brian Koenig)
    • Financial Advisor: Province Inc. (Paul Huygens)

Updated 4/14/17