The restaurant group behind Etta and Aya Pastry has filed for bankruptcy protection, the latest blow to owner David Pisor’s business that once numbered six restaurants across three states.
Etta Collective’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing on Feb. 1 allows its three remaining locations to continue running in Chicago’s Bucktown and West Town neighborhoods and Arizona as Pisor restructures the company to deal with mounting debt.
He owes nearly $1 million to more than a dozen creditors, according to the latest filing. Pisor defaulted in January on a $2.5 million bank loan, another filing shows.
Pisor said he’s confident his business will emerge stronger after the bankruptcy filing. “We had a great Valentine’s Day last night,” he told the Chicago Sun-Times in a text message.
The outlook was less rosy for employees at the abruptly closed Etta restaurant in River North, who claimed they weren’t paid their last paycheck and had to pay for health care coverage they did not receive. They protested last week outside Etta’s Bucktown location at 1840 W. North Ave.
Pisor, through a spokesperson, blamed an accounting error and said everyone has since been paid.
His restaurant group’s three remaining locations are Etta in Bucktown; Aya Pastry in West Town, 1332 W. Grand Ave; and Etta in Scottsdale, Arizona.
After struggling to pay its bills and rent late last year, Pisor closed the Etta restaurant in River North in January and an Etta in Culver City, California, in late December. Cafe Sophie in Gold Coast closed in December.
Earlier bankruptcy filings for four of the restaurants were consolidated into one case, according to a Feb. 5 court order.
Pisor, who once co-ran the successful Maple & Ash steakhouse in Gold Coast, has been struggling in his latest business venture after splitting last year with his former business partner.
He and James Lasky co-founded Maple & Ash in 2015. A bitter fallout and nearly yearlong court drama ended with the pair splitting the restaurant group among themselves early in 2023. Lasky got Maple & Ash, while Pisor organized his restaurants as the Etta Collective.
