Two national restaurant chains that quietly filed for bankruptcy and tried to keep the news from their 1,400 employees caught the attention of the U.S. Trustee’s Office, which has ordered the company to notify them, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. A representative from the U.S. Trustee’s Office instructed the owners of Garcia’s and Garfield’s restaurant chains to notify creditors, including many employees, that the chain’s two holding companies had filed for chapter 11 protection on Dec. 28. Both holding companies left out the names of the restaurants they operate throughout several hundred pages that were filed to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Oklahoma. But more detailed court papers, including a list of their lawsuits and trademarks, make it clear that the chains are Garcia’s Mexican restaurants and Garfield’s casual-dining restaurants.
