Round Table Pizza Sold: Employees Get Windfall

Round Table Pizza, a California-based chain of over 440 pizza and, more recently, sports bars, has been both one of the largest pizza restaurant chains and one of the largest employee-owned companies. In 2010, issues with leases led to a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, but the company quickly reorganized and paid off the creditors in full ahead of schedule. It closed just 5% of its stores.

The company returned to strong profitability. In September, 2017, the company was sold to Global Franchise Group, which had earlier also bought employee-owned Hot Dog on a Stick. The stock price increased by about 19 times what it was in 2011, leaving many long-time employees with hundreds of thousands of dollars in their ESOP accounts.