49-year-old favorite pizza chain files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

The pizza restaurant industry is one of the most competitive dining sectors in the U.S., with two pizza giants ranking among the Top 8 of all fast-food chains based on locations in 2025.

Domino’s had the sixth-most number of locations with 7,014, behind Subway (19,502), Starbucks (16,935), McDonald’s (13,559), Dunkin’ (9,768), and Taco Bell (7,604). Pizza Hut had the eighth most locations with 6,557, behind No. 7 Burger King (6,701), according to QSR Magazine’s 2025 QSR 50 released in August.

Subway, 19,502

Starbucks, 16,935

McDonald’s, 13,559

Dunkin’, 9,768

Taco Bell, 7,604

Domino’s, 7,014

Burger King, 6,701

Pizza Hut, 6,557

Domino’s expects to continue its dominance and add a total of 175 new franchise units, according to its third quarter of 2025 earnings call.

“I think the appetite from franchisees continues to be very strong, which is why the pipeline visibility this year, frankly, is a little bit better than last year at the same time, and we’re very confident of the 175 stores we’re talking about for this year,” Domino’s Chief Financial Officer Sandeep Reddy said in the earnings call.

Pizza restaurants have faced severe economic headwinds this year, as several chains have dealt with fierce competition, as well as rising labor and food costs and high lease rates requiring several companies to launch out-of-court restructurings, close locations, and in some cases file for bankruptcy.

Seattle-based chain Mod Pizza had about 500 locations in 2024 and closed 27 stores before the company was sold to Chatsworth, Calif.-based Elite Restaurant Group. The company has continued closing locations in 2025 and currently lists 450 stores on its website.

Franchisees of the top pizza chains have faced financial distress and filed for bankruptcy, including Domino’s operator People First Pizza Inc., which filed Chapter 11 on March 26, 2025, and Little Caesars franchisee Red Door Pizza LLC, which filed its petition on July 15, 2025.

Smaller pizza restaurant chains often file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection when they are facing economic hardship.

Among the small pizza chains to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2025 were Zeppe’s Tavern, with 13 locations, on March 31, 2025; and Bertucci’s Restaurants with 15 locations on April 24, 2025.

A Phoenix-based pizza chain, Fired Pie, launched in 2013 and grew to 20 locations by 2019 before the Covid pandemic impacted the restaurant industry in 2020 and the company began closing stores.

Fired Pie filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Nov. 13, 2024, after shrinking to 14 locations and since then has decreased in size to nine Arizona locations, with two each in Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Glendale, and once each in Chandler, Gilbert, and Mesa, according to its website on Oct. 26, 2025.

More bankruptcy:

The company did not indicate specific reasons for filing for bankruptcy last year.

And now, another popular Arizona-based pizza chain has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy without indicating a reason for filing.

Streets of New York Inc., which has been the official pizza of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Phoenix Suns, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to reorganize its business.

The Phoenix-based pizza chain filed its petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Arizona on Oct. 16, listing $100,000 to $1 million in assets and liabilities, according to Bankruptcy Observer.

The debtor did not indicate a specific reason why it filed for bankruptcy in its petition.

The bankruptcy court, however, on Oct. 17 filed a deficiency notice with the debtor and the debtor’s counsel, revealing that all required documents had not been filed with the court.

Chief Judge Eddward P. Ballinger signed an order on Oct. 24 dismissing Streets of New York’s Chapter 11 case because of missing documents, according to the docket reported by both Inforuptcy and PacerMonitor.

Streets of New York will need to refile a bankruptcy petition if it seeks to pursue a case. The debtor was not immediately available for comment.

The family-owned pizza chain, which was established in 1976, operates 16 locations, with 15 in Arizona and one in Las Vegas. The restaurant specializes in a variety of New York-style pizzas, calzones, lasagna, baked ziti, cheese ravioli, chicken parmigiana, and spaghetti and meatballs.

Streets of New York also offers a variety of sub sandwiches, soups, salads, appetizers, and desserts

New York-style pizzas

Calzones

Lasagna

Baked ziti

Cheese ravioli

Chicken parmigiana

Spaghetti

Meatballs

Sub sandwiches

Soups

Salads

Appetizers

Desserts

Related: Key automobile lender files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Oct 26, 2025, where it first appeared in the Restaurant section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.