SALT LAKE CITY — A famous Utah sandwich restaurant chain has declared a Chapter 11 financial disaster after a government said it “expanded too fast.” Even Stevens, which had a blended 15 stores in Utah, Arizona, Idaho, Colorado, Texas, and Washington, has already shuttered five of its places “to right-size the organization and position it on course to gain company-level earnings,” Brooks Pickering, chief restructuring officer for the company, stated in a press release Thursday.
According to bankruptcy documents filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Arizona, Even Stevens owes $1 million and $10 million owed to dozens of lenders. The restaurant currently has between 0 and $50,000 in belongings, the file states. Among Utah corporations to which the chain is maximum in debt, Even Stevens owes West Jordan-based Sysco Intermountain $380,000, Salt Lake City-based Standard Restaurant Supply greater than $100,000, and Orem-based ttrategic Technology $ forty-four,000, in line with the record. It additionally owes more than $4—5 million in inter-company loans.
As part of its restructuring, the employer is final its Provo vicinity and locations in Arizona, Texas, and Colorado. All personnel in the Provo area were offered jobs at other Utah places, the release states. The decision to document financial disaster came after “seven months of business restructuring,” in step with the agency. The chapter eleven financial disaster filing “allows the agency to behave as an enterprise at some stage in the restructuring procedure.” “Today’s motion is a vital step on our course to economic stability,” Pickering stated. “As a start-up, Even Stevens got here out of the gate with high-quality momentum; however, it accelerated too speedy, saddling the employer with sizable financial and operational challenges.
“While the restructuring to this point has appreciably improved operations, the remaining challenges require the equipment afforded through the bankruptcy manner to properly guard the pursuits of our buyers, financiers, employees, and clients. With the right enterprise corporation and monetary discipline, we look ahead to reaching the lengthy-term achievement.” The sandwich organization that began in 2014 claims it donates a sandwich to a nearby non-earnings for each sandwich sold. Pickering said selections made by using former control “have put us in a hard role” but that modern management is targeted on enhancing food safety in groups in which the restaurant operates.
In May 2018, co-founder Steve Downs agreed to pay a $150,000 great to clear up allegations that he misrepresented the economic success of occasion facilities he owns in Utah and 4 different states. The flow got here after the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against him in federal court. The SEC alleged that Down, of Draper, misled investors about the profitability of 8 occasions centers, which may be rented for weddings and parties, in five states, such as in Utah, one at Trolley Square in Salt Lake City, a nd the alternative in St. George. The organization’s personnel economic statistics show that the employer in not make cash, consistent with the complaint. Even Stevens then distanced itself from Down in a assertion, saying he is a founder and one among many investors,butr has no role in the everyday control or operations of the business enterprise.
