Tender Greens built a salad empire — then delivery fees and debt brought the parent down

Tender Greens started in 2006 in Los Angeles as a fast-casual salad and grill concept, and grew into a regional staple. Under parent company One Table Restaurant Brands it operated around 24 Tender Greens locations alongside sister brand Tocaya Modern Mexican, hiring a shared management platform across both chains.

The chain leaned on third-party delivery apps, whose fees squeeze already-thin restaurant margins, and took on debt through the pandemic years. COVID hit the format hard, and although business partially recovered, the Restaurant Dive coverage notes that partial recovery was not enough to repay creditors once fees and rising debt costs were stacked on top.

One Table Restaurant Brands filed for Chapter 11 on July 17, 2024 in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, listing liabilities of $10 million to $50 million against assets under $50,000, and sought $3 million in financing from lender Breakwater Management to keep running while it looked for a buyer. The court approved the sale of the brands to Breakwater via a credit bid, and the company later shifted toward a liquidating plan.