Belle Foods here has asked U.S. Bankruptcy Court for permission to sell 12 of its stores.
The 12 stores marked for sale are in addition to 13 the company received approval to close earlier this month. Belle Foods operated 57 stores when it filed for Chapter 11 protection July 1.
Stores marked for sale include all five of its stores in Mobile, Ala. (two doing business as Belle Foods and three under the Food World banner). A sixth Mobile Food World was among those marked for closure earlier this month. Belle is also looking to sell a Piggly Wiggly in Meridian, Miss.; a Southern Family Market store in Columbus, Miss.; Food Worlds in Saraland and Theodore, Ala.; and Belle Foods stores in Gulf Shores and Spanish Fort, Ala.
In a separate move, the Court on Wednesday appointed 11 of Belle Foods’ 20 largest unsecured creditors to serve on the retailer’s official committee in the case. The members are almost exclusively product vendors and/or distributors: Buffalo Rock Co.; Mondelez Global; Cal-Maine Foods; Nestle USA; Flowers Bakeries; PepsiCo; Golden Flake Snack Foods; Kehe Distributors; McKee Foods; and Coca-Cola as well as S&L Mechanical, a refrigeration maintenance company.
