This California-Based Pizza Chain Just Filed For Bankruptcy. Here's What It Means For Its Locations Nationwide

The hits just keep on coming for chain restaurants in 2025, especially pizza places. This time around, California-based Pieology is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing debts between $1 million and $10 million, with over 200 creditors. The company also listed assets between $100,001 and $1 million.

It was actually the Little Brown Box Pizza LLC, Pieology's parent company, that filed for Chapter 11, and the future of the business is uncertain at this point. Word is that the company is looking to restructure and not necessarily shut its doors permanently. The restructuring process is one that takes time. For now, at least, some of the locations still open will remain in operation.

The bankruptcy filing comes on the heels of some major changes to the franchise. In 2024, the company pumped the brakes on expansion and made some serious changes to its menu and ingredients in an effort to be more appealing to customers and save money. Everything from the dough to the sauce got revamped. Clearly, there had been some concerns building up for a while, and sales in 2024 had dropped more than 10% from the previous year. Locations have been closing at an increasing rate since the pandemic, too.

In 2017, Pieology had ballooned to 150 locations. At the beginning of 2025, there were just over 100 in operation. Today, Pieology has about 40 locations, most of which are located in California. There are also locations in Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico, Florida, Texas, Nevada, and Oregon.

Pieology, sometimes compared to Chipotle in terms of how the business runs, has been around since 2011. It specializes in stone-fired, custom pizzas. That means you build your order from the ground up, similar to Chipotle or Subway. Customers could choose from several crust options, a half dozen sauces, and 35 toppings. Also, like Subway, you could pick a recommendation off the menu if you didn't want to figure out what worked best.

Bankruptcy doesn't always mean the end of a restaurant. Heck, Planet Hollywood survived three bankruptcies. Chapter 11 bankruptcy is designed to allow a company to attempt to pay off its debts. That means it needs to stay in operation to make money. A number of Pieology locations have closed, including some in 2025, leading up to the bankruptcy filing, but not all. It's possible more locations will follow, but it's unclear right now which, if any, of the remaining Pieology pizzerias will shut their doors.

The restructuring of Pieology will likely include shake-ups at the corporate level. CEO Shawn Thompson came on board in 2022. He was behind the slowdown of the expansion as well as the menu revamp, but it seems as though he quietly left the company in November 2025. Hopefully, Pieology can follow in the path of chains like Red Lobster, which have bounced back from bankruptcy and forged a new path for themselves. The recent spate of pizza restaurant bankruptcies does seem alarming, but the chain may yet persevere.