Oprah-backed True Food Kitchen files for bankruptcy, blaming management turnover and strategy shifts

Health-focused eatery sequence True Food Kitchen, which has counted Oprah Winfrey and erstwhile Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz among its backers, has submitted for bankruptcy.

The Phoenix, Arizona-founded sequence submitted for Chapter 11 bankruptcy safety in a Texas court on Sunday and is following a court-supervised transaction of the endeavor as part of its restructuring proceedings.

True Food Kitchen additionally closed 12 of its restaurants on the day it filed, cutting its footprint to 34 locations throughout 14 states. Those eateries remain open and are serving customers as usual, the business said.

The company's Chapter 11 court filings say it is concerning $42 myriad in debt and cites administration turnover and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as reasons for its bankruptcy filing.

True Food Kitchen's "growth was accompanied by a figure of operational challenges," a court filing in the bankruptcy case said.

"The Company informed important administration turnover, which caused common changes to enlargement strategy, brand direction, and list offerings," stated the filing.

It added, "Under successive guidance teams, the Company invested chief exterior its center market areas and in new merchandise lines and eatery concepts that were ultimately unsuccessful and exterior of the Company's center goal and menu."

The filing stated that during many True Food Kitchen outposts are profitable, multiple have struggled alongside low ft and conveyance traffic, and others have been affected by "changing market forces and demographics," foremost to income losses.

True Food Kitchen was founded in 2008 by health author Andrew Weil and restaurateur Sam Fox, who wanted to assist the two delicious and fit food for an anti-inflammatory diet.

In 2017, the business spun off from Fox's eatery collection as FRC Balance, LLC. A twelvemonth later, Winfrey made an undisclosed equity investment in the business and additionally joined its commission of directors.

"When I archetypal dined at True Food Kitchen, I was so impressed alongside the team's enthusiasm for fit dining and, of course, the delicious food, that I knew I wanted to be part of the company's future," the media mogul stated at the time.

A spokesman for True Food Kitchen told Business Insider on Monday that Winfrey is no longer on the board, but remains a "minority investor." Representatives for Winfrey did not immediately react to a petition for comment on the Chapter 11 filing.

Meanwhile, in a declaration Monday, True Food Kitchen CEO Jeff Chandler called the company's bankruptcy filing the "best way onward to simplify the endeavor and concentration on what we do best: delivering craveable, health-forward food and genuine hospitality."

"We are assured this stage volition assistance us build a stronger True Food Kitchen for the future," he said.