The company behind two Italian chain restaurants has filed for bankruptcy for the second time in five years, raising questions about the future of both eateries.
Bravo Brio Restaurants, the restaurant group behind Bravo! Italian Kitchen and Brio Italian Grille filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on August 18 due to “macroeconomic forces beyond the company’s control,” Restaurant Business Online reported.
Many of Bravo Brio’s hurdles, including increased competition among fast casual restaurants, rising food and labor costs, and mass vacancies in shopping centers, have also affected other once-popular chains.
However, for the company, they have “proved insurmountable to numerous other legacy casual-dining restaurant brands, many of whom have also turned to bankruptcy as a tool for restructuring,” Bravo Brio said in a statement.
Bravo Brio says the Chapter 11 protections would allow it to close underperforming restaurants, restructure its debt and reduce operational costs.
The Orlando-based company also said the filing was necessary to improve its financial position and bring on a new investor.
It was not immediately clear how many restaurants would close. There are currently 25 Brio Italian Grille locations and 23 Bravo! Italian Kitchen restaurants across the country.
In its filing on Monday, Bravo Brio estimated that both its assets and liabilities are between $50 million and $100 million.
The filing is the second time Bravo Brio has filed for bankruptcy within a few years, with the first coming at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
After the brands’ parent company at the time, FoodFirst Corp., filed for bankruptcy, the restaurants were saved by Buca di Beppo owner Earl Enterprises, which went on to buy many of the restaurants in a court deal.
The filing comes at a time when many casual food chains in the U.S. are struggling amidst President Donald Trump’s aggressive trade policies.
Shake Shack shares tumbled 7.7 percent in response to its second-quarter results, despite their being generally positive. Meanwhile, Sweetgreen shares dropped 23 percent after it cut its 2025 outlook for the second consecutive quarter, and Cava’s quarterly revenue disappointed because of weaker-than-expected sales growth.
In a report, Bloomberg columnist Connor Sen argued the headwinds being faced by these brands are significant because many casual food chains are based in metropolitan centers along the West and East coasts, which are likely to bear the brunt of the president’s policies first.
