BurgerFi’s 93 restaurants includes 76 franchised units and 17 company owned. | Photo courtesy of BurgerFi International.
BurgerFi International Inc. on Monday won court approval for $3.5 million in funding to keep operations going as the parent of BurgerFi and Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza prepares for a sale through Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The funding comes from TREW Capital Management, which owns more than $60 million of BurgerFi International’s debt.
In addition, the Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based company lost its last legacy board member. Board Chairman David Heidecorn gave notice of his immediate resignation from the board on Monday.
Heidecorn, who was a senior advisor to private-equity firm L Catterton, has served on BurgerFi’s board since 2023. He was named board chairman in May, succeeding Ophir Sternberg, CEO of Lionheart Capital, who resigned all positions as the company announced plans to explore strategic alternatives.
Sternberg had led the special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, that merged with BurgerFi in 2020 and took it public. The board also once included famed lifestyle mogul Martha Stewart, but she stepped down from the board last year after about two and a half years.
This year’s exodus from the board began when the company began warning of the impending bankruptcy and was delisted from Nasdaq earlier this month.
Jeremy Rosenthal of Force Ten Partners LLC was named chief restructuring officer on Aug. 14. The same day, board members Allison Greenfield, Gregory Mann and Vivian Lopez-Blanco resigned, effective immediately.
Andrew Taub, a managing partner at L Catterton, resigned on Aug. 27.
Now with Heidecorn out, there are two remaining board members, both of whom were appointed on Aug. 27.
Michael Epstein was described in court documents as a partner at Deloitte and longtime friend and business associate of Heidecorn.
And David J. Gordon, whose background was not identified in court filings, but court documents indicated he had been an independent director on boards for other companies Rosenthal had worked with as a CRO.
BurgerFi International is preparing for the auction of the BurgerFi and Anthony’s brands in coming weeks. Court documents indicate there are two stalking horse bidders, one for each brand.
Interim approval of the funding on Monday will allow the 93-unit BurgerFi and 51-unit Anthony’s to continue to fund operating expenses and meet obligations as it works through that process.
“The company has worked very hard to ensure that the transition into Chapter 11 would have no impact on our valued employees, customers and franchise partners,” said Carl Bachmann, BurgerFi’s CEO, in a statement. “We are very pleased that we have received approval of our key motions to support our continued operations including employee wages and benefits, cash management and customer programs.”
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