Sbarro LLC, the 800-restaurant U.S. pizza chain, won court approval to leave bankruptcy for the second time in three years as fast-food operators try to cope with a decline in shopping-mall business.
Sbarro filed for bankruptcy March 10, one of a number of chains to suffer as customer traffic slowed in mall food courts. Hot Dog on a Stick, a regional, mall-based company in Southern California, and Quiznos, the Denver-based toasted sandwich chain, also filed for bankruptcy this year.
The Sbarro reorganization plan, already supported by holders of most of the company’s debt when it filed, was approved today by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn in Manhattan, who said there were no objections.
Landlords for Sbarro’s stores had raised the only protests, over how much money they would get to terminate leases. Their objections were consensually resolved, and Sbarro won permission to close about 190 of its 400 company-owned stores.