A downtown White Plains restaurant whose owners recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy will remain open this fall, according to its manager.
Partners in Trotters NY Restaurant Group L.L.C., owner of Peniche Tapas restaurant at 175 Main St., said they sought “some breathing room†from creditors with the filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Trotters members are chef Anthony Goncalves, the largest shareholder; Mark Avallone, general manager, and John Tesone, chief financial officer.
Avallone and Tesone in late 2006 teamed with Goncalves after acquiring an interest in his family’s business at the former Trotters Tavern. After a $1.2-million renovation and build-out, the popular Main Street location reopened in September 2007 as Peniche Tapas. Goncalves later that year left the Peniche kitchen to open the nearby 42, the upscale restaurant at the top of The Residences at the Ritz-Carlton Westchester, where Trotters has partnered with developer Louis R. Cappelli.
Trotters members in their bankruptcy filing said Peniche has struggled with cash shortages since its opening. Monthly sales, which peaked at $188,000, have dropped to the $65,000 to $75,000 range. Goncalves personally has loaned the restaurant operation $140,000, according to court documents.
The restaurant’s landlord in July began a proceeding in White Plains City Court to collect payment on back rent.
Peniche has stayed open since the bankruptcy filing this month. “We’re not going anywhere, certainly not right now,†said a manager there, who declined to give his name.
The manager said the bankruptcy does not affect 42, a 21,000-square-foot, 200-seat restaurant where Goncalves has garnered good reviews as executive chef. That restaurant last year was the subject of recession-fueled rumors of its closing, a fate Goncalves at the time said was never raised by Cappelli and the ownership team.
