True Food Kitchen, a health-focused restaurant chain backed by Oprah Winfrey, has permanently closed 12 restaurants across the U.S., following a filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sunday.
The Phoenix-based chain announced the bankruptcy in a news release on Monday morning and indicated that 12 restaurants had permanently closed on Sunday, including three in Southern California located at the Westfield Century City mall in Century City, the El Segundo outdoor shopping center called the Point, and the Westfield UTC mall in San Diego. The chain currently has five remaining California restaurants, including two Bay Area locations: the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto and Walnut Creek.
Jeff Chandler, True Food Kitchen’s chief executive officer, said in the news release that shutting the 12 restaurants down and filing for bankruptcy would help keep the company in business…