Last we heard about Sbarro, the omnipresent mall pizzeria that grew from a Brooklyn storefront, the chain was preparing for bankruptcy. But now it appears a white knight may swoop in and save the pizza! The chain is in negotiations to accept an offer that would value it higher than the bankruptcy plan it entered in April.
“We believe it is in the best interest of all stakeholders for the company to dedicate its resources to exploring all available value maximizing alternatives,” interim CEO Nicholas McGrane said in a statement. The unidentified “qualified bidder” the company is in talks with is looking to buy the entire chain for more than the company was going to sell itself to creditors for, a source tells Bloomberg. Sbarro currently has a hefty $365 million dollar debt load.
Things have not gone well for the company, which employs about 5,000 people, over the last few years as it has closed a number of its restaurants in the face of the recession. In the first nine months of 2010 it lost about $29.3 million off of sales of roughly $239 million.
