Corner Bakery Cafe

CBC Restaurant Corporation, doing business as Corner Bakery Cafe is an American chain of cafes that specialize in pastries, breads, breakfast dishes, gourmet sandwiches, homemade soups, salads, and pasta. Corner Bakery Cafe is considered to be a part of the fast casual market segment of the food service industry, offering a somewhat higher quality of food and atmosphere than a typical fast food restaurant, and offering limited table service.

History
Corner Bakery Cafe was founded by Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, a Chicago-based restaurant group. It was sold to Brinker International, and then in 2005 to Il Fornaio (America) Corporation. Roark Capital Group bought Il Fornaio in 2011. In 2020, the Corner Bakery Cafe was purchased by Pandya Restaurant Growth Brands, LLC, a subsidiary of the Rohan Group of Companies. Mike Hislop is the chairman of the board. Mike came on as COO after the sale to CBC Restaurant Corporation.

Jim Vinz, the previous president & COO, had been with the company in various capacities since 1995, and was promoted to COO in 2005 and president in 2006.

On February 23, 2023, Corner Bakery Cafe filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, listing assets and liabilities between $10 million and $50 million. On June 5, 2023, SSCP Management Inc., which is the owner of Cicis Pizza and Roy's, and a franchisor of Applebee's and Sonic Drive-In, won a bankruptcy auction bid to acquire Corner Bakery Cafe for nearly $15 million.

In 2024, Corner Bakery Cafe reported that its average unit sales have surged in recent months, increasing by around $200,000. The company also recently brought in a group of executives to potentially expand the brand by opening new locations within the coming years, as well as introducing new training programs and employee recognition and incentive programs to maintain workforce trust. Corner Bakery Cafe is expected to remodel all of its restaurants, open five to seven new locations, and test kiosks at a few locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area throughout 2024.

The cafe has 192 locations nationwide, with large numbers in California, Texas, Pennsylvania and Illinois.