The future of Greater Washington’s Pinkberry frozen yogurt shops is a little less uncertain this week after a buyer purchased the assets of Pinkberry MidAtlantic, LLC with the intent of reopening the stores, according to the broker that ran the auction.
Pinkberry Midatlantic, LLC filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation in late December, and the assets of the seven frozen yogurt locations owned by that franchisee went up for auction Tuesday.
The original bidders, Amandeep Brar and Kamran Ahmed, won the auction, purchasing the assets of the franchisee for $91,000. The buyers were also given about $103,000 in rent concessions from the landlords of the Pinkberry locations, for rent that has accrued since the corporation filed its Chapter 7 petition Dec. 26.
Bar and Ahmed beat out six other bidders from D.C., Maryland, Virginia and New Jersey. They did have to up their original offer of $66,000 to win the auction, which was approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Alexandria Tuesday.
It appeared the buyers intended to reopen the Pinkberry locations in Gainesville, Fairfax, Tysons Corner, Clarendon, National Harbor and Georgetown, but not the one in Dupont Circle, said Stephen Karbelk of Auction Markets, LLC, which administered the auction.
An attorney for Brar and Ahmed did not return a call for comment. We’ve reached out to Pinkberry for comment and will update this story when we hear from the Los Angeles-based franchisor.
