Pizza restaurant chain Sbarro this week announced that it has officially exited bankruptcy. According to a New York Times report, the company’s reorganization plan was approved all the way back on May 19. That plan took effect for the company starting Monday, July 2.
In addition to the bankruptcy update, Sbarro also this week announced that it will be moving its national headquarters. The company’s current New York City-based headquarters will soon be relocated to Columbus, Ohio. The company estimates that the move should be complete by sometime in October.
Sbarro stated that it expects the move to reduce operation expenses. Around 40 employees who work in the company’s New York headquarters will be laid off, but the company emphasized that its other employees across the U.S. shouldn’t be affected. According to the Times, Sbarro currently has around 2,700 employees in U.S. restaurants.
Sbarro’s Columbus move also puts company leadership closer to its new Pizza Cucinova restaurant business. With two locations in Columbus and one soon to open in Cincinnati, Pizza Cucinova serves pizza with more of a specialty flair than Sbarro’s pizza. Pizza Cucinova is also being expanded through stand alone locations, rather than mall locations.
Sbarro filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, the company’s second bankruptcy filing in just three years. This latest bankruptcy filing came just as the restaurant announced plans to close 155 of its restaurants in North America – nearly 40% of the company’s total number of restaurants, not including franchise locations.
At the time of the filing, Sbarro’s CFO commented that reduced mall traffic could be to blame for the company’s falling revenue, along with an inflated budget. As with many businesses that use malls as primary retail locations, Sbarro has been hit by Americans’ quickly-waning interest in mall shopping. As internet retailers have begun competing with physical retailers, smaller malls across the country built during the mall boom of the 80s and 90s have begun to shut down.
Image via Facebook/Sbarro