The beloved pizza chain files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in less than a year

The pizza restaurant sector has dealt with an industry downturn over the past two years, forcing major pizza chains to close 100 locations and in some cases file for bankruptcy.

Among the economic issues, restaurateurs blame tough competition, high labor and food costs and high rents that many companies need to start restructuring.

The popular San Francisco-based pizza chain has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the fourth time in a year, citing severe financial stress with independent restaurants.

Wood-fired pizza restaurant chain Fiorella, with four locations in San Francisco, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the fourth time to set up another location and continue operations.

Fiorella’s Noe Valley location at 4042 24th Street, known as Project Pizza Noe LLC, filed for Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California on March 6, 2026, according to PacerMonitor.

The New Valley filing follows three Chapter 11 filings in 2025 by Fiorella’s Project Pizza parent companies.

Project Pizza Polk LLC, which operates Fiorella Polk, a Chinese pizza and Italian restaurant location at 2238 Polk Street, filed its Subchapter V petition on July 2, 2025, in the Northern District of California, listing $100,000 to $500,000 and asking for $1 million in assets and $1 million in assets.

Other bankruptcies:

Affiliate Project Pizza LLC, which operates the pizza chain’s flagship location, Fiorella Clement, located at 2339 Clement Street, filed a subchapter V petition on May 20, 2025, listing $50,000 to $100,000 in assets and $1 million to $10 million in debt.

Another affiliate, Project Pizza Sunset LLC, filed a Chapter 11 Subchapter V petition on April 1, 2025, on behalf of its Fiorella Sunset location at 1240 9th Avenue.

The restaurant chain did not disclose the reasons for filing the bankruptcy petitions.

Fiorella partners Boris Nemchinuk and Brandon Giles opened the first location on Clement Street in 2016, followed by the Russian Hill location on Polk Street in 2019. The partners opened Sun Place in 2021 and No Valley restaurant in 2024.

Other pizza chains that filed for bankruptcy in 2025 include Bertucci’s Restaurants, which filed for Chapter 11 protection on April 24, 2025, and Backdraughts, on July 23, 2025.

Major pizza restaurant franchises also had financial problems last year, including Domino’s operator People First Pizza Inc., which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 26, 2025, and Little Caesars franchise Red Door Pizza LLC, which filed on July 15, 2025.

Domino’s is the largest pizza chain in the United States with about 7,090 units in the third quarter of 2025, according to “Domino 101: Fun Facts” on the company’s website.

Little Caesars claims to be the third largest pizza chain in the United States, but does not list all of its locations. The chain appears to have more than 4,200 in the U.S., according to LocationsCloud.

Some major pizza chains, which did not file for bankruptcy, are closing 100 restaurants instead.

Giant chain Pizza Hut, with more than 6,700 units, said it will close 250 stores in the first half of 2026 as part of a Hut Forward restructuring plan, after the Father’s Day Yum! Brands Chief Financial Officer Ranjith Roy reported on February 4 that global same-store sales fell 1% in the fourth quarter and in 2025.

In some extreme cases, pizza restaurant chains have been forced to file for bankruptcy protection to save their businesses from collapse.

• Fiorella Noe Valley, 4042 24th Street, San Francisco

• Fiorella Polk at 2238 Polk Street, San Francisco

• Fiorella Clement, 2339 Clement Street, San Francisco

• Fiorella Sunset, 1240 9th Ave., San Francisco

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This story was originally published by The Street on March 8, 2026, where it first appeared in the Restaurants section. Add TheStreet as a Favorite Source by clicking here.