Did the Flying J sale of the truck stops not include the restaurants? I'm wondering why they would even mention this to the bankruptcy court if Pilot now owns the truck stops? ...
Remember that Flying-J is still in Chapter 11. If you read the article I linked, it says "
... Although the company believes it’s in the ordinary course of business not requiring court approval, Flying J wants the bankruptcy judge to bless the proposed lease with Spartanburg, South Carolina-based Denny’s. ..."
While the restaurant lease may be "ordinary course of business," other things are not as clear-cut. Pilot can not unilaterally decide what it will or will not do with FJ locations until the unit emerges from Chapter 11 with the full blessing of the court. This news item from October details more of the structure of the combined entity:
http://www.csnews.com/csn/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004020901
This is a huge deal. FJ has 164 restaurant locations, and Denny's will be paying a quarter million apiece for the existing equipment and assets. On top of that will be another average of a quarter mil apiece in upgrades, and then 7-8% of gross sales. When you start talking that kind of money, it is no wonder they want the judge to "bless" it -- you don't want someone else coming along and crying "Foul!" by filing briefs with the court.
FWIW.
-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com
