Bankrupt Popeyes franchisee Sailormen sells final 23 Orlando locations for $2.67M

By: Kirk O'Neil Reading time: 3 min

Rising traffic in the fried chicken dining sector — which rose 3% industrywide in 2025, according to Circana — was not enough to prevent Popeyes franchisee Sailormen Inc. from filing for bankruptcy in January 2026. The company's financial distress prompted it to divest all of its restaurant locations.

Sailormen Inc., a bankrupt Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen franchisee that operated 136 fried chicken locations at the time of its filing, has won court approval to sell its 23 Orlando-area stores for a second time after its first sale fell through.

Popeyes Sells Orlando-Area Locations

Judge Robert A. Mark of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami signed an order on July 23 approving Sailormen's sale of its 23 Orlando-region Popeyes restaurants to SBH Foods PLK LLC for $2.67 million.

Sailormen had already received approval from Judge Mark on June 23, 2026, to sell 97 of its restaurants. That deal included:

• Sale of five Savannah, Ga., locations to SBH Foods PLK for $650,000
• Sale of the 23 Orlando-area restaurants to RFI Ventures LLC for $2.5 million

Buyer Did Not Close the Sale

RFI Ventures failed to close on the acquisition of the 23 Orlando locations by its July 12 deadline, according to a July 17 court motion. This led SBH Foods PLK to agree to purchase the restaurants instead.

The sale of the 97 Popeyes locations included:

• 50 units sold to Pulse Restaurant Group LLC for $2.69 million
• 16 Miami-area stores sold to Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Inc. for $9.6 million
• Three West Palm Beach, Fla.-area restaurants sold to 61 Biscuits LLC for $1.11 million

Franchisee Closed 39 Locations

The Miami, Fla.-based wholly owned subsidiary of Interfoods of America Inc. also closed 39 locations that it could not sell.

Sailormen filed for Chapter 11 protection after a failed sale of certain locations, a default on credit facilities, and a series of lawsuits and store closings caused the company financial distress.

Popeyes Louisiana Chicken Inc., the parent company of the worldwide chain, did not file for bankruptcy. The bankruptcy involved only Sailormen Inc., a major franchisee of the chain.

The debtor submitted a motion in January in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida to reject 17 leases retroactively to Jan. 15, after closing:

• Eight locations on Jan. 19
• Five locations on Jan. 20
• Four locations on Jan. 22

The debtor asserted that the leases should be rejected as of the petition date, since the restaurants were closed within one week of the petition date and before the hearing on the debtor's first-day motions.

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Closing Locations Could Save $1 Million

Sailormen believed that closing the 17 unprofitable locations would reduce its expenses by more than $1 million annually.

The debtor had won approval to reject 18 restaurant leases — consisting of 15 locations in Florida and three in Georgia — on June 24. Judge Mark approved an amended motion on June 27 to add four lease rejections, bringing the total to 19 leases for properties in Florida and three leases for Georgia locations.

The franchisee, founded in 1987 with 10 locations, was one of the largest domestic Popeyes franchisees in the company's system, with 136 locations in Florida and Georgia before it began closing and selling locations.