Jul 29, 2008 8:54 am US/Pacific
Bennigan's Restaurants Close Nationwide
Independent Franchise Locations Remain Open
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
CBS News has learned that company-owned locations of the Bennigan's restaurant chain are shutting their doors in the Chicago area and elsewhere in the nation.
Independently-owned franchise locations remain open.
The manager of a Bennigan's in Calumet City told local CBS station WBBM in Chicago Tuesday morning that he was informed of the shutdown from his regional manager at 12:10 a.m. today in a phone call.
Calls to other Bennigan's locations in Chicago confirm that the doors were locked Tuesday morning, and that managers have been showing up to put signs in the doors.
One employee who answered the phone at the Bennigan's at 150 S. Michigan Ave. downtown tells local CBS station WBBM in Chicago that she learned after midnight that there is a shutdown, and said she has heard is national in scope.
The general managers say the news comes as a total shock to them and say there was no warning.
Workers at two other area Bennigan's did answer the phone this morning, but when asked, said they had no comment and hung up.
Local CBS station WBBM in Chicago's sister station WFOR-TV, Miami, reported that Bennigan's had shut down locations across Florida. CBS stations also confirmed that locations in Dallas and New Jersey were closing.
A spokeswoman for Plano, Texas-based Metromedia Restaurant Group, which owns the Bennigan's, said she had not heard of a nationwide shutdown. She said the chain has recently been shutting down underperforming locations.
The company has declined further comment.
Meanwhile, franchise-owned restaurants in Highland and Hobart, Ind., said they remained open for business as usual, according to a published report in the Northwest Indiana Times. The newspaper reported that the franchise operators knew about the corporate-owned closures.
The Wall Street Journal reported recently that the Metromedia Restaurant Group violated several terms of a lending agreement with GE Capital Solutions. The company prepared a bankruptcy filing, the newspaper reported.
Bennigan's was founded in 1976. The restaurant has locations in 32 states.
The
Bennigan's Web site did not indicate the chain was closing, and still advertised a Jameson barbecue menu and other special promotions.
Metromedia Restaurant Group also owns the Ponderosa and Steak and Ale chains.
WBBM CBS Chicago Newsradio 780 contributed to this report.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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