Full-service restaurant chains are having difficulties in 2026 with several businesses filing for bankruptcy, closing locations, and in some cases, shutting down all of their restaurants.
Business disputes that result in lawsuits have been common cause of closures and bankruptcy filings among dining chains. Among the restaurant operators already facing litigation are Buttermilk Eatery chain owner Asani Restaurant Group LLC and defunct Northern California French restaurant chain Left Bank‘s owner, Vine Hospitality.
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Marmalade Cafe chain files for bankruptcy
And now, 36-year-old casual restaurant chain Marmalade Cafe has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy facing rent disputes with landlords and growing supplier and vendor debts, according to court documents.
The Encino, Calif.-based cafe chain filed its Subchapter V petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California on Sept. 2, listing $1 million to $10 million in assets and debts.
The debtor’s largest unsecured creditors include Gilmore Farmers Market, owed over $481,000; US Foods Inc., owed over $394,000; California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, owed over $349,000; Sunrise Produce, owed over $293,999; Sysco Ventura Inc., owed over $239,000; and Global Merchant, owed over $141,000, according to the petition.
Cafe chain closed 4 restaurants
Marmalade Cafe operates four Southern California locations in Malibu, El Segundo, Sherman Oaks, and Westlake Village, Calif. The restaurant chain closed its Santa Monica Boulevard location in Santa Monica, Calif., in July 2026 and a Calabasas, Calif., cafe on Aug. 1, according to the Santa Monica Sun.
The owners over the last year had sought someone to take over its $18,000 per month lease for the Santa Monica Boulevard location.
Chain founded in 1990
The cafe chain opened its first restaurant in 1990 on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica and expanded to eight locations over the years before closing four restaurants. The Montana Avenue location closed in May 2024. It also closed its Original Farmers Market location in Los Angeles in May 2026.
Marmalade‘s dinner menu includes steak and lobster, lamb chops, and grilled salmon, as well as comfort foods such as beef pot roast, turkey meatloaf, and chicken pot pie. It also offers various pastas, soups, salads, burgers, sandwiches, and tacos.
Other restaurant chains facing legal issues have closed locations or filed for bankruptcy protection.
Restaurant chains struggling
Defunct high-end Northern California French restaurant chain Left Bank‘s owner, Vine Hospitality, is facing a lawsuit filed against it by merchant cash advance provider Samson MCA after the dining company permanently shut down all seven of its locations on June 24.
The owner of another high-end restaurant chain owner The Fireman Group of Cafe Concepts Inc., a restaurant chain that includes iconic Café Fiorello locations in New York and Washington, D.C., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Aug. 9 to reorganize its business and restructure its debt obligations after facing merchant cash advance loan disputes, according to court documents.
In some cases, a restaurant chain will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to give it breathing room to reorganize and restructure debt, as the owner of breakfast and brunch dining chain Buttermilk Eatery owner Asani Restaurant Group LLC, did in filing for Chapter 11 protection on Aug. 31 to reorganize its business, facing a lawsuit.
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