The COVID pandemic’s long shadow threatens the future of Fireman Hospitality Group, which runs some of Manhattan’s most iconic and venerable Italian restaurants.
In a stunning move this month, Fireman filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing cash-flow problems that started before the 2020 lockdowns and turned critical when the group’s large restaurants lost much of their business.
It’s the largest Big Apple restaurant-empire crisis since 2020. The company’s high-profile eateries have more than 2,000 seats combined — Trattoria Dell’Arte, Cafe Fiorello, Bond 45, Paris Bar in Le Méridien, Cafe Paradiso, Le Jardin Rooftop and two Brooklyn Diner outposts in Manhattan, as well as a spot in Washington, DC.
The restaurants are known not only for crowd-pleasing menus, but also for whimsical artworks such as the “wall of noses” at Trattoria Dell’Arte and racy bronze female sculptures at Bond 45, some created by company founder Shelly Fireman himself.
After Fireman died at age 93 last October, the cash crunch left the company facing nearly $10 million in secured claims including $6 million in rent and $3 million in sales taxes.
When some lenders told Amex and other credit card processors to withhold payments, it left the company with less than $100,000 in cash on hand, according to the bankruptcy filing.
Now it’s urgently trying to restructure its debt to keep its nine eateries afloat and pay more than 800 employees, according to restructuring officer Jordan Meyers of Sierra Constellation Partners. The filing was first reported in FSR magazine.
Fireman had struggled to make rent payments to some of its landlords despite tapping federal Paycheck Protection Program loans issued to stabilize the battered restaurant business during the pandemic.
Fireman later relied on merchant cash advances, or MCAs, starting in 2024. The company says in court filings that the MCAs are “criminally usurious and unenforceable loans.”
Without restructuring, the Chapter 11 case would revert to Chapter 7, “at which time the debtors’ operations would cease and its assets would be liquidated,” according to the court filing.
“I do think it’s important to note that all existing restaurants remain open for business and we look forward to continuing to provide great dining experiences to our customers,” Meyers told The Post on Tuesday.
He added that the judge gave the company “the ability to continue operations in the ordinary course” of business and “to obtain the financing needed to get through the process.”
Things seemed to be running normally on Tuesday at Bond 45 and Trattoria Dell’Arte, with no visible falloff in food or service.
The company’s greatest strength — proximity to prime performance venues — proved to be its greatest liability when former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and former Mayor Bill de Blasio ordered the closure of most public venues in March 2020.
Trattora Dell’Arte is across the street from Carnegie Hall; Cafe Fiorello is opposite Lincoln Center; and Bond 45 is on the same block as three Broadway theaters. The performance venues had to operate at limited capacity even after restaurants were again able to serve indoors.
When revenue finally returned to normal levels last year, it was too late for Redeye Grill on Seventh Avenue at West 56th Street, which closed in July after a 30-year run.
Company CEO Ben Grossman told The Post at the time that the other Fireman places were all doing well.
Grossman didn’t respond to emails on Tuesday.