Popular pizza chain franchisee files Chapter 11 bankruptcy

The pizza edifice manufacture has been downsizing this year, with large chains closing hundreds of underperforming locations.

Mountain Mike's Pizza concatenation has been a contrarian implicit the past 2 years, adding dozens of caller locations. The enlargement mode, however, hasn't prevented 1 of its franchisees from filing for bankruptcy protection.

Rogue Fare LLC, a franchisee that operates 5 Mountain Mike's Pizza restaurants successful Oregon, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy extortion to reorganize its business.

Mountain Mike's franchisee bankruptcy

The Medford, Ore.-based pizza concatenation franchisee filed its petition successful the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Oregon successful Eugene connected July 1, listing up to $50,000 successful assets and $1 cardinal to $10 cardinal successful debts, according to tribunal papers.

The debtor's largest creditors see First Bank of the Lake, owed implicit $2.9 million; First Internet Bank of Indiana, owed implicit $1.5 million; the U.S. Small Business Administration, owed implicit $120,000; Credit Associates Inc., owed implicit $63,000; Parifin-DoorDash, owed implicit $13,000; and Performance Food Group, owed implicit $10,000.

Rogue Fare operates Mountain Mike's Pizza restaurants successful Klamath Falls, Grants Pass, Roseburg, and 2 locations successful Medford, according to a May 22, 2024, filing with the Oregon Secretary of State office.

The debtor did not springiness a crushed for filing for bankruptcy successful its petition.

Rising prices trim pizza income

Rising pizza prices person been a large crushed for a diminution successful manufacture sales, according to Technomic's 2025 Pizza Consumer Trend Report.

"Taste, value, convenience and assortment are premier factors successful capturing imaginable pizza customers, according to Technomic's 2025 Pizza Consumer Trend Report. But the probe firm's information amusement that the mean terms of a pizza is $17.61, up 3% twelvemonth implicit twelvemonth and much than 15% successful the past 5 years," Restaurant Business reported.

Those terms hikes, the probe showed, person had an interaction connected pizza sales, with 35% of consumers ordering edifice pizza little often due to the fact that it has gotten excessively expensive.

The Rogue Fare Chapter 11 filing is unusual, arsenic bankruptcy filings are not communal for Mountain Mike's. The corp has been successful enlargement mode implicit the past year, portion different pizza chains, including Pizza Hut and Papa John's, person been engaged closing underperforming locations.

The pizza eating assemblage has faced headwinds since the Covid-19 pandemic, arsenic rising prices, driven by inflation, reduce user request and discourage diners from eating out.