The Struggling Restaurant Chain That Still Stays Afloat Despite 3 Bankruptcy Filings

These days, restaurants declaring bankruptcy is hardly news. Restaurants have always been a tough business, made even more so since the COVID-19 pandemic. Restaurant bankruptcies seem to happen on a fairly regular business, even to big name chains such as Red Lobster and TGI Friday's. Filing bankruptcy (especially chapter 11 bankruptcy, which is basically a restructuring) does not necessarily mean the end of a restaurant chain. Some companies have declared bankruptcy more than once, including Friendly's, which has beat it twice and avoided total failure. There is one struggling restaurant chain, though, that has filed for bankruptcy three times, and is still afloat (at least for now): Planet Hollywood.

In April 2025, PB Restaurants (and affiliates Planet Express, which operated the Planet Hollywood at Los Angeles International Airport that closed in April 2025, and Times Square Buffet, which operated the New York City Planet Hollywood that closed in 2021) filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. Planet Hollywood first filed for bankruptcy in 1999, and then again in 2001. There are still a few Planet Hollywood restaurants that remain in operation, including a newly opened location in New York's Time Square and one in Disney Springs, Orlando. There is also a Planet Hollywood casino and resort in Las Vegas, as well as resorts in Mexico, Costa Rica, and India.

Planet Hollywood first opened in 1991 in New York City to great fanfare. It seemed to be the movie industry's answer to Hard Rock Café, which perhaps shouldn't be surprising since the CEO of the company that ran the Hard Rock Café on the East Coast at the time, Robert Earl, was one of the principal owners and founders. Planet Hollywood had the backing of big name celebrities — such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, and Bruce Willis — when it first opened. It was even one of the iconic restaurants that defined New York City dining in the 1990s. The chain saw success for some time, and at its peak had more than 60 restaurants around the world. Its fortunes declined within a decade, though, due in part to expanding too quickly and an inability to attract customers back to its restaurants. 

It's not the only restaurant chain to declare bankruptcy for a third time. Bertucci's, which is also owned by Earl Enterprises (which purchased the chain out of bankruptcy in 2018) also filed for bankruptcy for the third time in April 2025. Add to that Brava Brio (which Earl also purchased out of bankruptcy in 2020), the Italian restaurant group filing for bankruptcy recently, and that makes three Earl Enterprise-affiliated ventures (including Planet Hollywood) that have filed for bankruptcy this year.