Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles Owner Reaches Agreement To Pay Creditors, Popular North Lake Avenue Restaurant Won’t Close

A crowd-pleasing Pasadena eatery which regularly attracts weekend throngs won’t close after striking a bankruptcy deal that keeps its doors open.

Roscoe’s Chicken And Waffles is the stuff of Southern California legend and is beloved by everyone from tourists to celebrities. The eatery specializes in home-style favorites such as mac and cheese, red beans and rice, fried chicken, collard greens and all day breakfast.

Bankrupt company East Coast Foods, owner of the Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles restaurant chain, is about to complete a reorganization agreement to pay off creditors while keeping the LA institution open for business.

Court records filed just last week show East Coast Foods owes its creditors approximately $27 million, which founder Herbert Hudson has vowed to pay about $3 million of annually. The money will come from East Coast Foods revenues—including from its seven Roscoe’s restaurants, one of which is the Pasadena location.

Robert Marticello, a partner at Smiley Wang-Ekvall in Costa Mesa, says the agreement guarantees full payment of debt to creditors and all Roscoe’s locations will remain open.

Court records show that the restaurants owned by East Coast Foods generate at least $37 million annually. Hudson is also adding $10 million of his own money to the pot to pay off the debt.

East Coast Foods filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March 2016, after a judge ordered the company to pay $3.2 million to Daniel Beasley of Compton in a discrimination lawsuit which is still under appeal.

This coming March, the company will face a judge to iron out the details of the debt agreement.

Roscoe’s Chicken And Waffles is the stuff of Southern California legend and is beloved by everyone from tourists to celebrities. The eatery specializes in home-style favorites such as mac and cheese, red beans and rice, fried chicken, collard greens and all day breakfast.

Roscoes is located at 830 North Lake Ave. in Pasadena, with six additional locations in Hollywood, Inglewood, West LA, Long Beach, Anaheim and Los Angeles.