Carino’s Italian makes tough choices to get through difficult times
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Only a handful of people know that the Carino’s Italian restaurant chain was in serious trouble just two years ago — until now.
But in a tell-all interview, the chain’s CEO and co-founder, Creed Ford III, details how he and his team chipped away at a mountain of debt to avoid bankruptcy — all while never letting customers or just about anyone else know how dire the situation was.
Flash back to 2008, when the recession was crushing Ford’s business and the entire restaurant industry. Behind closed doors at the corporate office in Austin, Ford and his business partner Norman Abdallah quietly mulled bankruptcy as debt rose to multimillion-dollar figures and customers’ dining visits dipped by double-digit percentages.
After spending more than a decade beefing up Carino’s from a few to nearly 180 establishments with $300 million in sales, Ford decided to make some tough and unpopular decisions.
