So I read this article in the Globe about the demise of Brigham’s. It’s very sad. Basically, it looks like the last private equity owner decided that the value was in the grocery store ice cream brand, which they sold to Hood, but that the restaurants were a liability. So it would appear that they gave the restaurants away to a “private equity” firm located in Baltimore called Deal-Metrics. I put “private equity” in quotes because it really looks like a one-man shop, and doesn’t appear to have an actual fund that they manage.

The man is named Luke T. Cooper, and he really appears to have an active dislike for the chain he bought and the people who frequent it. Just look at some of these quotes, pulled from the article:

People “think I’m some kind of guy who saw an opportunity and took advantage of it, and to some degree I am that guy,’’ he said.

“The reality is that businesses go out of business all the time. Brigham’s is no different,’’ Cooper said.

“They’re angry that someone is taking away their clam chowder and taking away their frappes,’’ Cooper acknowledged in an interview

“They knew it had an expiration date,’’ he said.

“Bankruptcy court will ultimately decide what we owe our employees and other creditors,’’ he said. “If, in fact, there are obligations to them.’’

What a fucking asshole. What it looks like he did was buy the company, suck as much cash out of it while not paying vendors, and then abandon it to the bankruptcy courts. However, if I remember my bankruptcy law correctly, any payment made 90 days prior to filing for bankruptcy, including dividend payments to owners, can be forcibly reversed by the courts if deemed to have been inappropriate. I’m guessing we’ll see some of that in this case.

I think that the best hope for the brand is that somebody buys it out of bankruptcy court. I think it’s unlikely that a PE firm would emerge to do that, but either a wealthy New Englander might, or the remaining franchisees may want to band together to save the brand. Or maybe even Hood might be convinced to step in. Or a local chef like Barbara Lynch who just opened a high-end restaurant modeled on Brighams. Frankly, it’s nuts that the chain should be allowed to die like this.

Are there any takers to keep this thing alive?

UPDATE: I just wanted to let you all know that Luke T Cooper is on LinkedIn, where he reveals he’s registered as a Babson MBA student. I posted this info to the Babson boards on LinkedIn and someone responded to me that he’s listed in the Babson system as registered. I can’t imagine something more bizarre. If he’s CEO of a legitimate private equity firm, then why is he enrolled as a beginning student at Babson? And if Deal-Metrics isn’t a legitimate private equity firm, then how did Luke T Cooper manage to get possession of Brigham’s in the first place?

UPDATE2: The meme is taking off. Check out this rant on Baltimore Craigslist.

Tags: Babson, Brighams, Deal-Metrics, Luke T Cooper

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