Tampa food hall operator files for bankruptcy to reorganize debt
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jan 26, 2023

A Tampa food hall operator has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to reorganize the debt on an Orlando location.

Jamal Wilson, who launched his food halls with The Hall on Franklin in 2017, told the Tampa Bay Business Journal on Wednesday that he is reorganizing his debt "due to high construction costs" during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Wilson's Orlando location, The Hall at the Yard, opened in 2021. The bankruptcy filing will not affect day-to-day operations at The Hall at the Yard, Wilsons said, and he doesn't plan to file for bankruptcy protection for any other locations.

"The cost of the tenant improvements was higher than expected," according to the bankruptcy filing. "Unfortunately, the debtor borrowed funds from various MCA lenders. The debt to the MCA lenders and the exorbitant fees and costs associated therewith has been crippling. The debtor filed this case to restructure its debts and reorganize for the benefit of all creditors."

Merchant cash advances, or MCAs, are an alternative to traditional small business lending. They are cash advances, usually used as short-term financing, offered against a prediction of a business's future sales.

The filing lists 10 MCA lenders who are owed a combined $901,055, though the amount owed to G and G Funding Group LLC is unidentified. The lenders are owed amounts ranging from $44,000 to $181,000. Secured debt also includes a $4.2 million loan to Newtek Small Business Finance.

There is also a $359,000 Paycheck Protection Program loan from Kabbage LLC that is "likely unsecured," according to the filing. The largest unsecured creditors have claims that range from unknown to $119,000.

In 2022, the Orlando food hall had $7.86 million in gross revenue.

Wilson plans to seek debtor-in-possession financing — a type of financing specifically for businesses going through restructuring — and also hire a chief restructuring officer. He has not paid himself a salary in a year, according to the filing.

Wilson filed an emergency motion to pay workers and an emergency motion to use cash collateral, according to the filing.

The Hall at the Yard is home to nine restaurants, three cocktail bars and five private event spaces, according to the bankruptcy filing. The restaurants sublease the space from Wilson, who leases the 12,250-square-foot space from an entity linked to Real Estate Inverlad Development, an Orlando developer.

The Hall on Franklin closed in 2020, months after its landlord filed an eviction lawsuit. Wilson signed a lease to open a location in Midtown Tampa, but the developer of Midtown has since signed a deal with Ballard Designs to fill that location. Two locations in Georgia, one in Atlanta and one in Snellville, were planned in 2021.