801 Restaurant Group LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Kansas, a move that came as two of its restaurants shut their doors in Denver and Minneapolis. The company said its remaining locations will keep operating normally during the restructuring.
The filing puts $18.7 million in liabilities on the record and comes from a Kansas-based restaurant group that runs steak and seafood spots under the 801 Chophouse, 801 Fish and 801 Local names across seven states. 801 Fish in downtown Denver and 801 On Nicollet in Minneapolis have closed, but the company said the bankruptcy is not expected to affect the rest of the chain.
The open restaurants include 801 Chophouses in Denver, Des Moines, Omaha, Kansas City, Leawood, St. Louis, Minneapolis and Tysons Corner in the Washington, D.C., area, along with 801 Fish in St. Louis. The filing was tied to guarantees the group made to other companies it owns, a detail that helps explain why the case landed in bankruptcy court even as most of the dining rooms stay open.
That split is what makes the case worth watching now. In the same week, one part of the business closed while another stayed in service, leaving the company to prove that a reorganization can protect the surviving locations without dragging them into the same financial strain that forced the filing. The chain's next step is whether it can complete that restructuring while keeping customers coming through the doors in the cities where it still operates.