💥New Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing - Sailormen Inc.💥
Franchisee of 136 Popeyes restaurants files to ward off BMO-sought receivership.
On January 15, 2026, FL-based Sailormen Inc., a franchisee of 136 Popeyes restaurants scattered throughout Florida and Georgia,* clearly failed to eat its spinach and therefore filed a chapter 11 bankruptcy case in the Southern District of Florida (Judge Mark). Numbers like these are far from a flex:
📍Sales of ~$233.5mm in FY25, with a net operating loss of ~$18.8mm;
📍Assets of ~$232.5mm against liabilities of ~$342.6mm; and
📍Approximately $112.4mm in funded secured debt plus ~$17.6mm in accrued interest and fees due and owing (to BMO Bank NA, as administrative agent).
Crushing it!!
Wait, why not? The same old tired reasons we’ve heard about time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time … swallow … and time and time again:
📍The lingering impact of the pandemic, ✅;
📍Changing consumer preferences, ✅;
📍High inflation, ✅;
📍Higher for longer interest rates, ✅; and
📍”[A]n increasingly limited qualified labor force, ✅.
Given these operational challenges and such poor financial performance that landlords started getting ghosted, BMO went all Bluto on the debtor and tried to muscle in on sh*t; it filed a complaint against the debtor in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York seeking a federal receiver. But the debtor be like …
… and filed this case to stiff arm that nonsense. Why? Because “Sailorman believes that the Debtor, creditors and estate will fare far better in a chapter 11 case with the Debtor remaining a debtor-in-possession acting as a fiduciary for the benefit of all creditors and parties in interest, and not just for the benefit of the Lenders.” There’s just one itsy bitsy issue: the debtor needs access to BMO’s cash collateral to power these feeble cases. We’ll see what, if anything, BMO has to say about that in advance of the debtor’s January 21, 2026 (3pm ET) hearing.
The debtor is represented by Schraiberg Page PA (Bradley Schraiberg, Samuel Hess) and Cole Schotz PC (Luis Salazar, Gary Leibowitz, Irving Walker, H.C. Jones III) as legal counsel and Aurora Management Partners Inc. (David Baker) as financial advisor and CRO. BMO is represented by Berger Singerman LLP (Paul Singerman, Jordi Guso, Erin Hoskins) while Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Inc. is represented by Venable LLP (Paul Battista, Glenn Moses).
*The debtor is party to a franchise agreement with Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Inc.; it is owned by Interfoods of America Inc.
Company Professionals:
Legal: Schraiberg Page PA (Bradley Schraiberg, Samuel Hess) and Cole Schotz PC (Luis Salazar, Gary Leibowitz, Irving Walker, H.C. Jones III
Directors: Ralph Strayhorn, David Damato, Kara Nordstrom
Financial Advisor/CRO: Aurora Management Partners Inc. (David Baker)
Claims Agent: Stretto (Click here for free docket access)
Other Parties in Interest:
Administrative Agent: BMO Bank NA
Legal: Berger Singerman LLP (Paul Singerman, Jordi Guso, Erin Hoskins)
Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Inc.
Legal: Venable LLP (Paul Battista, Glenn Moses)