Punch Bowl Social restaurant chain files for bankruptcy protection

This story first ran on BusinessDen.com, a BizWest news partner.

DENVER — Punch Bowl Social, a Denver-based bowling, arcade and restaurant chain that before the pandemic had 20 locations and more than $100 million in annual revenue, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday in Delaware.

In preliminary filings, the company claimed debts and assets of between $10 million and $50 million each. The largest single creditor is JP Morgan Chase, owed $10 million on a PPP loan.

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The other major creditors are landlords around the country, four of whom are owed more than $650,000 each. Punch Bowl also claims it owes the IRS $465,000. The bankruptcy was first reported by the Denver Business Journal.

The chain was founded in 2012 by Robert Thompson on South Broadway, a location the company still operates. The owner of that property is not listed as a creditor.

Three locations of 14 listed on the company’s website are open. The chain in June shuttered for good its second location in Denver in the former Stapleton air traffic control tower.

Thompson ultimately raised around $200 million from investors, he previously told BusinessDen, including $140 million from Cracker Barrel in 2017 for a 49 percent stake of the business. Cracker Barrel said in March that it would not invest more money into the company and had written down the value of the investment to zero.

Thompson stepped down in August.

BusinessDen previously reported that Austin-based investment firm CrowdOut took over control of the company. Investors were wiped out, Thompson said at the time. BusinessDen was unable to reach CrowdOut.

Punch Bowl hired Eric Monzo at the Delaware firm Morris Monzo for the bankruptcy filing.