Waitr Holdings, the parent company for the company formerly known as Waitr and several other subsidiaries, has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
The company announced the move in a document filed Tuesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. It comes after the company now known as ASAP announced on Friday it would cease operations and when it stopped deliveries back in February.
Waitr Holdings and its 11 subsidiaries filed a voluntary petition for relief in Delaware?under the provisions of Chapter 7 of Title 11 the U.S. Bankruptcy Code and noted each subsidiary has ceased operations effective Tuesday.
The amount of company’s debts is unknown as of Tuesday afternoon, but the filing is the result of its default on agreements with various lenders, including Luxor Capital Group, the hedge fund that loaned Waitr $60 million in 2018.
In 2022, the two companies announced a debt-for-equity exchange for some of its convertible notes that resulted in Luxor claiming a 17% stake in the company.
As part of the bankruptcy filing, all of the companies’ executive officers, including CEO Carl Grimstad, and employees were terminated. Grimstad and other board members also resigned.
A trustee will be appointed by the court to assume control over assets and liabilities. Assets will be liquidated with claims to be paid in accordance with the federal bankruptcy code.
Waitr launched 15 years ago as the idea of Acadiana entrepreneur Chris Meaux before it went public and later was rebranded as ASAP. In December 2018, it had more than 9,000 employees, including 400 in corporate offices, one of which was on the first floor of former The Daily Advertiser newspaper building in Lafayette.
It later went public on the Nasdaq stock exchange after being scooped up by Texas billionaire Tilman Fertitta’s Landcadia Holdings for $308 million.