A BANKRUPT Burger King franchisee has found new buyers to take on some of its stores, but the conglomerate may still have to shut down several stores.
Meridian Restaurants Unlimited - a franchise owner that operated dozens of Burger King locations in nine states - was able to off-load multiple restaurants onto sellers.
Meridian Restaurants declared bankruptcy in March after the brand said it struggled through poor sales and crippling inflationary costs.
The company agreed to sell dozens of stores back to the company and other franchise owners.
Meridian entered the bankruptcy with 91 locations.
Burger King agreed to purchase 32 stores in Montana, Utah, and Wyoming, according to Retail Dive.
Read More on Bankruptcy
The publication reported the brand paid $4.7million to take back the stores.
Another 38 store locations will go to other franchise owners.
Meridian filed a motion for court permission to shutter the remaining 21 stores.
Burger King's CEO predicted that the company would shut down hundreds of stores nationwide as it looked to retool its franchise model.
Most read in Money
BURGER KING'S EXPECTED CLOSURES
Slower sales this year led Burger King executives to predict the company would have to shut down 400 stores this year.
The fast food giant's CEO, Joshua Kobza, said closures will "improve the overall health of the system."
Kobza made this prediction in the first quarter despite a 12.3 percent increase in global same-store sales at the time.
The CEO said the company wanted to maintain relations with smaller franchises and aimed to keep franchise operations under 50 stores.
Toms King - another Burger King franchise operator - joined Meridian by declaring bankruptcy.
The other bankrupt franchisee also had more than 50 Burger King store fronts in operation.
Similarly, Burger King also bought a large portion of their stores after the bankruptcy filing.
RESTAURANT STRUGGLES
Burger King joins several major restaurant retailers working through numerous store closures.
Casual restaurants like Applebee's, Ruby Tuesday's, and BJ's Brewhouse have all shut down operations after headwinds in the discretionary market emerged.
Rising food and labor costs combined with worker shortages and less customer discretionary spending joined together in a difficult environment for casual dining retailers.
Inflation results from last month showed that customers paid more at restaurants than at grocery stores, indicating that the business is still struggling to recuperate profits as customer needs shift.
Read More on The US Sun
The U.S. Sun reports on other bankruptcies - here is a full list of brands that declared protections this year.
Also, here is another restaurant that had to close stores.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEZqqupl6YvK57zKilnrFfbn9ygJRpaWiakaO4s8HPrWSbraKcsrN5yqKloGWWp66vr8eiqp5lk6G8tMHRnmSsmZyawHA%3D