Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles, the go-to soul food chain for Angelenos, has filed for bankruptcy. One of its biggest debts is owed to a former employee Daniel Beasley of Compton, who successfully sued the restaurant on Pico Boulevard for racial discrimination.
Officially it’s Roscoe’s parent company East Coast Foods Inc. that’s filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to the Wall Street Journal. The company has incurred a more than manageable amount of debt and requires restructuring. The Chapter 11 filing gives the restaurant time to do just that, according to CBS2.
None of this necessarily means the restaurants are going to be closing. While Chapter 11 could translate into some restructuring for those who work for Roscoe’s, it’s very unlikely the chain’s seven restaurants scattered throughout Southern California will close down. Speaking from personal experience, Roscoe’s establishments are almost always packed—even late at night. Even President Obama drops in when he’s in Los Angeles.
Per CBS, the Roscoe’s chain owes Beasley nearly $3.2 million. Beasley sued Roscoe’s after he claimed he was discriminated against by Latino management and co-workers. He also said his Latino co-workers were treated better than he was, and were awarded better working schedules than he was.
Beasley was fired after he attempted to raise concerns with human resources. A jury trial last year determined Beasley was the victim of both wrongful termination and discrimination.
