Even Stevens sandwich shop in Boise filed for bankruptcy. Here’s what that means
The company that owns Even Stevens sandwich shop in Downtown Boise has filed for bankruptcy.
But the restaurant will stay open, and its employees will continue to get their paychecks, Even Stevens Chief Restructuring Officer Brooks Pickering has told the Statesman.
Asked what will change at the Boise store, Pickering said, “I don’t want to sound cavalier here, but pretty much nothing.”
Pickering said the Boise sandwich shop is profitable and is paying its own bills. But the Even Stevens company, which owns the restaurants around the West, has too much debt, he said. The bankruptcy action is to protect the stores while the company sorts out its debts.
Bankruptcy ‘final step’ in fixing Even Stevens
Documents from the bankruptcy filing showed a total debt of about $919,458 assigned to the chain’s Idaho-based LLC.
The company was “in bad shape” when Pickering stepped in as the restructuring officer, he said.
“We have spent the last seven months effectively downsizing the organization” and trying to make it sustainable, he said.
The bankruptcy is “really the final step” in that process, Pickering said.
Even Stevens halted charity support
The Statesman in August reported that Even Stevens had stopped giving money to local charities — including the Boise Rescue Mission, Corpus Christi House, St. Vincent de Paul and Idaho Foodbank — for each sandwich sold.
In one recent year, Even Stevens gave the Foodbank more than 8,000 pounds of food — to make 6,667 meals — the organization told the Statesman in August.
The shop will not resume its practice of donating a portion of proceeds until it’s out of bankruptcy, Pickering said.
“One of the reasons we’re doing this is so that we can get back to the give-back,” Pickering said. “That’s one of our main goals.”
The Even Stevens shop in Boise is at 815 W. Bannock St.
This story was originally published March 22, 2019 at 11:08 AM.
