The owner of French bakery chain Maison Kayser’s U.S. locations filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday with a plan to sell itself in a court auction, Bloomberg News reported. Cosmoledo LLC, which operates 16 Maison Kayser locations in New York, said in its chapter 11 petition that it had agreed to a sale of assets to restaurant investor Aurify Brands. Aurify, which this year bought the U.S. assets of bakery chain Le Pain Quotidien out of bankruptcy, also owns the New York operations of burger joint Five Guys, Melt Shop and The Little Beet. Cosmoledo listed assets of as much as $50 million and liabilities of up to $100 million in its petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The New York chain’s namesake operates around 150 locations in 22 countries. The U.S. restaurants started in 2012 with a shop on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
