After Chapter 11 bankruptcy popular coffee chain plans comeback

The Covid pandemic doomed many restaurant chains.

Some eateries were merely no longer self-discipline up for the pivot to switch and takeout. Many restaurants had industrial objects built around their dining rooms.

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In some cases, the inability of foot visitors used to be a proper danger. If you owned a lunch store or coffee chain the set apart a lot of the customers labored in a nearby situation of job, most of your customers merely disappeared.

The bigger danger is that after the pandemic ended, no longer all americans returned to work. That left many chains with areas the set apart americans merely now no longer visited in great adequate numbers.

With work-from-dwelling and hybrid work setups, a replacement of restaurants merely did no longer maintain adequate potential customers to succeed. Some chains, alongside side McDonald's and Starbucks, shut down dozens of areas because they now no longer made sense.

For smaller chains, the Covic pandemic used to be a mighty bigger danger. Nook Bakery Café, a coffee, pastry, breakfast, and sandwich chain used to be nearly pushed out of commercial because many of its areas were situated design offices.

The chain filed for Chapter 11 monetary smash protection in Feb. 2023, reporting estimated resources and liabilities each and every between $10 million and $50 million, in step with court docket paperwork.

Nook Bakery Café had around 175 areas at the time of the submitting.

Nook Bakery Café has new owners

Under new ownership, Nook Bakery Café has begun its comeback.

The firm used to be purchased in June, 2023 by Dallas-based SSCP Management  . SSCP is a franchisee of Applebee’s and Sonic and the owner of Roy’s and Cicis Pizza, the latter received in 2021 after it filed for monetary smash earlier that twelve months.

SSCP has trip bringing brands attend from the brink.

“We knew the logo stood for one thing that we in actuality believed in, however we also knew it kind of ran into some pain with Covid and an ownership commerce and management adjustments,” talked about SSCP President Chris Dharod at the time. “We felt bask in it used to be an opportunity the set apart we’d be in a location to come attend in and decide up the logo attend to the set apart it used to be at.”

The chain remains dedicated to its long-established message.

"Impressed by great contemporary substances, our small neighborhood bakery on a nook in downtown Chicago began creating artisan breads and freshly baked sweets. And upon a exiguous of success, neighbors began to inquire of us for sandwiches made with that fabulous bread, followed by homemade soups and salads, and even made-to-assert scramblers. Our guests’ requests persevered to encourage us as our bakery’s menu and industrial grew," the firm shared on its net region.

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The cafe continues to utilize what it calls "proper kitchens in situation of meeting lines."

"You’ll hear the chopping of over 40 forms of contemporary herbs, fruits and greens, and the sizzle of our proper panini grill. You’ll specialize within the variety’s begin flame and feel the warmth from our ovens working all day prolonged. They’re the traditions we established years within the past that we mild passionately practice nowadays," it added

Nook Bakery Café turns a nook

The as soon as-struggling chain has been reenergized and recapitalized by its new owners.

Nook Bakery Cafe recently executed renovations at seven areas, one in Pennsylvania and 6 in California, reinforcing its dedication to providing guests with a warm and interesting dining trip.

SInce buying the logo, SSCP has reinvested over $6.2 million attend into the industrial by technique of 100% self-funded enhancements. The more most up-to-date transformed areas in California, executed between October 2024 and January 2025, provide refreshed interiors and exteriors designed to make stronger the guest trip whereas declaring the café's signature neighborhood charm.

"Renovations encompass up to date seating, floor, paint, décor, beverage counters, awnings, and patio furnishings, all geared toward creating a more unusual, joyful ambiance for guests. These most up-to-date investments are a part of a broader revitalization effort. Within the main half of 2025," the firm shared in a press birth.

Nook Bakery plans to utilize one other half of 1,000,000 dollars to remodel additional areas, essentially in Illinois and Pennsylvania, with the intention of updating all its areas by 2027.

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The chain has also persevered to develop bigger.

"Apart from to to those remodels, Nook Bakery continues its national growth, with new company café investments. Joining Union Location in Chicago and Capital Hill in Washington D.C., each and every of which opened in July 2024, is the highly anticipated re-opening of the Accenture Tower pickle on March 24, 2025, in a single of the busiest prepare stations in Chicago," the firm shared.

The Chicago re-opening will then be followed by a fourth new pickle for the logo, in Irvine, CA, in May 2025. One other pickle has also been opened in Texas by a franchisee.