The status of businesses in the portfolio of longtime local restaurateur Bruce Swisshelm and his wife are largely up in the air as their Chapter 7 bankruptcy case presses forward.
A trustee in the liquidation bankruptcy case involving the owners of the Swisshelm Group Inc. and at least a portion of 13 other entities says many of the businesses the Swisshelms were involved in may remain operational. The Swisshelms own and operate Macaroni Grill and McAlister’s Deli stores and bought the San Francisco Oven franchise chain in 2010.
Tom O’Neal, an attorney and shareholder for the Springfield office of Kansas City-based Polsinelli Shughart PC, was assigned as trustee March 28, two weeks after Bruce Swisshelm and his wife, Margaret Laughlin-Swisshelm, filed for Chapter 7 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Missouri. Through their various ownership interests, the couple claims their liabilities exceed their assets by $10 million, according to court records.
O’Neal’s job is to review all assets and liabilities and determine which creditors get paid back and how.
“The bankruptcy filing is not incorrect, it’s not improper, but I think it’s misleading because it gives the appearance that these various restaurants and businesses filed bankruptcy, and that’s not correct,” O’Neal said. “The Swisshelms filed individually, and to my knowledge, there are no corporate or limited liability companies [connected to the Swisshelms] that have filed bankruptcy.”
In fact, the Romano’s Macaroni Grill on East Battlefield Road and the San Francisco Oven location on East Sunshine remain open. The Swisshelms closed the Macaroni Grill at Branson Landing in January.
Bruce Swisshelm Jr. said the Macaroni Grill in Springfield would remain open under his management, but he declined to answer further questions.
Calls to the Swisshelms’ east Springfield home and to the Swisshelm Group office were not returned, and their bankruptcy attorney, Raymond Plaster, declined an interview request. A recorded message at Swisshelm Group’s 2847 S. Ingram Mill Road office says the company is permanently closed.
According to personal property holdings listed in the filing, the Swisshelms owned 100 percent of two businesses: Eagle Holding Co. LLC, organized for the ownership, sales and leasing of aircraft, and Horned Frog Deli Inc., which operated McAlister’s Deli stores in Florida. Of the other 12 entities listed, three were inactive.
In the filing, the Swisshelms reported partial ownership of nine active businesses.
O’Neal said when individuals file bankruptcy, their ownership interest in corporations or limited liability companies become part of the bankruptcy estate, but unless the debtor or debtors are the sole owners, the entity does not declare bankruptcy. O’Neal’s job includes investigating the affairs of the debtor and seeing if there are assets that can be liquidated for the benefit of creditors.
“Generally speaking, the trustee does not get involved with an asset if the secured claim, the lien of the bank, is more than the property is worth,” O’Neal said. “In that case, what the trustee would do is abandon any interest in it. The creditor would obtain a lifting of the stay order and go ahead and foreclose [on the property] and whatever they get out of the collateral is generally all they’ll get, because the balance of the debt is discharged in the Chapter 7.”
According to the filing, the Swisshelms plan to surrender their home at 3765 E. Turtle Hatch Road, valued at $500,000, and a Nixa property at 844 S. Cobble Creek Blvd., valued at $650,000. Secured creditors that could receive the properties are Great Southern Bank, with a $7.71 million claim; BancorpSouth, with a $1.21 million claim; and Liberty Bank, with a $935,156 claim.
The status of the Swisshelms’ San Francisco Oven franchise is in question. According to SanFranciscoOven.com, the company has four locations: Springfield; Branson; Euless, Texas; and Garland, Texas. At least two – in Springfield and Garland – remain open under the San Francisco Oven name.
The Springfield restaurant, however, is no longer affiliated with the franchise.
Gordon Elliott, owner of Elliott Lodging Hotel Management, which owns and operates the Lamplighter Inns & Suites on East Sunshine and the adjacent building that was leased by San Francisco Oven, said the Swisshelms shut down the restaurant on March 30. Since Elliott owns the building and has a business license to operate a restaurant, he reopened it March 31. Elliott said he is currently talking with the Swisshelms’ attorney about buying the rights to the San Francisco Oven name and the restaurant’s equipment.
“It’s a really good model. I’m not sure why it didn’t work. It has a really good lunch crowd,” Elliott said, adding that he felt it would be a shame to let the employees lose their jobs when he had the ability to run a restaurant. He said if he can’t buy the naming rights or equipment, he would operate under a new name and menu.
The phone number for the San Francisco Oven Branson site was disconnected, and the Euless, Texas, location was closed, according to Ken Campbell, director of operations for the Texas restaurants. Campbell said the properties are partly owned by DFW Area San Francisco Ovens LLC. He said the Euless site west of Dallas was closed on news of the bankruptcy, but the Garland store is remaining open to fulfill terms of a lease agreement.[[In-content Ad]]
