SALT LAKE CITY — A famous Utah sandwich restaurant chain has declared a chapter 11 financial disaster after a govt 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 positioned it on course to gain company-level earnings,” Brooks Pickering, chief restructuring officer for the employer, stated in a information launch 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 mixed 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 totally Strategic Technology $ forty-four,000, in line with the record. It additionally owes greater than $4—five 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 on the Provo area were offered jobs at other Utah places, the release states. The decision to document financial disaster got here after “seven months of business restructuring,” in step with the agency. The chapter eleven financial disaster filing “allows the agency to behavior 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, accelerated too speedy, saddling the employer with good-sized monetary and operational challenges.
“While the restructuring to this point has appreciably improved operations, the remaining challenges require the equipment afforded thru 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 towards him in federal court. The SEC alleged Down, of Draper, misled ability traders 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 and the alternative in St. George. The organization’s personal economic statistics show the employer in no way made 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 however has no role in the everyday control or operations of the business enterprise.
