On the morning of October 18, customers arriving at Wendy’s locations in El Reno, Oklahoma City, Atlanta, Winston-Salem, Lubbock, Jacksonville, and seven other cities across seven states found the restaurants permanently closed. The Saturday shutdowns brought the total number of Meritage Hospitality Group locations closed since its September 17 Chapter 11 filing to more than 33, according to court documents reviewed by Nation’s Restaurant News. It was the fourth consecutive weekend in which the Grand Rapids, Michigan-based operator has shuttered a batch of restaurants, and court filings project it will not be the last: up to 60 additional closures are expected through mid-November.
The October 18 batch was the most geographically dispersed of the four rounds, spanning Oklahoma (El Reno, Oklahoma City, Shawnee), Georgia (Atlanta, Lawrenceville, Lilburn), North Carolina (Winston-Salem, Durham, Clemmons), Michigan (Manistee), Texas (Lubbock), Florida (Jacksonville), and Massachusetts (Feeding Hills), according to L’Express Franchise.
The scale becomes clearer with context. Meritage also closed 60 restaurants before the bankruptcy filing, meaning a company that once operated 374 Wendy’s locations across 15 states is on track to have eliminated roughly a third of its portfolio in a single year. If the projected 60 post-filing closures materialize in full, the combined toll reaches 120 restaurants. By unit count, this is the largest collapse within the Wendy’s franchise system since NPC International filed for bankruptcy in 2020, when that company operated 393 Wendy’s units…