Bennigan’s Files For Bankruptcy, Closes Company Locations
July 29, 2008 by Sean Kelly
Filed under Business
Talk Stock Trading broke this story:
S & A Restaurant Corp., parent company of the restaurant chains Steak & Ale and Bennigan’s Grill and Tavern, has filed for bankruptcy. This morning, Bennigan’s closed all of its company-owned stores.
Bennigan’s Grill and Tavern opened in 1976 and has 800 restaurants in 32 states. Its independently owned franchises will remain open…and I hope to find one near me.
According to a story in the Wall Street Journal:
National restaurant chains Bennigan’s and Steak & Ale have closed their doors and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, shuttering more than 300 locations and letting go of thousands of employees.
It is one of the country’s largest restaurant bankruptcies and eliminates two sit-down chains that have been part of the casual-dining landscape for decades. The chains will liquidate and aren’t likely to re-open.
Late Monday, managers at Bennigan’s and Steak & Ale were told not to open restaurants the next day, according to two people familiar with the matter. Employees were told there wouldn’t be enough money to pay them for the rest of the week, these people said.
Templeton, a spokeswoman for the company, said in an email that the companies that filed bankruptcy cases are popularly known as Steak & Ale, Bennigan’s and Tavern restaurants. She said that not all stores using these trade names have filed bankruptcy, and that stores operated by franchisees aren’t named as debtors in these filings. She said the filing doesn’t include the company’s Ponderosa and Bonanza restaurants, which operate under Metromedia Steakhouses Company L.P.
The pub-themed Bennigan’s had 310 restaurants in 32 states. It was founded in 1976. It is heavily concentrated in states like Texas, Illinois and Michigan. It posted U.S. sales of $542 million in 2007, according to Technomic Inc., a food-industry research and consulting firm.
The restaurant chains are owned and managed by Plano-based Metromedia Restaurant Group, a unit of billionaire John Kluge’s Metromedia empire.
Metromedia also manages Bonanza, Ponderosa and 29 Degrees and Southlake Tavern. The latter two also are closing. 29 Degrees opened in March 2007…
Metromedia has about 750 company and franchised restaurant sites in more than 40 states and outside the U.S., according to its Web site. Its annual U.S. sales are estimated at $1 billion.
Mr. Kluge, a 93-year-old German immigrant with an estimated worth of $9.5 billion, originally bought Bonanza and Ponderosa in the 1980s, later adding the Bennigan’s Grill & Tavern and Steak & Ale chains into one umbrella company. Mr. Kluge is chairman, CEO and president of holding company Metromedia Co.
Metromedia’s steak houses — Ponderosa, Bonanza and Steak & Ale — are concentrated in states including Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania. It posted 2007 U.S. sales of $388 million from 370 sites.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH BENNIGAN’S? LEAVE A COMMENT.
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I would like to know how to get a hold of someone about our gift certificates we have for benningans. We have about $150.00 worth and would like to get our money back
My heart goes out to the employees who lost their jobs. It’s reprehensible and shameful that Mr. Kluge or his family’s love of money prevented him from temporarily bailing out his own company with some of his 9 billion dollars, it would never be missed or spent in many lifetimes. But it seems nowadays the norm is for top managment to be greedy and self-gratifying to steal or protect their own money and run, leaving the working man to suffer. Obviously he didn’t even have the common decency, ethics or morals, to give 2 weeks notice to employees, or 2 weeks severence pay, not to mention informing the public their gift cards needed to be used. Though the Ponderosa and Bonanza steak houses will take them, their web sights are down and we cannot find locations. So like Kay said, who can advise?
Does anyone know how to get refunds or who might be honoring Bennigans/Ponderosa/Steak & Ale/Bonanza gift certificates? We have several hundred dollars in their gift certificates. Please email me if you do or if you know who to contact.
Thank you.
have gift cards for a wedding gift really want to use them please email back to were we can go thanks
I think you are probably out of luck, Jennifer, if they go out of business.
I remember that Dale Nabors of Cuppy’s said in 2006 on Blue Mau Mau that it was apparently legal to sell gift certificates even as you, the proprietor, knew that the business would perhaps fail in the near future and wouldn’t be able to honor the certificates.
Apparently, it’s the same principle as the franchisors selling franchises that are getting unprofitable just as long as they can to try to save the franchisors’ bottom lines.
This is what happens when the “unregulated” are allowed to lie, cheat, and steal with immunity and impunity under our laws.
I worked for Steak & Ale for 26 years, and now it’s tax time and I would like to know if our w2s are going to be sent out on time.
how do i get my w2 from benigans
Have you tried contacting the corporate office?
Were they any help?
How do I get my w2 from bennigans now? I’m a student and i can’t fill out my FASFA with out it.
Hi to everyone, I am looking for anybody that can provide information on how to get the 2008 W2 from Steak and Ale. Trying to contact corporate is useless, they despaired. If anyone has any info please pass it on.
Thanks’
If anybody knows anything about how we can get our 2008 W2 please pass it on.
I have asked TaxGirl about your missing W2s. This post will explain what you should do:
http://www.taxgirl.com/ask-the-taxgirl-no-tax-forms/
Thanks, TaxGirl!
How do I obtain my W2’s from Steak & Ale? I was employed with this company in 2008 for 3 months.
we will not get are w2 just talked to gm and she said that kim jackson said that metromedia sold so there not sending them out
how the hell is that legal
Check out this site. It has the best information I have seen. You have to recreate the W2 using your last paystub. http://www.sachapter7.com
What if we never got out last paystub because they were only allowed 30 minutes to get what they needed out of the office, and checks were locked up in the safe. I worked there for 13 years, seems like they cannot legally do this.
I talked to the IRS and they said that the company has till the 15th of this month to send us a W2, but that even if we don’t get them, there is nothing that can be legally done to the them until june or july when all the taxes are processed. They had me fill out a 4852 form with the last check stubb I could find, but the check stubb really does not have any useful imformation on it. The guy from the IRS said that if my taxes are wrong because of bennigans not sending me a W2, it’s their fault and not mine and they will be the ones fined. Hope that helps
You can fill with your last check stub dated July 9, 2008 and this is the last stub we recieved completely…payroll says were not getting a W2 and the IRS say we should get something by the 15th but the 15th was a sunday so lets see what happens on the 16th….Good luck to anyone trying to fester through this hell hole because we were f*cked!
You can pprint form 4852 on the IRS website http://www.irs.gov and use your last pay stub. I realize that doesn’t count the weeks we weren’t paid for but we can’t claim money we didn’t get.
Good Luck Everyone !!
What if they last check I found was May 15?? Just use that one?
this will TOTALLY help everybody out. i been tryin so hard 2 get my w2. it is almost impossible but if u call this tax number n give them your info they will send u a 4852 in the mail in less than 2 weeks, all u need is your last pay stub, (thank god i didnt lose that!) anywho heres the number 1800-829-1040 glad i could help!!