Despite its parent company filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection recently, the Hollister Round Table Pizza franchise on
Tres Pinos Road is expected to stay in business, its owner said
this week.
Despite its parent company filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection recently, the Hollister Round Table Pizza franchise on Tres Pinos Road is expected to stay in business, its owner said this week.
“Thank God it’s not us,” said Mike Sicoli, who runs the local franchise along with his wife Alison. “Things are off, but it’s not terrible. Sales are a little slower than what they have been, but we’re very blessed to have what we have.”
The Concord-based pizza chain filed for bankruptcy protection last week in Oakland federal court, though the move is primarily expected to impact company-owned stores. The company is expected to sell off some locations that aren’t making money, negotiate new leases and pay down interest on other debts, according to Jim Robertson, Round Table senior vice president.
Citing the need for “decisive action,” Robertson said the filing will allow Round Table to “emerge a more healthy, successful company.”
Hollister’s Round Table has been in business since 1977 and employs approximately 50 people, including those that Sicoli dubs “extreme part-timers” who work just a few hours per week.
“At this point (the bankruptcy filing) doesn’t affect us,” he said. “We know this has been talked about for awhile. Like a lot of people, they’ve taken on a lot of debt because of the economic downturn.”
Sicoli said an owners’ association meeting he plans to attend in March will help him “find out how and if this is going to affect us. We hope it doesn’t.”
While the number of employees has been reduced in recent years at the Hollister pizza parlor – which recently added pasta to its menu – Sicoli said one of the toughest parts of having to cut back on expenditures has been reducing donations to community organizations.
“We’re a huge part of the community, when it comes to supporting kids and schools,” he said, adding that local sports leagues like Hollister Little League and Hollister Heat are beneficiaries. “We still strive to do what we can but we have had to cut back and we hate to do that. We’re just praying that it’s going to make a turnaround.”
Round Table Pizza, the parent company, was founded in Menlo Park in 1959. The approximately 470 franchised and company-owned stores operating in the western U.S. report annual sales in excess of $400 million.
