Fort Collins' Bar Louie restaurant at Foothills mall closed this weekend after the gastropub chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The chain shuttered several underperforming locations to "strengthen its operational and financial position" ahead of its bankruptcy filing, the company said in a Monday news release announcing the filing.
“We were taken by surprise with the closing — the restaurant had a solid customer base with good sales that continued to increase year over year,” said Patrick Bunyard, Alberta Development Partners Senior Asset Manager, in an email to the Coloradoan. Alberta is owner of Foothills.
Alberta acquired Foothills in 2012 and reopened it three years later after a $313 million renovation.
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Bar Louie's Foothills closure — which was announced in a Facebook post on the restaurant's page Sunday — is the sixth restaurant casualty since the mall reopened and the third since the end of December.
On Dec. 28, Hop Grenade Taproom closed its doors on the mall's east lawn. Its co-owner Justin Crossley attributed the closure to the taproom never gaining traction — or breaking even — in beer-soaked Fort Collins.
A day after Hop Grenade Taproom's closure, Foothill's Smashburger location was evicted over $130,000 in unpaid back rent. The local franchise's owner, Brad Harris, called Foothills a "failed experiment," telling the Coloradoan that the location's high rent, coupled with its inability to meet sales or occupancy projections, caused him to fall behind on rent payments.
The Melt, Grimaldi's Brick Oven Pizzeria and Casa del Matador closed in late 2018, all for different reasons. The Melt closed all its Colorado stores, Grimaldi's was seized over unpaid taxes and Casa del Matador made a business decision to shut down.
Now, only two restaurants — Smokin' Fins and Bad Daddy's Burger Bar — remain in the center dining plaza, though Foothills still hosts several food and dining options throughout the property. Roughly 70% of the mall's storefronts were occupied as of the 2019 holiday season, according to a Coloradoan report from November.
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Bar Louie, founded in Chicago, now has roughly 90 locations across the U.S. Around 38 Bar Louie locations reportedly closed before Monday's bankruptcy filing, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Multiple locations in Colorado closed, including in Westminister and Colorado Springs, according to individual restaurant's posts on Facebook. The chain currently has four Colorado locations — in Lakewood, Greenwood Village, Aurora and Stapleton, according to the restaurant's website.
Coloradoan reporter Pat Ferrier contributed to this report.
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January 28, 2020 at 03:32AM
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Fort Collins Bar Louie closes amid gastropub chain's bankruptcy news - Coloradoan
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