Since last we visited the bankruptcy case of Bob's Steak & Chop House on Lemmon Avenue, there have been a couple of notable developments -- among them, the appointment yesterday of Dallas attorney Robert Milbank Jr. to take over as the Chapter 11 trustee, replacing owner Bob Sambol per the U.S. Trustee's wishes. Which is hardly the headline. This, however, is: On Friday, attorney Mark Ralston, who's handling the bankruptcy for Sambol and his Silveroak Holdings, filed with the court documents outlining the reasons why BSCH Management, LLC -- which is owned and operated by the Lenox Restaurant Group, Ltd. and Omni Hotels Corporation -- should be the so-called "stalking-horse" bidder when Bob's goes up for auction. That will most likely take place on September 30.
"Lenox," of course, is Bill Lenox, Sambol's partner back when he opened the Lemmon Ave. location in December 1994. And should no one file an objection with the court by a September 18 scheduled hearing, Lenox becomes the lead bidder for Bob's at the auction. Meaning: If no one else wants the joint -- and interested parties have till 5 p.m. on September 28 to submit bids, along with documents that show they can foot the bill -- it'll go to Lenox and Omni, which bought a 50-percent stake in the brand name in January.
So, what's the starting price for a bite of Bob's? Says the term sheet, the gross purchase price begins at $150,000. Plus, the new owner will assume "administrative priority liabilities for employee wages and related taxes, alcohol and beverage taxes, sales taxes and Chapter 11 professional fees not to exceed the sum of $50,000." And, yes, one of the stipulations of the deal is that Bob stay with Bob's: "Purchaser desires that Robert J. Sambol remain involved
in the management and operation of the restaurant after
the closing of the transaction on terms and conditions
that are acceptable to both parties." Sambol couldn't be reached this afternoon; no doubt we'll talk to him later today, however.
Much more after the jump, including the entirety of the filing.
In the docs below, Ralston details how Sambol would up
filing for bankruptcy -- repeating, yet again, the rise and fall of the
Denver steakhouse in which Sambol and Lenox partnered in 2004. Earlier
filings had suggested Lenox might indeed be interested in taking back
the old hot spot -- that was, in fact, one of the reasons why the U.S.
Trustee, William Neary, wanted someone to replace Sambol as the
trustee. Neary, fearing a conflict of interest, wrote that "as Sambol
and Lenox have a lengthy history, it is likely that Sambol
will negotiate a position for himself when the Debtor is sold."
Not mentioned in the filings, however, is Lee Thompson's missing $300,000, which resulted in the Dallas County District Attorney's Office's criminal case against Sambol. Calls have been placed to the Nicholas Cariotis, chief of the Check Division/Task Force on Identity
Fraud, to see how a scheduled meeting with Sambol and his attorney Heath Hyde, during which they were to discuss a payment plan, went. Hyde too is unavailable, and messages have been left.
So, then, to the docs.
Bob's Steak and Chop House Sale Documents