How Sbarro survived, and thrived, after 2 bankruptcy filings

How do you teach an old pizza chain new tricks?

This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features David Karam, the CEO of the pizza chain Sbarro.

The pizza chain was founded in 1956 and for years thrived inside mall locations. But the company took on too much debt and filed for bankruptcy twice after the Great Recession. 

We wanted to talk with Karam to understand what Sbarro did to survive those two bankruptcies. Karam took over the chain between the two filings and has led the it ever since and now owns the concept. Sbarro just opened its 800th restaurant and has found new life in places like convenience stores and airports as well as international markets.

Karam discusses these plans and provides insight into how the company was able to find a life past bankruptcy.