Two well-known Orlando restaurant brands, Pig Floyd’s Urban Barbakoa and its pizza/pasta concept, Pigzza, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Friday, March 13, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida.
Fans of these restaurants need not fear: Bankruptcy does not mean these restaurants are closing their doors. This is a strategic legal maneuver designed to hopefully ensure they stick around.
The filings were submitted by Pig Floyd’s Smokehouse LLC and Pigzza LLC, both operating out of Orlando’s Mills 50 district. Both businesses are owned by entities controlled by restaurateur Thomas Ward and are represented by attorney Justin Luna of Orlando-based law firm Latham, Luna, Eden & Beaudine.
According to Luna, the bankruptcy filings were prompted largely by pressure from a merchant cash advance lender that had been pulling significant funds directly from the restaurants’ bank accounts.
“They have been taking at least $15,000 per month from each restaurant through automated withdrawals, a practice that strained day-to-day operations,” Luna told Orlando Weekly. “We couldn’t sustain operations while they were handcuffing us.”
The Chapter 11 filing triggers an automatic stay, which halts most collection activity and gives the companies time to restructure their finances while continuing to operate.
“It absolutely puts a stop to it and allows us to properly reorganize while we continue to operate in the normal course of business,” Luna said.
Ward told OW the restaurants turned to alternative financing during a period when traditional capital was difficult to secure for independent restaurants.
“The restaurant business is a very tough business to find capital,” Ward said, noting that post-pandemic conditions and inflation have dramatically changed operating economics.
Pig Floyd’s has become a staple of Orlando’s dining scene since opening in Mills 50 in 2014, drawing crowds with its globally influenced barbecue served alongside dishes inspired by Asian and Latin cuisines. Pigzza blends pizza with similar fusion influences.
For many locals, the restaurants are part of the fabric of the Mills 50 corridor, a strip known for a mix of independent restaurants, nightlife and creative energy. But the businesses’ financial challenges reflect a broader reality facing many independent restaurants in Orlando and across the country.
Luna said he has seen a notable increase in Chapter 11 filings from restaurants, driven by a combination of rising costs, tighter consumer spending and the growth of high-interest alternative lending.
“Food and inventory costs have gone up dramatically,” Luna said. “Then you combine that with a drop in demand for eating out and it becomes this perfect storm that leads to cash-flow issues.”
Luna said local restaurants are also facing a separate pressure from landlords who are taking a more aggressive stance when leases expire or come up for renegotiation, particularly for small independent operators in high-demand neighborhoods.
Merchant cash advance companies have become a particularly thorny issue for some operators. These lenders often provide quick capital but collect repayment through daily or weekly withdrawals tied to a business’ revenue.
Luna said some of the arrangements effectively function like loans with extremely high interest rates.
“We’re seeing transactions where they’ll give a business $75,000 but require repayment of $125,000,” he said, adding that some agreements may carry interest rates that would otherwise be considered usurious under Florida law.
The situation echoes what happened with the Orlando-born Asian street-food chain Hawkers Asian Street Fare, which filed for bankruptcy in 2024 shortly after receiving a default notice from its lender, ABC Funding LLC. By early 2025, Hawkers withdrew its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing after loan restructure. Luna and Ward are hoping for the same outcome.
Meanwhile, Ward is adapting to shifting consumer habits, including the growing influence of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy. Those medications suppress appetite, and many restaurant owners believe they are already changing how much people order when they dine out. At Pig Floyd’s, customers can choose less expensive portions built around reduced meat servings.
“At Pig Floyd’s, I’m going for protein bowls with the option for 4 ounces instead of the 8 ounces that we normally serve,” Ward said.
Ward is also experimenting with new revenue streams. Pigzza will sell pizza slices from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m., targeting night-owl crowds leaving nearby bars and nightlife spots. The adjustments, he said, are part of a broader effort to keep the restaurants aligned with changing dining habits while the Chapter 11 process gives the businesses time to restructure.
