You see them all across the country, in shopping malls and street corners, suburban towns and city centers: zombie restaurants.
Many of the undead are part of familiar chains that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year, including Sbarro and Perkins. The zombie restaurants, barely bringing in enough cash to cover basic expenses, always seem to be one pizza or pancake away from a merciful end, but somehow keep hanging on — leaving too many restaurants chasing after scarce dining dollars.
“There’s a lot of walking dead,” said Bob Goldin, executive vice president for Technomic, a consulting firm that works with restaurant companies. “A lot of chains, they hang in there and they’re hard to kill off.” Read on…