The corporate parent of the Perkins and Marie Callender’s restaurant chains might be sold through a potential bankruptcy filing, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Perkins & Marie Callender’s LLC spokeswoman Vivian Brooks said in an email that a buyer may want to purchase the company’s assets in bankruptcy because a filing would allow a buyer to purchase the business “free of certain liabilities and obligations.” She added that a potential bankruptcy filing should be viewed in the context of facilitating a sale rather than the restaurant company requiring court protection out of “financial necessity or performance issues.” Same-store sales are up 5 percent year to date at Perkins and nearly 7 percent at Marie Callender’s, she said. The company owns and franchises about 400 Perkins in 33 states and Canada, according to its website. More than half of Perkins’ locations are in Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida and Wisconsin. There are also about 50 Marie Callender’s locations in the U.S. and Mexico, according to the company. If the restaurant company does file, it would mark the second time the company has gone through bankruptcy in the last decade. The company filed for chapter 11 in 2011 and emerged from bankruptcy later that same year under a plan that swapped out senior bond debt for equity in the reorganized business.
