Not everyone can make it in the hardworking restaurant industry.
If you love food, owning an elegant restaurant or a cozy diner might sound like a wonderful business idea, but it’s challenging to turn it into a reality and remain successful.
Nowadays, it seems even harder than it once was.
Remember that episode of Frasier when he and Niles tried to run a restaurant on their own? The very opening night turned out to be nothing short of a disaster, culminating in a fiery and disastrous cherry dessert mishap involving cherry jubilee that set off the sprinklers across the entire room.
Restaurants face a long list of economic challenges
While Frasier is fiction, today’s experienced restaurant owners and hospitality professionals also fail, dealing with the impossible challenges: inflation, high labor and food costs, changes in consumer behavior, and fierce competition.
With most restaurants already weakened by the devastating impact of the Covid pandemic, some failed to survive new obstacles and were forced into bankruptcy.
Popular restaurants that filed for bankruptcy this year include: Red Lobster, which closed 120 restaurants, TGI Friday’s, Fernando’s Mexican Cuisine, Bertucci’s, and Bar Louie.
Now, another popular Italian-American bistro chain, with a bowling and bocce facility, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and is closing locations.
Many high-profile restaurants have filed for bankruptcy this year. However, experts remain optimistic due to new openings.
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Pinstripes seeks bankruptcy sale to lender
Italian-American bistro chain Pinstripes filed for prearranged Chapter 11 bankruptcy with a restructuring support agreement, seeking to sell its assets to its prepetition secured lender Silverview for a credit bid of $15 million as stalking-horse bidder in a Section 363 auction, owing over $115 million in debt.
The debtor also seeks $3.8 million in debtor-in-possession financing from Silverview, which includes $3.26 million in new money to finance the bankruptcy case and a rollup of a $540,000 prepetition bridge loan.
Parent company Pinstripes Holdings Inc. and four affiliates listed $100 million to $500 million in assets and liabilities in its Chapter 11 petition filed on Sept. 8.
The debtor listed over $143 million in secured debt obligations.
Related: The most startling corporate bankruptcies of 2025 (so far)
Bankruptcy filing details:
Estimated liabilities: $100 million — $500 million.Estimated assets: $100 million — $500 million.
The debtor’s largest unsecured creditors include Jamestown Premier Georgetown Park Corp., owed over $4.1 million in rent; Westland Garden State Plaza LP, owed $2.6 million in rent; HSC Property Owner LLC, owed over $2.2 million in rent.
Pinstripes’ top unsecured creditors:
Jamestown Premier Georgetown Park Corp., owed over $4.1 million.Westland Garden State Plaza LP, owed $2.6 million.HSC Property Owner LLC, owed over $2.2 million.
Pinstripes was founded by CEO Dale Schwartz in Northbrook, Ill., in 2007 and expanded to 18 locations nationwide before closing over half of its locations, according to a declaration by Chief Restructuring Officer James Katchadurian.
Pinstripes’ current locations:
Bethesda, Md.ClevelandEdina, Minn.Northbrook, Ill.Oak Brook, Ill.San Mateo, Calif.South Barrington, Ill.Washington, D.C.
The restaurant and gaming chain currently operates eight locations in Bethesda, Md.; Cleveland; Edina, Minn.; Northbrook, Ill.; Oak Brook, Ill.; San Mateo, Calif.; South Barrington, Ill.; and Washington, D.C.
Related: McDonald’s CEO raises alarm about new customer behavior
The company most recently closed locations in Chicago’s River East and Overland Park, Kan., on Sept. 8; and Walnut Creek, Calif., on Sept. 7.
Pinstripes’ recently closed locations:
Chicago’s River East on Sept. 8.Overland Park, Kan., on Sept. 8.Walnut Creek, Calif., on Sept. 7.
Pinstripes offers from-scratch Italian-American menu items, handcrafted cocktails and a full bar, and full-service bowling and bocce areas.
The restaurant chain was created with the idea of providing “a home away from home,” where people can celebrate life while eating the best food, playing the best games, and doing it with their closest friends and family, according to Schwartz.
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However, in March 2025, its first serious struggles developed when the chain got delisted from the New York Stock Exchange roughly one year after the company went public, according to TheStreet’s Maurie Backman.
Pinstripes was delisted when it failed to sustain a market capitalization of $15 million for 30 straight days.
Lifeline wasn’t enough to save Pinstripes
The restaurant announced its delisting together with a $7.5 million loan from Oaktree Capital Management. This round of funding was supposed to enable Pinstripes to continue operations and avoid a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Schwartz said at the time that the deal with Oaktree would “strengthen our balance sheet and enhance our financial flexibility for the benefit of the Company and its key stakeholders – investors, customers, vendors, and team members.”
It turns out that this lifeline wasn’t enough to save Pinestripes from bankruptcy, as it had a really tough last year, “bleeding money” and “prompting layoffs and other cuts to curb costs.”
The chain reported an $8 million loss in February, and sales dropped nearly 8%.
Related: Local Texas restaurant chain files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
