True Food Kitchen bankruptcy: 12 restaurants close, sale ahead
The US health-focused chain filed for Chapter 11 in Texas with $42.1 million in funded debt, keeps 34 restaurants open and plans a court-supervised sale by January.
True Food Kitchen bankruptcy: the US health-focused restaurant chain said on October 5, 2026 that it had filed for Chapter 11 protection in Texas, a day after closing 12 of its 46 restaurants.
The Scottsdale, Arizona-based company and its affiliates filed voluntary petitions in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. The 12 closed sites served their last guests on Sunday, October 4. The remaining 34 restaurants, spread across 14 states, are open and trading as usual, the company said in its statement.
Fox Business lists the closures as Century City, El Segundo and San Diego UTC in California; Miami; Chicago; New Orleans; Bethesda, Maryland; Edison and Hackensack, New Jersey; Garden City, New York; Columbus, Ohio; and Reston, Virginia.
Twelve closures, two weeks of cash and a sale timetable that runs to January.
What the True Food Kitchen bankruptcy filing shows
Court papers summarised by BankruptcyData put funded debt at about $42.1 million, with assets and liabilities each in the $10 million to $50 million bracket, a reporting range rather than a precise figure. The chain entered the process with roughly $1.6 million in unrestricted cash, enough to cover about two weeks of operations, Fox Business reported.
To bridge that gap, the company has secured a commitment for about $20 million in debtor-in-possession financing from HumanCo TFK IV, subject to court approval. HumanCo and its affiliates are the largest shareholder, with 42.1%, ahead of Manna Tree with 26.9%, according to BankruptcyData. Oprah Winfrey, who invested in 2018, remains a minority investor without a representative on the board, Fox Business said.
Nathan Cook of Teneo, the chief restructuring officer, said in the filing that the company “experienced significant management turnover, which resulted in frequent changes to expansion strategy, brand direction, and menu offerings”. Chief executive Jeff Chandler, in the role since July, called the process “the best path forward to simplify the business”.
A court-supervised sale by January
The chain was founded in Phoenix in 2008 by restaurateur Sam Fox and wellness author Andrew Weil, around an anti-inflammatory diet. HumanCo and Manna Tree led an investment of more than $100 million in 2022, BankruptcyData notes.
The True Food Kitchen bankruptcy is built around a sale: the company says it wants a long-term partner with the resources and the mission alignment to back the brand. It is the same route taken in the Yardbird bankruptcy filing, and it comes weeks after Wendy's largest US franchisee filed for Chapter 11.
The proposed timetable, which the judge still has to approve, sets a bid deadline of December 10, an auction on December 17, a sale hearing by December 22 and closing by January 22, 2027. The first test comes sooner: the company is seeking an interim order on its financing by October 15.
