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Sbarro Pizza Preparing Chapter 11 Filing
Wall Street Journal ^ | 04/01/2011 | MIKE SPECTOR

Posted on 03/31/2011 6:31:01 PM PDT by iowamark

Sbarro Inc., the fast-food pizza chain that dots shopping-mall food courts, is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as soon as next week, said people familiar with the matter...

"Sbarro continues to work constructively with our key stakeholders to restructure our debt and position the company for long-term success," the company said. "Throughout this restructuring process, the company expects to continue to operate in the normal course and without interruption."

The company has been battered during the recession amid lower consumer confidence. Several months ago it warned of substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern...

Sbarro, based in Melville, N.Y., employs about 5,000 people and started cutting jobs and closing stores in the wake of the global financial crisis...

The eatery was founded in the late 1950s when the Sbarro family opened a grocery store in Brooklyn, N.Y., offering homemade mozzarella, imported cheese, sausage and salami. Sbarro opened its first mall location in 1967 in Brooklyn's King Plaza Shopping Center, which marked its transition to fast-food service. It grew to operate more than 1,000 stores in some 40 countries, becoming a staple in malls and airports from Egypt and Israel to Japan and New Zealand.

Battered by the recession, however, the company closed more than 150 restaurants in the past two years. It showed a loss of about $29.3 million during the first nine months of last year on sales of roughly $239 million. For 2009 it reported a loss of $ 37.2 million. It had about $12.67 million cash and cash equivalents at the end of September.

The losses prompted the company in December to raise salaries and hand out bonuses for top executives and managers to keep them from leaving. Meantime, Sbarro's lackluster earnings caused it to violate debt terms.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: economy; fastfood; obamanomics; pizza; sbarro
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To: mylife
I grew up in Ohio and had some darn good Italian/Greek/Slovak

Northern Ohio? Because here in Columbus, they think German food is haute cuisine.

81 posted on 03/31/2011 8:55:46 PM PDT by buccaneer81 (ECOMCON)
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To: buccaneer81

You know what?

I just aint a food court kinda guy.

I got a dozen lobster and 5 lbs of steamers in Maine 2 years ago for $60 and we cooked em up at the cottage across the lane with corn on the cob.

6 of us at like kings.

My point is I like home/regional cookin over chain joints.


82 posted on 03/31/2011 8:58:45 PM PDT by mylife
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To: khnyny
Be careful. I have been in the military for 24 years. I have four children and a wife. I have been away from them many different times ranging from 6 months to a year. The lifestyle sucks a lot sometimes. Now I am one of those guys that does get a pretty good paycheck. I am an O-5 who gets to fly jets (and I would probably do it for a lot less). I do agree that we have a lot of dead weight and that a lot of military jobs can be contracted. But guys like me earn what I get in my opinion. I am in Bahrain right now and had to send my wife and four children back to the states last week (They are living in a hotel stateside waiting in limbo right now) because of the unrest. The reason why we have the best military in the world right now is because we pay them and take good care of them. We have to make a choice. Do we want to still be the world's police? If not, then we can really cut back. However, the way the government is using us right now, we have to hold onto a lot of military members because we are overstretched.
83 posted on 03/31/2011 8:58:45 PM PDT by ThunderStruck94
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To: buccaneer81

Buck naked’s in maine is pretty good BBQ


84 posted on 03/31/2011 9:00:12 PM PDT by mylife
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To: buccaneer81

NE ohio blue collar steel town.

Columbus is tainted as its a BIG COLLEGE town.
And the Capitol


85 posted on 03/31/2011 9:02:01 PM PDT by mylife
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To: buccaneer81

Texas loves its German food too.

Rudy Lechner’s is the best I have had


86 posted on 03/31/2011 9:04:51 PM PDT by mylife
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To: ThunderStruck94

The guy is an idiot.

One of my friends is a CWO5 at 54? years old he is leading an Apache squadron into the stan again.

And he is reserve.


87 posted on 03/31/2011 9:11:28 PM PDT by mylife
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To: buccaneer81

Not bad at all.

http://www.bucksnaked-bbq.com/


88 posted on 03/31/2011 9:14:29 PM PDT by mylife
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To: mylife
Columbus is tainted as its a BIG COLLEGE town. And the Capitol

Spot on. Don't believe it when you hear fron the media that we all love Ohio State. Many, many of us hate the place (medical center excepted.)

89 posted on 03/31/2011 9:14:52 PM PDT by buccaneer81 (ECOMCON)
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To: mylife

Looks great. I’ll check out the Freeport location this summer.


90 posted on 03/31/2011 9:16:41 PM PDT by buccaneer81 (ECOMCON)
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To: buccaneer81

It was good last time I was there.

I could not believe I was wasting my time on ribs in Maine but was pleasantly surprised.


91 posted on 03/31/2011 9:20:09 PM PDT by mylife
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To: buccaneer81

Aint the same since Woody Hayes passed


92 posted on 03/31/2011 9:21:11 PM PDT by mylife
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To: buccaneer81

AS you can see, they kinda tailor it to the market.

But they make a quality product.

Down here BBQ is out of control too.
A guy used to be able to pick up a couple of Chopped BBQ sangwiches wrapped in wax paper for $5


93 posted on 03/31/2011 9:28:47 PM PDT by mylife
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To: mylife
Aint the same since Woody Hayes passed

Tressel is about to be thrown out on his keister.

94 posted on 03/31/2011 9:29:03 PM PDT by buccaneer81 (ECOMCON)
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To: buccaneer81

Well, so I learn sumpthin’ new every day. I don’t frequent those places, other than SeaTac... didnt notice they were here.


95 posted on 03/31/2011 9:43:29 PM PDT by Ramius (Personally, I give us... one chance in three. More tea?)
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To: mylife
Thanks. There are a lot of people that do absolutely nothing for their government paycheck. The welfare collecting masses. They should take cuts before we in the military sacrifice our pay. Fine, I will take a 10% pay cut, but everyone in the government should too then, and welfare recipients should take double that.
96 posted on 03/31/2011 10:11:16 PM PDT by ThunderStruck94
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To: texas booster

“Shopping malls are under tremendous pressure and are dying out in many cities.
Part of it is the outrageous rents that they can charge in the most upscale malls, and part of it is the overbuilding of malls.”

Not to mention the covered format for acres of card and candle shops is dead. Who wants to walk past miles of card and candle shops, and who needs that many cards and candles, anyway? Not me. I have no need for cards, and a couple of plain Jane candles for emergencies seem to last for decades.

The big box stores actually carry stuff many people need, you know, like Lowes, BestBuy, and a gazillion others.

Along the front range of Colorado, they’ve torn down most of the covered malls and have replaced them with complexes of big box stores that you drive between and park in front of. And it had nothing to do with crime. It’s an issue of time, merchandise, and price.


97 posted on 03/31/2011 10:31:17 PM PDT by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Made from the right stuff!)
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To: mylife
The stuff is vile crap

consider yourself lucky!

98 posted on 03/31/2011 11:19:42 PM PDT by Cheapskate (Play loud and carry BIG sticks!)
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To: iowamark

I hate this.

In 2009, I read an article here where Sbarro was listed as one of the companies most likely to fail. At the time, as well as now, I wished/wish that it’s not true.

My local Sbarro guy is such a nice man.

I’m going to have to dig up that article, again, to see what other companies are on the list.


99 posted on 03/31/2011 11:24:27 PM PDT by dixiechick2000 ("First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." - Gandhi)
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To: Cheapskate

Wow

If a rock and roll drummer says it is crap it must REALLY be bad!


100 posted on 04/01/2011 3:07:52 AM PDT by mylife
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