(FranchisePick.Com) They called Galileo loco when he said the earth was round. They called Raisin Brand loco for putting two whole scoops of raisins in every box. And they called the group of corporate lawyers crazy for starting and franchising a peanut butter sandwich restaurant called P.B. Loco.
In the latter case, they were right. They don’t call them loco, however. They call them bankrupt, and the next addition to FranchisePick.com’s Franchise Graveyard:
This just in from the Appleton Post-Crescent:
P.B. Loco corporate changes lead to Grand Chute closing
Q: There’s a sign on the P.B. Loco Cafe saying it’s available for lease. Is it moving or closing?
A: It’s closing. The P.B. Loco Peanutbutterlicious Cafe, at 4353 W. Wisconsin Ave., Grand Chute, will serve its last sandwich March 30. It’s a modern cafe — done in peanut butter, jelly and chocolate colors — that sells gourmet peanut butter in its creative menu and by the jar.
It will be the fifth P.B. Loco to close, including the flagship Mall of America branch that shut Dec. 31.
The branch here had been open since December 2006. When it closes, there will be just one P.B. Loco operating, in Scottsdale, Ariz.
The closures are a result of a corporate restructuring, said the Grand Chute franchise owner Kelly Klesmit, who responded to Post-Crescent questions via e-mail.
“It has simply become too expensive to operate outside of a franchise system,” she wrote. “While the cafe has become quite popular, and doing a decent amount of business, we are being forced to cover expenses that we hadn’t planned for.”
P.B. Loco’s executives had switched the company’s focus to wholesale operations. They recently aligned with The Cereal Bowl, a Miami eatery that serves breakfast cereals, to transform its P.B. Locos into dual-branded cafes.
“In a corporate e-mail sent out in December, we were told that we may have an opportunity to become a part of this new venture. However, the new co-brand is even more unproven (and) risky, and the first cafe isn’t scheduled to open until late spring in Miami,” Klesmit said.
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