Bankruptcy

Atlanta Journal Articles Discuss Waffle House Franchise Bankruptcy Case

By Scott Riddle

Joe Guy Collier of the Atlanta Journal Constitution wrote an article for today's edition about the competing bids for the assets of a Waffle House franchisee that filed a Chapter 11 petition in Nashville.  The debtor company, Southeast Waffles, LLC, has proposed a plan whereby the assets would be purchased by a group including professional golfer Phil Mickleson.  Parent company Waffle House, Inc., based in Norcross has also filed a competing plan, along with a third bidder, MNM Waffles.

GS Acquisitions, a company that includes Mickelson as a principal, followed with a $20.2 million bid. Other GS principals include Steve Loy, CEO of Gaylord Sports Management, and Terry Pefanis, former chief operating officer of Big Idea, best known for its VeggieTales series.

Late last week, MNM Waffles submitted a $24.7 million bid. The CEO for the newly formed MNM Waffles is Maria Tangredi. Her husband and son are executives in M. Tangredi's Restaurants, a Nashville restaurant firm that filed earlier this year for its own bankruptcy proceedings, according to NashvillePost.com.

Joe asked for a few comments about the competing plans:

The amount of the bid is only one factor, said Scott Riddle, an Atlanta bankruptcy attorney. The bidders have proposed making payments over several years.  The court and creditors will want to know if the bidders have sound financial backing and can successfully run the restaurants, Riddle said.  'I want to know who they are and I want to know what kind of experience they have,' he said. 'It's not just looking at the money.'

Henry Under of the AJC's Biz beat Blog also writes about the case:

 Can a Masters champ run a Waffle house? That's what a bankruptcy court judge is going to decide...

GS Acquisitions includes Mickelson as a principal, as well as Steve Loy, CEO of Gaylord Sports Management; and Terry Pefanis, former chief operating officer of Big Idea, best known for its VeggieTales series. It submitted a bid of $20.2 million bid, Collier writes.

There are two other bidders competing with Mickelson's team:

– Waffle House, the Norcross-based franchisor of the chain. It bid $21.4 million.

– MNM Waffles submitted a $24.7 million bid.

The amount of the bid is only one factor, Scott Riddle, an Atlanta bankruptcy attorney, told Collier. The court and creditors will want to know if the bidders have sound financial backing and can successfully run the restaurants, Riddle said.

Click for the documents: Chapter 11 Plan and Disclosure Statement of Debtor/GS Acquisitions; the Chapter 11 Plan and Disclosure Statement of MNM Waffles, LLC.  Interestingly, the MNM Waffles documents were filed without counsel.  Although a lawyer's name appears at the bottom of the documents, he had not been actually retained.  Maria Tangredi is filing documents on behalf of MNM. 

Full post as published by Georgia Bankruptcy Blog on August 06, 2009 (boomark / email).