PERKINS FAMILY RESTAURANT & BAKERY
• 2626 Gulf To Bay Blvd • Clearwater, FL 33759
• Tel: 727-799-2019 • Open 24 Hours
Corporate Bad News — Since 1958 Perkins® Restaurants have gained a solid reputation for high quality personalized dining. Perkins & Marie Callender's, LLC currently owns and franchises more than 400 full service Perkins Restaurants and Bakeries in 33 states and five Canadian Provinces. The Perkins system includes 132 company-owned and operated restaurants and 280 franchised units. More than 50% of Perkins Restaurants are located in Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida and Wisconsin.
The Company and its franchisees employ approximately 25,000, encompassing both full and part time positions. Perkins Restaurant & Bakery, or simply Perkins, is an American casual dining restaurant chain that serves breakfast throughout the day. It also has a bakery that sells pastries.
On August 5, 2019, its parent company Perkins & Marie Callender’s filed for bankruptcy while announcing the closure of 29 of their under-performing restaurants. In a court filing, Chief Executive Jeffrey Warne said falling sales “across the family dining and casual-dining industries” in 2017 and 2018, “elevated” commodity prices, rising minimum wages and “an increasingly tight labor market” were factors leading to the bankruptcy of Perkins & Marie Callender’s.
(Reuters) - Perkins & Marie Callender’s Holding LLC, operator of two family and casual dining chains, filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday and plans to sell most of its assets, after suffering from lower customer traffic and rising food and labor costs.
The Chapter 11 filing is the second in eight years for the Memphis-based company, which had nearly 400 stores under the Perkins and Marie Callender’s brands in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Its 2011 reorganization left it under the control of the investment firm Wayzata Investment Partners, still its majority owner. Thirty-two underperforming restaurants are being closed, but the company plans to operate normally while it restructures.
Many dining chains have struggled to fill seats because of heavy competition and a desire among many customers for newer, fresher food options. In a court filing, Chief Executive Jeffrey Warne said falling sales “across the family dining and casual-dining industries” in 2017 and 2018, “elevated” commodity prices, rising minimum wages and “an increasingly tight labor market” were factors leading to the bankruptcy of Perkins & Marie Callender’s.
Warne said Perkins Group LLC will be a “stalking horse” bidder to buy Perkins assets and some of its Foxtail bakery assets at a court-supervised auction next month. He said talks are ongoing for Marie Callender’s and other Foxtail assets.
Warne said that following the closures, the company will own or franchise 355 Perkins restaurants and 28 Marie Callender’s restaurants. The case is In re Perkins & Marie Callender’s LLC, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware, No. 19-11743.
Local — I frequented both Perkins restaurants that are close to my home. They do a good job in the highly competitive mid range of eateries offering a good selection of American style food. Additionally, they do a great job with bakery items and pies in mid Pinellas County. Better than the supermarket offerings.
This location is in the very busy Clearwater intersection of US 19 and Gulf to Bay. They flex their menus offering different menu items ever so often to mix things up. We stopped in for a late lunch after an event we attended which dragged on and we were hungry. OK starving.... OK very starving.
Server Brea — Our rescuer and server, Brea handling a fair share of the tables, they were busy but she didn’t miss a table and took care of all the little things, she had it under control and fresh coffee in a minute to momentarily quell my appetite.
New menu item I ordered took longer to prepare, it was the new Ragin' Cajun which is a medley of smoked sausage, shrimp and chicken, all grilled together with green peppers and yellow onions. Tossed with a spicy Creole sauce and served over herb rice. I needed something other than a burger for a change. they call it a big bowl. It was nicely done…
I might add a large portion of the reviews I write consider the service and personnel attitude critical to the environment portion of the meal.
Brea the server and Connie the manager did an excellent job of staying on top of things more so than I have found at some high end places.
The Clearwater Perkins is in a competitive cluster of maybe ten or more restaurants, most major names and franchises and at times the area gets busy with long waits but we have always managed or sneaked into the Perkins and had a good meal and got served quicker and efficiently. Hate to see them go…