Wild Wing Café CEO on how to navigate through bankruptcy
Take-Away with Sam Oches
Nation's Restaurant News
4.9 • 17 Ratings
🗓️ 8 October 2025
⏱️ 59 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode of Take-Away with Sam Oches, Sam talks with Mark Cote, CEO of both Wild Wing Café and Back Yard Burgers since 2022. The brands each recently emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy, and Mark joined the podcast to talk about the filing process, how to prepare for it, what it looks like, and why there’s reason for optimism even when it seems like the sky is falling.
In this conversation, you’ll find out why:
- If you hire people with your same skill set, you’ll fail miserably
- Bankruptcy is about the future more than failure
- Nobody in the bankruptcy process wants you to fail
- You still have to run a smart business during a bankruptcy filing
- If you think bankruptcy is in your future, start preparing now
- Through thick and thin, never lose sight of who you are as a brand
Register for CREATE, our event for emerging restaurateurs, by clicking here.
Have feedback or ideas for Take-Away? Email Sam at sam.oches@informa.com.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | 55% of Gen Z and millennials say social media reviews are the top reason they try a restaurant, |
| 0:05.0 | and 73% have visited a restaurant in the last three months because of one. |
| 0:09.0 | Do you have timely reviews working for you? |
| 0:12.0 | Quick turn influencer review campaigns from Bell Communication can fill tables fast. |
| 0:17.0 | Visit bellcommunication.com slash influence to learn more. |
| 0:21.6 | Welcome to Takeaway with Sam Ocas, a podcast for leaders of growing restaurant companies |
| 0:26.0 | looking to take their businesses to the next level. |
| 0:29.3 | In nearly two decades covering restaurants, I've gained access to some of the industry's |
| 0:33.7 | most influential decision makers, and I'm letting you in on the conversations. |
| 0:38.8 | In today's episode, you'll hear from a veteran restaurant executive who successfully |
| 0:42.7 | navigated two restaurant chains through bankruptcy at the same time, and you'll get the inside |
| 0:49.1 | scoop on what exactly that process entails. Mark Cody is CEO of both Wild Wing Cafe and Backyard Burgers, |
| 0:57.7 | which are owned by the Charlotte, North Carolina-based Axum Capital Partners. |
| 1:02.0 | Mark served one stint as an exec at Wild Wing Cafe a decade ago |
| 1:06.1 | and then was recruited to come back and serve as CEO of both brands in 2022. |
| 1:13.1 | Very quickly, he determined that they would need to close several restaurants and shortly after opted to file for Chapter 11 |
| 1:18.0 | bankruptcy protection at both chains, a process that each brand emerged from after two years. |
| 1:24.8 | Mark joined the podcast to talk about the bankruptcy process, how to prepare for it, |
| 1:29.0 | what it looks like, and why there's reason for optimism even when it seems like the sky is falling. |
| 1:34.3 | If you learn anything from this episode, go follow, take away wherever you're listening and |
| 1:38.5 | leave some feedback. It is the best way to get that lesson to a fellow restaurant leader. |
| 1:43.4 | Jumping now into my interview with Mark Cody of Wildwing Cafe and Backyard Burgers. |
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