Restaurant chain files for bankruptcy days after closing 48 locations

A Mexican restaurant chain has filed for bankruptcy.

California-based Rubio’s Coastal Grill filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this week

The 41-year-old restaurant chain has 86 restaurants in California, Arizona and Nevada, according to its website.

The company said it filed for bankruptcy to facilitate the sale of the business.

The 86 restaurants will continue to operate.

Rubio’s said it has been negatively affected over the past few years by diminishing in-store traffic attributable to work-from-home practices remaining in place, and by rising food and utility costs that, and significant increases to the minimum wage in California, it said put pressure on a number of its locations.

“Rubio’s Coastal Grill is one of the legendary fast casual chains with a strong and loyal customer following in its communities,” Nicholas Rubin, chief restructuring officer of Rubio’s Coastal Grill, said in a news release. “Despite the Company’s best efforts to right-size the company, the continued challenging economic conditions have negatively impacted its ability to meet the demands of its debt burden. The Company believes the best path forward for Rubio’s is through a court-supervised sale process that will position the brand for long-term success to grow and flourish.”

The company anticipates the sale of the business will be completed within 75 days.

The bankruptcy filing comes just days after Rubio’s closed 48 underperforming locations in California —13 in the San Diego area, 24 in the Los Angeles area and 11 in northern California.

“Making the decision to close a store is never an easy one,” the company said in a statement. “While painful, the store closures are a necessary step in our strategic long-term plan to position Rubio’s for success for years to come. The closings were brought about by the rising cost of doing business in California.”

The company’s estimated assets are between $10,000,001 and $50 Million and its estimated liabilities are between $100,000,001 and $500 million, according to court records.