JACKSON TWP. – Bravo! Italian Kitchen, the upscale-casual Italian restaurant at 4224 Everhard Road NW at Belden, has closed.
Bravo Brio Restaurants LLC, which includes 25 Brio Italian Grille restaurants and 23 Bravo! Italian Kitchen restaurants, closed seven of its restaurants before filing its second bankruptcy in five years. The Facebook page for the Belden Village location lists it as “permanently closed.”
The bankruptcy was filed on Aug. 18 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida by Earl Enterprises. The company also owns Planet Hollywood and additional restaurants, acquiring them in June 2020 from FoodFirst Global Restaurants’ bankruptcy filing two months earlier.
“The Debtors have worked diligently to weather the storm, but earnings and cash flow remain strained by several above-market leases and underperforming locations,” the filing reads.
Court filings show that the Orlando-based company owes $1.9 million to the restaurant food distributor Sysco and has liabilities of between $50 million and $100 million.
“The Chapter 11 process will allow the company to quickly and efficiently reorganize its business for a sustainable and successful future, including closing underperforming locations, restructuring debt, and streamlining and reducing operational expenses,” Bravo Brio Restaurants said in a statement.
Will Brio locations close following bankruptcy filing?
A spokesperson told Today.com there are no current plans to close any locations. The company did not respond to USA TODAY’s questions about any immediate closings.
Locations in Virginia and Missouri were closed earlier in the year, according to local news reports. A Brio restaurant in Beavercreek, Ohio, closed the same day as the filing, according to WHIO. Another location in Delaware closed concurrently with the bankruptcy filing, reported Delaware Online, part of the USA TODAY Network.
Bev Shaffer, Food & Drink reporter for The Canton Repository, can be reached at bshaffer@gannett.com or 330-580-8318.
Dining and Cooking