Round Table Pizza: Not Gone for Good?

Those who stopped by last week may have been disappointed to find the shop closed. Jim Robertson, a company spokesman, told Albany Patch why:

"Round Table Pizza restaurant at 962 San Pablo Avenue in Albany recently closed," wrote Robertson via e-mail on Friday. "It was closed due to lack of profitability. Discussions with the landlord of the location are occurring, and we expect it to reopen. We want to continue to offer our fantastic pizza to our customers in that area."

The Concord-based chain pizza company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February "to improve the company's cash flow and stabilize its business through recapitalization of its debt and renegotiation of above-market leases," according to a Round Table press release. "Despite improving business performance and expense reductions, the company said seeking legal protection under Chapter 11 was necessary to improve the company's competitiveness as the economy recovers."

In the same release, Round Table wrote that "This action will not impact Round Table's 148 franchisees that operate 355 independently owned Round Table Pizza restaurants on the West Coast. Round Table Pizza, Inc. said that it will close some unprofitable, company-owned restaurants but stressed that most of its company-owned locations and all of its franchised locations will remain open, with minimal impact on consumers."

Chris Treadway wrote about the Round Table closing Saturday in the West County Times. His short item included an e-mail sent Friday with the subject line "Your Local Round Table Thanks You":

The Round Table Pizza at CLOSED 962 San Pablo Avenue Albany, CA, has closed. It has been our pleasure to serve your community and we want to thank you for your loyalty patronage.
Round Table continues to operate many stores — all serving the same great quality pizza that you’ve grown to love. You can visit www.roundtablepizza.com to find information for any of our locations or sign up to receive email offers from a different location.
Thank you and we hope to see you again the next time you’re in our neighborhood.
Sincerely,
The Round Table Pizza Team

According to the company's website, Round Table was founded in Menlo Park, CA, in 1959. The company claims revenues in excess of $400 million.

Round Table Pizza is a private, employee-owned company with corporate offices based in Concord, CA.

Everybody makes mistakes ... ! If there's something in this article you think should be corrected, or if something else is amiss, give editor Emilie Raguso a call at 510-459-8325 or shoot her an e-mail at emilier@patch.com.