Boystown mainstay bar Cocktail has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after more than a year of reported troubles.
The bar, operating under company name With a Stick, Inc., filed for bankruptcy Aug. 12, the latest in a series of financial challenges facing Cocktail this year. The petition was filed in the Illinois Northern Bankruptcy court.
Jacob Meister, the bar's attorney, said the filing could give Cocktail the time it needs to get back on track financially, allowing Cocktail four months to come up with a reorganization plan.
"It's a positive move," said Meister. But, he added, "It's a bitter pill."
Cocktail, owned by John "Geno" Zaharakis and Dustin Hoffman, is currently ensnared in a legal battle with its landlord, management company and two former employees. The bar filed suit against the group last year, alleging that landlord Robert Brumbaugh conspired with former employees to make the property at 3359 N. Halsted uninhabitable in an attempt to take over the bar.
Brumbaugh has repeatedly declined to comment on the pending suit.
Meister and Zaharakis previously stated that Cocktail's financial woes stem from that battle as well as from renovations to the space in recent years during tough economic times.
The bar was shuttered temporarily twice in the last year after a failure to pay overdue sales taxes resulted in the revocation of Cocktail's liquor license.
Cocktail also announced earlier in the year that the bar had been sold but later said the deal fell through.
"It has been a rough couple of years for them," said Meister.
Meister said the closures hurt Cocktail but that the bar had otherwise done well financially in recent months.
The Chapter 11 filing, if approved by the court, would allow Cocktail to continue to operate and remain open.
Cocktail has been a gay fixture in Lakeview since it opened in 1996.