Meridian Restaurants Unlimited, a roughly 120-unit Burger King franchisee, declared bankruptcy earlier in March, QSR Magazine reported. The restaurants are across Utah, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Arizona. Meridian also franchises with Black Bear Diner, but that part of the business is not under bankruptcy proceedings. Meridian attributed its cash flow issues to increased wages (33 percent in the past few years), cost of labor, shipping, and food inflation (22 percent in the past two years), and decreased availability of staffing. For several years — mostly because of COVID — the company has "suffered significantly" from declining foot traffic. This has resulted in lower revenues, without proportionate decreases in rent, debt service, and other liabilities, according to court documents. Meridian has lower revenues than the system average because the original founder acquired underperforming restaurants. "These lower volumes result in smaller profit margins, and thus greater sensitivity to the recent dramatic rise in labor, commodity, and maintenance costs," court documents state. "As a result, although certain of the restaurants are profitable, others operate at a loss, and have for many years, resulting in the Debtors' inability to meet financial obligations timely."
