Food World owner files for bankruptcy

Published 11:10 pm Monday, July 1, 2013

Belle Foods, owner of Food World in Troy, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday, according to court documents.

The company cited it was having trouble paying creditors with money it makes from 57 stores throughout Alabama, Georgia, Florida and Mississippi.

According to documents filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Alabama, Belle Foods owes between 1,000 and 5,000 creditors millions of dollars. Some of the largest businesses listed are Barber Dairies at $559,394, Coca-Cola Bottling at $485,444, and Frito Lay at $474,572.

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Belle Foods took control of the local Food World when the company purchased stores from Southern Family Markets – many Food World and Bruno’s stores – in June last year.

Belle Foods announced employee cutbacks in April. The company planned to reduced the number of full-time employees and replace them with up to 300 part-time employees.

Documents filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Alabama show that Belle Foods has 2,850 employees – 738 of those people are non-union.