A Famous Restaurant Now Files For Bankruptcy in Florida

May 13, 2024

A famous restaurant now files for bankruptcy in Florida after reporting massive dept compared to their available assets.

Brocato’s Sandwich Shop has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with the court in the Middle District of Florida.

The company reports assets of less than $50,000 and debt between $1 million and $10 million.

The company owes the Florida Department of Revenue nearly $700,000 and Sysco Corp., a wholesale food vendor, $400,000.

It also owes Joseph Brocato, one of its owners, $220,000 due to money he loaned the company.

Its remaining debts include $21,000 to Gordon Food, $14,000 to Samuels & Son Seafood, with all remaining debts below $10,000.

The restaurant is still open, however.

Representatives of the family have said that the filing was an attempt to get its finances in order after debts piled up during the covid pandemic.

The company has not posted anything about the Chapter 11 filing on its Facebook page.

Tampa Business Journal broke the news on its website and Instagram page.

“The popular Tampa lunch counter Brocato’s Sandwich Shop filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week to reorganize its debts after falling behind on payments to the Florida Department of Revenue and several vendors.

Brocato’s Cuban sandwich has been ranked by numerous sources as among the best in Tampa Bay, while its devil crabs are a cult classic,” the media outlet reported.

In 1948, Brocato’s opened its doors for business.

“From grocery store to meat market, to sandwich shop, Brocato’s has always strived to provide the best sandwich in Tampa, combined with friendly service,” the company said on its website.

“These values, coupled with the hard work and dedication of the Brocato family, have attracted and maintained loyal customers through the years.”

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Also Read: An Unexpected Retailer Is Now Closing All Stores in Illinois

Other Economy News Today

A whopping 3,000 retail stores will now close this year after popular clothing brands Rue21 and and Express announced their closures.

The list now grows to approximately 3,100 stores shutting down by the end of this year, per The-Sun.

And this number figure is expected to grow as more businesses announce closures throughout the remainder of the year.

Rue 21 recently announced bankruptcy and a plan to close all 540 remaining stores across the US in the next six weeks.

Express also announced plans on closing over 100 stores across the US in addition to a store closure in Central New York.

If the rising rate of retailers closing down stores continues, an estimated 8,000 locations will be closed by the end of the year.

That many closures would be 40% more than the US saw last year.

In 2023, over 4,000 retailers shut down stores, which was twice the amount of store closures from 2022, according to the National Retail Federation.

2023 also saw the closing of hundreds of Bed, Bath and Beyond stores after the major retailer filed for bankruptcy.

The retailer cited inflation as the primary reason for shutting down its in person stores, moving to an online only format.

The inflation rates from January 2023 to January 2024 increased by 3.1%, with food prices rising by 2.6%, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In response to the rising rate of inflation, many stores are raising prices or risk closing.

One Canadian supermarket, Loblaws, raised its food prices so dramatically that customers are staging a boycott for the whole month of May.

The Dollar Tree, a retailer known for everything in its stores being $1 or less, announced that it will be raising prices on certain items to as high as $7.

“This year, across 3,000 stores, we expect to expand our multi-price assortment by over 300 items at price points ranging from $1.50 to $7,” the company’s CEO, Rick Dreiling, said during an earnings call.

The last time the discount chain announced a price hike was in 2021 when prices on select items went from $1 to $1.25.

Aside from raising its prices, Dreiling also announced that over 1000 stores will most likely be closing in 2024.

Other major retailers such as Walgreens, Walmart, and JCPenney announced major closures this year.

Walmart announced store closures in California, Ohio, and Maryland–totaling to six closures so far this year.

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Also Read: Retirees Will Now Receive More Money For Social Security

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