Bravo Brio Restaurants, LLC and its subsidiaries filed a disclosure statement on December 9, 2025, outlining a consensual reorganization plan that would transfer ownership of the 48-restaurant casual dining chain to its senior lender while providing $750,000 to general unsecured creditors through the sale of a single liquor license.
The Orlando, Florida-based company, which operates Bravo! Italian Kitchen and Brio Italian Grille restaurants nationwide with approximately 4,000 employees, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on August 18, 2025, in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida. The disclosure statement, filed as Document 251 in case number 6:25-bk-05224-LVV, details the terms of a negotiated restructuring with GPEE Lender, LLC, the company's primary secured creditor.
Financial Distress in the Casual Dining Sector
Bravo Brio's bankruptcy filing occurred amid what the disclosure statement describes as a wave of Chapter 11 filings among legacy casual dining restaurant brands. The document specifically references recent bankruptcies of Red Lobster, Tijuana Flats, Fridays, and Hooters, noting that restaurants operate on thin margins, rely heavily on discretionary consumer spending, and face higher sensitivity to increases in food, labor, and occupancy costs.
For fiscal year 2024, Bravo Brio generated gross revenue exceeding $186 million but posted negative EBITDA of approximately $1 million. Through the first six months of fiscal 2025, the company recorded gross revenue of over $89 million with negative EBITDA of roughly $400,000. The disclosure statement attributes the financial difficulties to economic pressures including inflation and doubled interest rates that severely impacted operations. Rising prices discouraged customers from dining out, while higher interest rates increased financing costs.
Bravo Brio was created in May 2020 through a bankruptcy sale of Food First Global Restaurants, with GPEE as the winning bidder. At that time, Bravo Brio assumed approximately $23 million of senior secured debt to GPEE.
Consensual Plan Structure
The proposed reorganization plan contains ten classes of claims and interests, all of which are impaired and entitled to vote. The restructuring involves consensual terms negotiated among the debtors, GPEE, and Bravo Brio Holdings, LLC, the current equity holder.
Under the agreement, GPEE will release its lien on a liquor license held by Bravo Brio's Freehold, New Jersey restaurant location, allowing the company to sell the license for no less than $750,000. The proceeds will be distributed on a pro rata basis to holders of allowed general unsecured claims. If the liquor license sells for more than $750,000, the excess proceeds will be used for operating expenses of the reorganized debtor.
In exchange for subordinating and deferring payment on its administrative superpriority claim arising from a debtor-in-possession loan, GPEE will receive 100% of Bravo Brio's equity interests from BB Holdings. BB Holdings will not receive or retain any property under the plan on account of such equity interests.
Post-Petition Financing and Operations
Following the bankruptcy filing, Bravo Brio obtained post-petition DIP financing of up to $3.5 million from GPEE under a cash collateral order approved by the court on October 3, 2025. The order granted GPEE superpriority administrative claim status with priority over all other administrative claims, subject to a carve-out for United States Trustee fees and other statutory fees. GPEE also received automatically perfected priority and senior liens on all of Bravo Brio's assets, though the liens do not attach to any causes of action arising under Chapter 5 of the Bankruptcy Code.
The DIP loan is scheduled to mature on December 31, 2025. As part of the consensual plan terms, GPEE agreed to subordinate this claim and include it in Class 2 treatment.
Post-petition, Bravo Brio rejected unexpired leases for six properties, while the Texas subsidiary rejected additional leases. On October 31, 2025, following an evidentiary hearing, the bankruptcy court granted Bravo Brio's motion to reject an agreement with inKind.
Treatment of Major Creditor Claims
The plan provides specific treatment for various classes of creditors. GPEE's allowed secured claim, filed at $24,659,887.67, will continue to be secured by valid and perfected liens on all of Bravo Brio's assets. The claim will accrue interest at 7% per annum beginning when the confirmation order becomes final, with the full balance due 60 months from that date. Payment will come from the reorganized debtor's cash on hand and operational revenue.
Libertas Funding, LLC filed secured claims totaling $1,505,714.40 in three of the subsidiary cases. The debtors and Libertas agreed that Libertas holds an allowed secured claim of $1,080,000. Under the plan, Libertas will be paid in weekly increments of $30,000 for 36 weeks, with the first payment upon entry of a final confirmation order. Libertas agreed not to pursue rights against guarantors as long as the reorganized debtor is not in default under the plan.
Avtech Capital LLC holds a claim of $1,297,121.70 and will receive treatment through 30 monthly installments of $43,237.39 beginning on the confirmation order's effective date. Avtech also agreed not to pursue guarantors while the reorganized debtor performs under the plan.
Priority tax claims were estimated at approximately $1.5 million and will be paid based on a five-year amortization schedule with interest at 7% per annum, with monthly payments commencing after the confirmation order becomes final.
Liquidation Analysis and Best Interests Test
The disclosure statement includes a liquidation analysis stating that the plan satisfies the best interests test required under Section 1129 of the Bankruptcy Code. The analysis estimates that in a Chapter 7 liquidation, Bravo Brio's assets would realize approximately $6.2 million, comprising $1.4 million in cash, $3 million in accounts receivable, and $1.8 million in other personal property including liquor licenses.
Secured debt totals $28 million, administrative claims are estimated at approximately $250,000, and priority tax claims at $1 million, resulting in total debt ahead of unsecured claims of $29.25 million. The liquidation analysis concludes that unsecured creditors would receive nothing in a Chapter 7 liquidation. The plan's provision of $750,000 for distribution to general unsecured creditors therefore provides a recovery not available in liquidation.
The disclosure statement notes that a Chapter 7 liquidation would result in substantial additional costs and reduced recoveries, including costs and expenses of the Chapter 7 trustee, reduced sale prices for assets due to forced liquidation, loss of going-concern value, and substantial increase in claims ranking prior to or on parity with unsecured creditors.
Financial Projections and Feasibility
Bravo Brio included five-year financial projections showing anticipated operational performance. The projections forecast gross sales rising from $169.1 million in 2025 to $192.7 million by 2029, with REBITDA margins improving from 5.2% in 2025 to 10.9% by 2029.
For 2025, the projections show gross sales of $169.1 million with REBITDA of $8.3 million. By 2026, REBITDA is projected at $11.3 million on gross sales of $168.9 million. The projections show REBITDA of $17.7 million on gross sales of $181.7 million for 2027.
The projections show operating expenses as a percentage of sales declining from 34.4% in 2025 to 32.6% by 2029, and gross margin improving from 39.5% to 43.5% over the same period. Labor costs as a percentage of net sales are projected to decline from 36.2% to 35%, while cost of sales is projected to improve from 24.3% to 21.5%.
The disclosure statement asserts that the reorganized debtor projects sufficient cash flow from operations to fund plan payments and that confirmation is not likely to be followed by further financial reorganization. Management oversight following confirmation will be provided by R&R Brands under a management agreement.
Voting and Confirmation Process
The plan requires acceptance by impaired classes under the Bankruptcy Code's voting requirements. For classes of claims, acceptance requires approval by creditors holding at least two-thirds in dollar amount and more than one-half in number of the allowed claims that vote. For classes of interests, acceptance requires approval by holders of at least two-thirds in amount of the allowed interests that vote.
The debtors reserved the right to seek nonconsensual confirmation through cramdown procedures under Section 1129(b) of the Bankruptcy Code if one or more impaired classes reject the plan. The disclosure statement expresses the debtors' belief that, if necessary, each debtor will be able to meet the statutory standards for cramdown.
The effective date of the plan is defined as the fifteenth day after entry of the confirmation order, provided the order is not stayed. Within 90 days after the confirmation order, the reorganized debtor must file a status report explaining progress toward consummation of the plan.
Exculpation and Release Provisions
The plan includes exculpation provisions for the debtors and their officers, directors, members, managers, and professionals for any act taken or omitted in good faith in connection with formulation, preparation, dissemination, or confirmation of the plan. The exculpation does not apply to liability found by a court to have resulted from fraud, willful misconduct, or gross negligence.
Any ballot voted in favor of the plan acts as consent by the creditor to the exculpation provision. Creditors who do not vote in favor of the plan and who hold claims that may be affected by the exculpation provision must file a civil action asserting such liability within 90 days following the effective date, or such claims will be forever barred. This time limitation does not apply to claims of fraud, gross negligence, or willful or gross misconduct.
The reorganized debtor remains obligated to make payments to holders of allowed claims as required under the plan, and the debtors' members, managers or executive officers are not relieved from personal contractual liability except as otherwise provided in the plan.
Case Administration and Prior History
The jointly administered cases are being handled in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida, Orlando Division, with the lead case assigned number 6:25-bk-05224-LVV. The subsidiary cases are: Bravo (Louisville), LLC, Case No. 6:25-bk-05225-LVV; Brio (Cherry Hill), LLC, Case No. 6:25-bk-05226-LVV; Brio (Irvine), LLC, Case No. 6:25-bk-05227-LVV; and Brio (Texas), LLC, Case No. 6:25-bk-05228-LVV.
Administrative claims are estimated at approximately $250,000 after deducting prepetition and post-petition retainers. United States Trustee fees will continue to accrue and be paid until the case is closed, dismissed, or converted.
The disclosure statement provides background on the predecessor Food First Global Restaurants, LLP, which filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy on April 10, 2020, in the same court. Food First filed for bankruptcy due to a massive buildup of trade debt and the need to exit locations, seeking to sell the company to the highest bidder under Section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code. GPEE, serving as Food First's senior secured lender, was the winning bidder via credit bid and other consideration.
Through a sale order entered in the Food First case, Bravo Brio acquired substantially all of Food First's assets in May 2020, initially assuming leases and operations for approximately 21 locations and eventually reopening around 50 additional locations. As of the petition date, Bravo Brio operated 48 restaurant locations, with 47 leased from third-party landlords and one managed. Prior to the petition date, seven restaurants were closed.
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