As Uno Exits Bankruptcy, It's Time to Focus on Pizza

Uno Restaurant Holdings, owner of the Uno Chicago deep-dish pizza chain, is set to emerge from a quick bankruptcy, having filed its reorganization plan for exiting Chapter 11 last week. However, the debt shuffle -- they'll offer $27 million in notes -- has avoided the deeper questions of how the 170-unit restaurant chain got into this mess in the first place.

It's been sort of a weird bankruptcy, because as anyone who has ever tried to get a seat at a classic Pizzeria Uno restaurant can tell you, many of the places are packed. Waits routinely top an hour. Unlike many troubled chains, there's a strong core concept here.

But since the mid-1990s, the Uno concept has changed. Most units are now known as Uno Chicago Grill and offer a broadened menu of soups, panini sandwiches, steak, ribs, and chicken -- which also called for a more complicated kitchen setup including fryers and grills. That worked so well that in 2005, the company needed to fall into the arms of private-equity firm Centre Partners. Uno's been struggling with its debt ever since.

Here's the thing: Uno is one of the great American pizza brands. People go to Uno to eat their deep-dish pizza, not burger and fries. Also, pizza is one sector in dining that's continued to do well straight through the downturn. The time is right for Uno to return its pizza to the spotlight, simplify its concept, and deliver on the dish that made it great. Uno has also suffered from overexpansion, which resulted in several restaurants that weren't in good locations or were too near other units, leading to lower per-eatery sales. Sixteen Uno eateries closed in January when the company filed for Chapter 11 and another seven closed this month, so hopefully Uno has addressed this issue and leaves bankruptcy with a stronger chain that could grow again with a renewed focus on its legendary pies.

Photo via Flickr user The Pizza Review