Meritage Hospitality Group, one of the biggest Wendy’s operators in the country, filed for Chapter 11 on Sept. 17. It says its restaurants will stay open and its roughly 9,000 workers will keep getting paid.
One of the biggest Wendy’s franchise operators in the country has filed for bankruptcy.
Meritage Hospitality Group, based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, filed for Chapter 11 protection on Thursday, Sept. 17, in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Michigan.
Meritage runs 314 Wendy’s restaurants across 15 states, mostly in the Midwest and Southeast. That’s about 5 percent of Wendy’s entire U.S. system, according to Restaurant Dive.
Are the Meritage Wendy’s restaurants closing?
Not because of this filing, at least for now.
Meritage says it plans to keep its restaurants running and to pay its roughly 9,000 workers their wages and benefits without interruption. Chapter 11 lets a company keep operating while it reworks its debts.
The closures already happened. Meritage shut about 60 underperforming Wendy’s earlier in 2026 as it tried to cut costs.
The workforce has shrunk, too. Meritage had about 12,000 employees at the end of 2024, Hoodline reported.
More closures could still come. Bankruptcy often gives companies a chance to get out of leases on weaker stores.
What is Chapter 11 bankruptcy?
Chapter 11 is the reorganization kind. The company stays open, keeps running, and works out a plan with its lenders while a judge watches over it.
That’s different from Chapter 7, where a business shuts down and sells off whatever it has left.
Meritage told the court it plans to line up debtor-in-possession financing, a type of loan that keeps the lights on during the case. That money is what lets it keep paying workers and suppliers while the lawyers sort out the rest.
Why did the Wendy’s franchisee file for bankruptcy?
Meritage owes about $150 million to City National Bank, which declared the loan in default in September 2025. Wendy’s corporate sent its own default notice in October 2025, according to court papers.
The business behind that debt has been sliding. Restaurant Dive reported that Meritage’s store-level earnings fell 48 percent, and franchise margins hit a 30-year low.
The company pointed to a few big problems:
Beef prices kept climbing
Deep discounting cut into profits
Customers pulled back on spending as prices stayed high
Wendy’s itself has been struggling. U.S. same-store sales have fallen for six straight quarters, including a 7 percent drop last quarter, Nation’s Restaurant News reported.
“A voluntary, court-supervised restructuring is the most effective and proactive path to strengthen Meritage’s finances,” the company said.
What has Meritage already tried?
Before filing, the company:
Closed about 60 weaker stores
Dropped or changed breakfast at roughly 120 locations
Cut more than $7 million in overhead and operating costs
Started a catering program with ezCater at 150 restaurants
It also brought in Kevin Cleary of Fort Dearborn Partners to lead the restructuring.
Meritage still says it believes in a comeback. The company has expressed a “high level of confidence in the opportunity for a brand turnaround,” per NRN.
Does Meritage own other restaurants besides Wendy’s?
A few. Meritage also runs one Bojangles and five other restaurants, including its Morning Belle brunch cafes in Michigan.
Those are a small slice of the business. Wendy’s is the whole ballgame.
Has a Wendy’s franchisee gone bankrupt before?
Yes, and it was even bigger. NPC International, which ran hundreds of Wendy’s and Pizza Hut restaurants, filed for bankruptcy in 2020. Restaurant Dive calls Meritage one of the largest Wendy’s franchisees to go bankrupt since then.
For now, if your local Wendy’s is a Meritage store, you probably won’t notice much. The fries are still hot, and the doors are still open.
What happens next depends on the court, the bank and whether Wendy’s can turn its own sales around.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
Pirates and Princesses is your destination for Disney news, theme park updates, and the pop culture you love. From Disney cruises and travel tips to Disney fashion, food, collectibles, and movie news, PNP covers it all. Visit us at piratesandprincesses.net for daily coverage. Follow PNP on Facebook and Instagram, and listen to the Pirates & Princesses podcast on Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
Hat Tips:
Restaurant Dive (Sept. 18, 2026), restaurant counts, workforce, earnings decline, turnaround steps and the company statement
Nation’s Restaurant News (Sept. 2026), 314-store count, Wendy’s same-store sales, the $150 million loan and the turnaround quote
TheStreet via Yahoo Finance (Sept. 17, 2026), filing date, court and default timeline
Hoodline (Sept. 2026), the 12,000-employee figure from 2024
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