According to the Unhappy Franchisee post CHRYSLER: Dealers to Fight Back, the Chrysler National Dealer Council has said that Chrysler dealers will soon launch their legal opposition to the company’s plan to revoke 789 franchise agreements.

Chrysler dealers to fight back

Chrysler is seeking the court’s permission to revoke 789 dealers’ franchises as part of its Chapter 11 restructuring. Chrysler is seeking to revoke dealer agreements on June 9, and to emerge within 6 weeks as a “new” Chrysler alliance with Italy’s Fiat.

According  CHRYSLER: Dealers to Fight Back, “Car dealers have long assumed that they are protected by the state franchise laws, many drawn up with the help of the dealers themselves… But Chrysler has asked the court to rule that the US bankruptcy code takes precedence over the state laws.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK?  SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

Photo credit:  Larry He’s So Fine License:  Creative Commons

(FranchisePick.Com)  Related:   Bennigan’s Files For Bankruptcy, Closes Company Locations

Larry Briski, president of the Franchise Operators Association for Bennigan’s, was taken by surprise Tuesday morning by reports that Bennigan’s parent Metromedia Restaurant Group was shuttering company stores and declaring bankruptcy in order to to liquidate its assets and shut down, citing $550 million in assets and about $150 million in debt.

According to an article in the Post-Tribune, franchisee Briski  learned more on a conference call tuesday afternoon.

Briski said a Tuesday afternoon conference call with company officials affirmed Bennigan’s name and franchise operation would be sold to an Atlanta-based company. The firm, he said, is in the restaurant business and plans to continue the Bennigan’s franchise.

“This will assure us we will have longevity,” Briski said.

He said the new owners will do what it takes to build the brand. He does not anticipate major changes in the franchise operation but does expect to see better marketing and more innovative menu items.

“This is a very good thing for the franchisees,” he said.

…After meeting with corporate officials on several occasions, he said it was his understanding the company would close some underperforming corporate units.

“I was surprised by what they did today. I thought I was more or less in the loop,” he said.

Franchises that remain open still have access to franchise support, such as menu items, purchasing and the supply chain. Briski said his franchises will also welcome corporate coupons.

Briski said he wants to make sure customers understand only the corporate-run Bennigan’s restaurants have closed. “We are open,” he said.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?  SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

__________________________

Visit FRANBEST’s: Unbiased franchise information, franchise interviews and detailed, searchable information on 400 franchise and business opportunities.

.

America’s Next Top Franchises.

Franchisees, customers & experts vote for their favorite new franchises at Top New Franchise: Who’s hot. Who’s not.

Franchising’s Worst-Case Scenarios:

Unhappy Franchisee: Franchising rumors, rants, controversies, issues, complaints & insider information you’re not supposed to know.

Talk Stock Trading broke this story:

S & A Restaurant Corp., parent company of the restaurant chains Steak & Ale and Bennigan’s Grill and Tavern, has filed for bankruptcy.  This morning, Bennigan’s closed all of its company-owned stores.

Bennigan’s Grill and Tavern opened in 1976 and has 800 restaurants in 32 states.  Its independently owned franchises will remain open…and I hope to find one near me.

According to a story in the Wall Street Journal:

National restaurant chains Bennigan’s and Steak & Ale have closed their doors and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, shuttering more than 300 locations and letting go of thousands of employees.

It is one of the country’s largest restaurant bankruptcies and eliminates two sit-down chains that have been part of the casual-dining landscape for decades. The chains will liquidate and aren’t likely to re-open.

Late Monday, managers at Bennigan’s and Steak & Ale were told not to open restaurants the next day, according to two people familiar with the matter. Employees were told there wouldn’t be enough money to pay them for the rest of the week, these people said.

Templeton, a spokeswoman for the company, said in an email that the companies that filed bankruptcy cases are popularly known as Steak & Ale, Bennigan’s and Tavern restaurants. She said that not all stores using these trade names have filed bankruptcy, and that stores operated by franchisees aren’t named as debtors in these filings. She said the filing doesn’t include the company’s Ponderosa and Bonanza restaurants, which operate under Metromedia Steakhouses Company L.P.

The pub-themed Bennigan’s had 310 restaurants in 32 states. It was founded in 1976. It is heavily concentrated in states like Texas, Illinois and Michigan. It posted U.S. sales of $542 million in 2007, according to Technomic Inc., a food-industry research and consulting firm.

The restaurant chains are owned and managed by Plano-based Metromedia Restaurant Group, a unit of billionaire John Kluge’s Metromedia empire.

Metromedia also manages Bonanza, Ponderosa and 29 Degrees and Southlake Tavern. The latter two also are closing. 29 Degrees opened in March 2007…

Metromedia has about 750 company and franchised restaurant sites in more than 40 states and outside the U.S., according to its Web site. Its annual U.S. sales are estimated at $1 billion.

Mr. Kluge, a 93-year-old German immigrant with an estimated worth of $9.5 billion, originally bought Bonanza and Ponderosa in the 1980s, later adding the Bennigan’s Grill & Tavern and Steak & Ale chains into one umbrella company. Mr. Kluge is chairman, CEO and president of holding company Metromedia Co.

Metromedia’s steak houses — Ponderosa, Bonanza and Steak & Ale — are concentrated in states including Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania. It posted 2007 U.S. sales of $388 million from 370 sites.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH BENNIGAN’S?  LEAVE A COMMENT.

_________________________

Unbiased franchise information, franchise interviews and detailed, searchable information on 400 franchise and business opportunities.

Franchisees, customers & experts vote for their favorite new franchises at Top New Franchise: Who’s hot. Who’s not.

Unhappy Franchisee: Franchising rumors, rants, controversies, issues, complaints & insider information you’re not supposed to know.

(FranchisePick.com) Pure Weight Loss Adds Insult to Injury Part 1: Pure Weight Loss Members, out thousands of dollars from the company’s abrupt closure, have their refund claim forms returned as undeliverable. Add lost time, postage costs, aggravation.

Pure Weight Loss Adds Insult to Injury Part 2: Pure Weight Loss offers stranded members discounts to an program… a program not available in their area.

Announcing Pure Weight Loss Adds Insult to Injury Part 3: Bounced refund checks… and NSF bank charges.

On HOW MUCH DOES PURE WEIGHT LOSS OWE YOU? FranchisePick.Com contributor and ex-Pure Weight Loss (LA Weight Loss) member Kim Matunis writes:

I got a refund check for $84 (they owed me over $1000) and it bounced!! THe bank said the account it is written on was closed in December 2007. I am filed with the PA Attn. General’s office….hope we get somewhere.

I have no clue how much they owe exactly, bought extra weeks on sales, paid some regular weeks, they took my copy of my contract when I applied for the refund, so I do not even have that. Trying to get receipts and credit card statements organized.

GOd help us all

RECENT PURE WEIGHT LOSS POSTS:
February 25th, 2008 Did HONESTY Kill Pure Weight Loss? or LA Weight Loss: The Movie
February 22nd, 2008 Pure Weight Loss Meeting of Creditors Set for March 14
February 20th, 2008 Pure Weight Loss Employees Also to Suffering Losses
February 3rd, 2008 IS PURE WEIGHT LOSS VIOLATING HIPAA PRIVACY LAWS? (Part 2)
February 3rd, 2008 IS PURE WEIGHT LOSS VIOLATING HIPAA PRIVACY LAWS? (Part 1)
January 31st, 2008 Pure Weight Loss Adds Insult to Injury Part 2

WHAT DO YOU THINK? YOUR COMMENTS AND INSIGHTS ARE APPRECIATED.

PHOTO CREDIT: Marchivist.   Licensed under Creative Commons.

__________________________

Visit FRANBEST: Unbiased franchise information, franchise interviews and detailed, searchable information on 400 franchise and and business opportunities.

Franchisees, customers & experts vote for their favorite new franchises at Top New Franchise: Who’s hot. Who’s not.

.

(FranchisePick.Com)  The bankrupt Pure Weight Loss (formerly LA Weight Loss) chain and owner, Vahan Karian, who left thousands of former members and employees without hundreds of thousands of dollars in services, products, refunds and paychecks is due in court March 14.  FranchisePick.com contributor Sue wrote:

I just received a notice from Bankruptcy Court regarding the case of PWL [Pure Weight Loss]. There will be a “Meeting of Creditors” at 10 am, March 14th at the William J. Green Federal Building in Philadelphia (600 Arch St., 2nd floor conference room, 10:00 am).
I don’t know if I can make it (don’t have to attend if I file my complaint by mail) but I think it would be great to go if I could get a bunch of their “creditors” (that’s US) to be there to face this shmoe down!
Anyone want to come to Philly??

If you are owed money by Pure Weight Loss, you should file a claim form through the bankruptcy court.  Click here for Pure Weight Loss Bankruptcy information and forms.

Road Trip Idea:  Why not come to Philadelphia for the Pure Weight Loss Creditor’s Meeting on the 14th and stay over ’til St. Patrick’s Day on the 17th?  We can throw a Pure Blarney Party & I’ll teach you all the acclaimed Sean Kelly Corned Beef & Guinness Diet.  We’ll invite Vahan Karian (A fine Irish lad) along and get him to run out on the tab.  I hear Vahan sings a version of Danny Boy so sweet it could bring tears to yer glass eye.

(FranchisePick.com)

A good story by Newsday writer Richard J. Dalton provides an all-too-familiar example of a Central Islip couple who could lose $2,200 in advance payments now that the Pure Weight Loss has closed all its centers nationwide. The article also provides information on state rules requiring bonds from health clubs and other member-based businesses - and how Pure Weight Loss (formerly LA Weight Loss) got around them.

Source: Newsday

Pure Weight Loss customers await refunds January 9, 2008

BY RICHARD J. DALTON JR. |richard.dalton@newsday.com

Nancy and Glen Urban of Central Islip have lost 113 pounds combined through Pure Weight Loss, formerly called LA Weight Loss.
Now they worry they may have lost a lot of money and the support that helped them lose the weight, because Pure Weight Loss, based in Horhsam, Penn., shuttered most of its locations last week.
The Urbans are concerned they could lose $2,200 in advance payments, joining many other consumers awaiting refunds.

In 2004, the corporate-owned locations of the LA Weight Loss split off and became Pure Weight Loss, which operated at least nine locations locally, from Forest Hills to Sayville, all of which have closed. Independently owned Pure Weight Loss locations in the southeast will remain open.
After the split, the franchise locations kept the LA Weight Loss name. That chain does not operate locally and could not be reached, but news reports indicate it will remain open. Read the rest of the story.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW.

Also check out:

PURE WEIGHT LOSS REFUND INFORMATION

HOW MUCH DOES PURE WEIGHT LOSS OWE YOU?

PURE WEIGHT LOSS CUSTOMERS: SHARE NEWS & OPINIONS HERE

_____________________________________________________________

Visit FRANBEST: Unbiased franchise information, franchise interviews and detailed, searchable information on 400 franchise and and business opportunities.

Top New Franchise: Who’s hot. Who’s not.