The owners of Nashville hot chicken restaurant chain Party Fowl have filed a petition seeking bankruptcy protection — noting the timing of their expansion and other factors have “started a snowball of debt,” the Nashville Post reported. Via six LLCs, Austin Smith and Nick Jacobson own Party Fowl, having begun operations in 2014 with their Gulch location at the intersection of Eighth Avenue South and Division Street. Other outposts are found in Murfreesboro, Donelson, Franklin (Cool Springs), Chattanooga and Destin, Fla. The concept has licensed presences at both Nashville International Airport and Nissan Stadium. According to a document filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, Smith and Jacobson, after opening in Cool Springs in 2020, decided to open sister businesses in Chattanooga and Destin. However, the document notes, those two locations have not generated sufficient revenue, thus creating financial stress on the owners and their other locations. COVID-19 is cited as a contributing factor. Via the LLCs, Smith and Jacobson own the six Party Fowl restaurant businesses, with chef Bart Pickens overseeing the menu of each. Smith and Jacobson intend for the six businesses to file a joint plan of reorganization prior to the chapter 11, subchapter V, filing deadline of 90 days after the petition date (Jan. 9), the court document notes.
