The restaurant industry has faced another turbulent year as inflation, rising labor costs, and changing consumer spending habits continued to pressure operators. While many chains quietly closed underperforming locations, a handful sought bankruptcy protection in hopes of restructuring—or, in some cases, winding down operations entirely. Here are three of the biggest restaurant bankruptcies of 2026.
1. FAT Brands
FAT Brands, the parent company behind restaurant chains including Fatburger, Johnny Rockets, Round Table Pizza, Twin Peaks, Great American Cookies, and Marble Slab Creamery, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January with roughly $1.4 billion in debt. The company later received court approval for a liquidation plan that transferred most of its restaurant brands to lenders through debt-for-equity swaps, making it one of the year’s largest restaurant bankruptcies by far.
2. Salad and Go
Arizona-based Salad and Go filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August before permanently closing all of its remaining locations. Once one of the fastest-growing fast-casual concepts in the country, the drive-thru salad chain cited declining consumer demand, rising operating costs, past expansion challenges, and a sharp drop in customer traffic during this summer’s nationwide Cyclospora outbreak as key factors behind its collapse. (The outbreak was never directly linked to Salad and Go, though consumer fears seem to have worsened the financial status of the company.)
3. Lena Brands (Shari’s Cafe & Pies and Coco’s Bakery)
Lena Brands, the parent company of Shari’s Cafe & Pies and Coco’s Bakery Restaurants, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May after merchant cash advance lenders asserted claims against the company, prompting payment processor Stripe to freeze access to a portion of its funds. The company said the resulting cash-flow crisis forced it to seek bankruptcy protection while it attempted to restructure its remaining restaurants. By the time of the filing, Shari’s had already closed dozens of locations across the Pacific Northwest
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