A popular San Francisco Italian restaurant group known for its wood-fired pizzas and neighborhood dining rooms has faced financial turmoil after multiple bankruptcy filings tied to several of its locations. In fact, the group has filed for bankruptcy four times in a year.
Multiple locations enter bankruptcy protection
Fiorella, a small San Francisco restaurant group known for pizza and handmade pastas, has filed a series of Chapter 11 bankruptcy petitions tied to different restaurant locations as the company works to restructure its finances.
The most recent filing occurred March 6, 2026, when Project Pizza Noe LLC—the entity operating the Fiorella restaurant in the Noe Valley neighborhood—sought Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California. It’s the fourth time the company has filed for bankruptcy in one year.
Under Chapter 11, businesses typically continue operating while reorganizing debts and negotiating with creditors.
Financial strain across several restaurants
The Noe Valley filing follows three similar Chapter 11 petitions in 2025 involving other Fiorella locations. Entities connected to the chain’s Polk Street, Clement Street, and Sunset District restaurants each sought bankruptcy protection while attempting to restructure debt tied to individual locations.Â
According to earlier filings, one of the locations owed just over $1 million to creditors, while another reported liabilities between $500,000 and $1 million, according to court documents.
A decade-old San Francisco brand
Fiorella was founded in 2015 by partners Boris Nemchenok and Brandon Gillis, beginning with a flagship restaurant in San Francisco’s Richmond District before expanding to additional neighborhoods including Russian Hill, Sunset, and Noe Valley.
The restaurants built a loyal following for their wood-fired pizzas, Italian-inspired menus and neighborhood atmosphere.
However, Fiorella’s financial challenges mirror nationwide struggles across the restaurant industry, where operators face rising food costs, higher labor expenses and intense competition in urban dining markets.
The bankruptcy filings highlight the increasingly fragile economics of independent restaurant groups—and even large national pizza chains aren’t immune to financial strain.
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