Prandium May Seek Bankruptcy
Prandium Inc., the debt-burdened Irvine restaurant company that owns Koo Koo Roo, Hamburger Hamlet and El Torito chains, said it might have to file a bankruptcy petition to protect itself from creditors.
The disclosure in its annual report Monday comes as little surprise since the company already had said it was unable to meet payments on its $238-million debt.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. April 5, 2001 For the Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday April 5, 2001 Home Edition Business Part C Page 2 Financial Desk 1 inches; 27 words Type of Material: Correction
El Torito--An article in Wednesday’s Business section misidentified the owner of the El Torito restaurant chain. Prandium sold the unit to Acapulco Acquisition Group of Long Beach in June.
Prandium, with more than 11,000 employees and 1,088 shareholders, said it can provide no assurance that it will work out a deal with creditors. If no agreement is reached, reorganizing under federal bankruptcy protection is possible, the Securities and Exchange Commission filing said.
Prandium has run up net losses of $141 million during the last three years. Its stock trades around 3 cents in over-the-counter trading.
