By David Brindley
Staff Reporter
One of L.A.’s best-known soul food purveyors, Roscoe’s House of Chicken & Waffles, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
A long-time haunt of Hollywood’s music elite and those in search of rib-sticking soul food, Roscoe’s will continue to operate as usual, but will be shielded from its creditors while it reorganizes.
Roscoe’s, which filed for protection under its Los Angeles-based parent company, East Coast Foods Inc., reported total assets of $706,600 and liabilities of over $2 million, according to Denise Tucker of the U.S. Trustee’s Office, which is handling the bankruptcy.
Among the creditors listed in the documents were Union Bank and Seley Enterprises of South Pasadena, the landlord for Roscoe’s Pasadena location.
The IRS, the state Franchise Tax Board and the L.A. County Tax Collector were also listed. None would comment on the case.
Roscoe’s executives also declined comment, as did Henry M. Toles, the attorney handling the bankruptcy filing for Roscoe’s.
“I’m not in the position to issue anything at this point,” Toles said.
The restaurant’s financial troubles arose just months after the company announced an ambitious expansion plan. Last year, Roscoe’s said it planned to open new outlets in Inglewood and Long Beach, as well as locations in San Francisco and out of state. Those plans were put on hold, apparently due to Roscoe’s financial difficulties, and none of the new locations opened.
The first Roscoe’s restaurant opened in the heart of Hollywood in 1976 and began serving an unlikely combination of Southern fried chicken and waffles. The concept caught on and Roscoe’s became a favorite haunt of musicians and record executives. Since then, Roscoe’s has expanded to four locations, including South Central L.A., Pasadena and the Mid-City area. As of 1996, it had reached $5 million in sales and employed 120 workers, according to a Business Journal profile last year.
But Roscoe’s financial woes haven’t stopped the steady stream of hipsters and soul food aficionados from flocking to the four locations. Zack Scott, a R & B; bass player visiting from Atlanta, was among the near-capacity dinner crowd at the Hollywood restaurant last week. “It’s the only place to get chicken and waffles,” said Scott, who makes a pilgrimage to Roscoe’s every time he’s in L.A.
Scott and a group of six fellow musicians squeezed into a table for four, surrounded by young couples and families digging into heaping plates of fried chicken and syrup-drenched waffles.
Roscoe’s Hollywood manager, who goes by “John” and declined to give a last name, said “the restaurant never stops, we’re busy all the time,” adding that “all stores are doing well.”
