Debt-Ridden Prandium Considers Bankruptcy

Prandium Inc., the debt-burdened Irvine restaurant company that owns Koo Koo Roo, Chi-Chi’s and Hamburger Hamlet chains, said it may have to file a bankruptcy petition to protect itself from creditors.

The disclosure in Prandium’s annual report Monday comes as little surprise because the company already had said it was unable to meet payments on its $238 million in debt.

Prandium said it can provide no assurance that it will work out a deal with creditors on restructuring its debts. If no agreement is reached, reorganizing under protection of federal bankruptcy court is a possibility, according to the report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Prandium, which has more than 11,000 employees and 1,088 shareholders, has run up net losses totaling $141 million during the past three years.