The fried chicken chain Yardbird, which is based in Miami, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company points to roughly $25 million in debt tied to expansion expenses and the pandemic as the cause. Yardbird is now working toward a sale to a lender.
The company has filed for bankruptcy after years of financial hardship that saw Yardbird close several locations over the past two years. It still runs three of its remaining five restaurants, with two of them licensed, and is now in court in Delaware.
Debt By The Numbers
The bankruptcy documents belonging to Yardbird reveal a mountain of loans the company cannot pay off by itself. Among them is a roughly $13.3 million debt on a 2022 loan from Brightwood Capital Advisors, a $8.3 million debt on a 2020 loan from City National Bank of Florida, and a $3.1 million debt on a 2025 credit arrangement with InKind, which supplies restaurants with money up front in exchange for dining credits.
In March, City National Bank brought a suit against Yardbird for breach of contract, and that dispute is still ongoing.
How The Debt Built Up
The company ran into trouble during its expansion phase. The chain took on new debt to build out and open more locations, and then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, dealing “irrecoverable damage” to its business.
Yardbird kept some locations doing well while other stores lagged, putting strain on the rest of the chain. That strain caused Yardbird to shut down its Denver, LA, and Miami locations in 2025 and 2026. Even so, the company was unable to ease its mounting debt.
The company’s statement described the move as necessary. “Yardbird has filed for Chapter 11 protection to address legacy debt and strengthen its balance sheet,” the company said in a statement. “Restaurants currently operating remain open and continue to serve guests.”
The Sale Process
Yardbird is now looking to sell its assets and restructure. It has arranged a stalking horse bidder to establish the lowest acceptable price for the sale process.
Bankruptcy papers identify the stalking horse as SH Acquisitions. Brightwood, which is serving as the debtor-in-possession (DIP) lender in the case, owns the company. Yardbird will receive $5.4 million from Brightwood to help keep operations running as the bankruptcy process moves forward.
Bidders have until Oct. 27 to submit their offers, after which an auction will be held on Nov. 2.
A Long String Of Restaurant Failures
Yardbird is not the only chain facing trouble. Full-service chains have been hit especially hard over the past few years, since they tended to be most impacted by pandemic fallout. Across the industry, traffic has declined recently, with rising inflation making dining out harder to afford for some consumers.
The Technomic Top 500, a record of the largest chain restaurants, showed a difficult year for the industry in 2025. Sales declined, and diners ate out less. Yet certain sectors prospered, with coffee, beverages, snacks and chicken all doing particularly well.
What Happens Next
Restaurants continue to serve guests and remain open, as stated by the company. The sale process is still pending, so the chain is operating as usual for now.
Yardbird has its origins in 2011, and it is a polished-casual spot that focuses on Southern fried chicken and bourbon, with open kitchens and floor-to-ceiling windows. The original location in Miami was a semifinalist for the Best New Restaurant category at the James Beard Awards in 2012.
Yardbird started growing after private-equity firm TriSpan Rising Stars gave it money in 2017, eventually reaching seven locations in the U.S. and one in Singapore by 2023. The chain has since scaled back to five locations.
The company has been struggling financially for years due to expansion costs, pandemic impacts, and “location-specific operating challenges,” according to the bankruptcy documents.
Timeline Of The Bankruptcy
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 2011 | Yardbird founded in Miami |
| 2012 | Original Yardbird named semifinalist for Best New Restaurant |
| 2017 | TriSpan Rising Stars funding received |
| 2022 | 2022 loan from Brightwood Capital Advisors |
| 2023 | Seven locations in the U.S., one in Singapore |
| 2025 and 2026 | Denver, LA, and Miami locations closed |
| March | City National Bank sues for breach of contract |
| Monday | Chapter 11 bankruptcy filed |
| Oct. 27 | Deadline for competing bids |
| Nov. 2 | Auction scheduled |
The chain’s bankruptcy filing marks a major shift for a brand that was once seen as an industry favorite. Yardbird’s polished-casual concept, featuring open kitchens and floor-to-ceiling windows, caught attention when it debuted. Yet expansion costs, losses from the pandemic, and several closed locations eventually proved too much to sustain.
The outcome of the sale process will determine whether the chain’s story ends or begins again under new ownership. For now, every restaurant is still open.
Source material: “Yardbird files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy,” Nation's Restaurant News.
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