{"id":1819956,"date":"2026-09-21T10:00:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T08:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lexpress-franchise.com\/en-us\/news\/meritage-hospitality-files-chapter-11-what-it-means-for-the-wendys-franchise-system\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T09:22:31","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T07:22:31","slug":"meritage-hospitality-files-chapter-11-what-it-means-for-the-wendys-franchise-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lexpress-franchise.com\/en-us\/news\/meritage-hospitality-files-chapter-11-what-it-means-for-the-wendys-franchise-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Meritage Hospitality Files Chapter 11: What It Means for the Wendy’s Franchise System"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Meritage Hospitality Group, one of the largest Wendy’s franchisees in the United States<\/a> with 314 restaurants, filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on September 17. As part of an ongoing restructuring, the company has closed 60 underperforming locations and exited or altered breakfast service at approximately 120 others, citing a 48% collapse in store-level EBITDA over the past two years.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Meritage Hospitality Group<\/strong> (OTCQX: MHGU), headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, operates 314<\/strong> Wendy’s franchise restaurants<\/a> across 15 states, representing roughly 5%<\/strong> of Wendy’s entire U.S. system, plus one Bojangles and five independently branded concepts. The company employs approximately 9,000<\/strong> people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The filing was made in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Michigan. Meritage said it expects debtor-in-possession financing to support operations throughout the restructuring process and has stated it intends to pay wages and benefits without interruption, subject to court approval.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Wendy’s<\/p>\n <\/a>\n

Quality Is Our Recipe<\/p>\n <\/div>\n