ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Red Barn Restaurant Inc., which operates 22 fast-food stores in New York, Ohio and Washington, D.C, has asked a federal bankruptcy court to grant it protection from creditors, officials said Wednesday.
Phillip Kahn, president of the Rochester-based fast-food chain, blamed a slump in the fast-food industry for the action.
Two Red Barn restaurants -- one in Elmira and one in Saratoga Springs -- have been closed until spring because of slow winter sales, Kahn said.
Red Barns in Corning, Hornell, Ithaca, Rochester, Amsterdam, Troy and Seneca Falls remain open, as do Red Barns in Ohio. The company employs about 500 people in the two states and District of Columbia.
Kahn said sales have been off as much as 15 percent at some chains and 20 percent at Red Barn.
'Some of the areas we're in are economically distressed,' he said, citing Elmira and Hubbard, Ohio, near Youngstown. 'The industry is saturated with an awful lot of competition.'
'It's been a tough year for fast-food operators,' Kahn added.
Lawyers for Red Barn asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Prudence Abram in New York City to grant protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy law until a reorganization plan is approved.
