Bankrupt Popeyes franchisee sells most restaurants in Florida and Georgia

A bankrupt Popeyes franchisee has found buyers for most of its Florida and Georgia restaurants, but dozens of workers are still facing the risk that their store could be sold, transferred or shut down. Sailormen Inc. said 97 of its 136 locations were set to change hands, a deal that leaves 52 units without buyers and keeps the job picture unsettled for crews across the two states.

The split is wide enough to reshape the chain’s local footprint. Pulse Restaurant Group is lined up to take 50 restaurants, RFI Ventures LLC to take 23 Orlando-area stores, Popeyes corporate to take 16 Miami-area locations, SBH Foods PLK LLC to take five Savannah-area units and 61 Biscuits LLC to take three West Palm Beach-area restaurants. Later court-approved terms put the total value of the 97-store package at $16.55 million, with separate prices of $2.69 million for Pulse, $2.5 million for RFI, $9.6 million for the corporate Miami group, $650,000 for SBH Foods and $1.11 million for 61 Biscuits.

For hourly workers, the biggest question is whether a sale keeps the kitchen and dining room intact or resets the store around a new operator. A transfer can preserve jobs if the buyer keeps the unit open, but workers at the unsold restaurants are exposed to a different outcome: lease rejections, closure notices and a scramble for shifts elsewhere. Sailormen has already closed 20 Popeyes restaurants in Florida and Georgia in recent months after lease rejections, including three Georgia locations whose leases were rejected in March.

Sailormen filed Chapter 11 on January 15, 2026, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida, where Judge Robert A. Mark is overseeing the case. The Miami-based company, founded in 1987, had about $130 million in senior secured debt around the time of the filing, and earlier reporting tied the collapse to a failed sale of 16 restaurants, a lender lawsuit, inflation, higher labor costs, borrowing pressure and softer traffic after the pandemic.

The auction outcome is still not the same as stability. At stores that sold, workers need to watch for new ownership notices, transfer offers and any changes in store management. At the 52 units that drew no bidder, the next court ruling on lease rejections will tell crews whether the restaurant stays open or disappears from the schedule.