Five-year-old Band of Bohemia, whose pioneering vision of brewing beer and serving creative, ambitious food was ultimately rewarded with a coveted Michelin star, is going out of business after filing for bankruptcy.
Launched in 2015 by two former employees of the renowned Alinea restaurant, Band of Bohemia filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation Friday in the Northern District of Illinois.
According to court records, Band of Bohemia is more than $1 million in debt. But in a statement Wednesday, Band of Bohemia founders Michael Carroll and Craig Sindelar blamed the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic for the closure.
“Due to COVID-19, we have filed for bankruptcy and closed our doors,” Carroll said by email. “It has been a great five years of serving Chicago and the world, but it is now time to focus on our health and our families.”
The restaurant has been closed since July, when Band of Bohemia said it would be shuttering temporarily.
The restaurant has about $223,000 in assets and about $1.3 million in debt, according to court records. Its largest creditor is Bancorp Bank, but Band of Bohemia also owes thousands of dollars to dozens of small companies.
Among those owed money are several Chicago-area businesses that range from food, beer and wine vendors to companies that sell plants, ice and firewood. It also owes $100,000 in rent and taxes, records show.
Band of Bohemia secured $400,000 in loans through the Paycheck Protection Program in April, according to court records.
Ever since announcing its intentions of opening in 2013, Band of Bohemia made its ambition plain. At the time, Carroll, a former baker at Alinea and brewer at Half Acre Beer Co., said he envisioned Band of Bohemia as “an upscale, contemporary style of brewpub leaning toward the Michelin-star mindset.”
The restaurant finally opened in November 2015 and struggled mightily for its first year. It was on the verge of going under until the restaurant was awarded a Michelin star during the fall of 2016.
The honor quite likely saved Band of Bohemia, its founders have said, transforming its dining room from nearly empty to full virtually overnight.
Band of Bohemia retained its Michelin star every year through 2019, when stars were last awarded. Along the way, it became one of the world’s most unique brewpubs by tailoring its food to its arcane approach to brewing, such as a stout brewed with roasted parsnip, sassafras root, fennel, chicory, sarsaparilla, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, bay rum leaves, cubeb pepper, yucca and molasses.
However, the restaurant was also dogged by controversy. When Band of Bohemia’s former executive chef, Ian Davis, left Band of Bohemia, on New Year’s Eve 2018, it was portrayed as due to creative differences.
At the time, Sindelar told the Chicago Tribune that the restaurant didn’t “want to lose any of our concept or our idea of what Band of Bohemia is … he was looking for something a bit different.”
Weeks later, however, allegations emerged that Davis had behaved inappropriately toward women at the restaurant.
This summer, allegations emerged both anonymously online and by former employees that Carroll and Sindelar were aware of complaints about Davis’ alleged treatment of female employees, but failed to fully investigate or hold the chef accountable. Carroll and Sindelar denied the allegations to the Chicago Tribune.
In July, apparently fueled by the allegations, and after trying to make a go of it during the COVID-19 pandemic with duck, salmon or vegetarian “picnic packs” priced from $36 to $48, Band of Bohemia announced a temporary closure on Instagram.
“We have decided to close our doors for the next few weeks to learn, and reflect on our faults, our deaf ears and the feelings of those who we have caused harm,” the restaurant said in the posting.
“It was never our intention to come to this path, but as the voices have said, we need to find a way into a new era of how restaurants are run and focused. We have listened. We hear you. We will continue our discussions on how we will forge a new path forward, and how we will change.”
Band of Bohemia plans to issue a statement on its website announcing the closure, Carroll said.
“The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating for so many and even though this closing is personal to us, it is important for all of us to look at the bigger picture and understand that the reality is so many more restaurants will be forced to shut their doors, as they aren’t receiving much needed support,” the statement says, according to a copy provided by Carroll. “Please reach out to your public officials, congressman, senators and anyone else who can make a difference, so that your other favorite establishments won’t have to say goodbye as well.”
According to court records, Band of Bohemia is liquidating furniture, artwork and an array of kitchen and brewing equipment, including stoves, refrigerators, a wood fire grill and walk-in cooler. The restaurant is in the midst of a lease that expires in May 2024.
Sindelar and Carroll each owned 18.75% of the business with an array of investors, according to records.
Band of Bohemia began the process of filing for bankruptcy Sept. 8, when it retained attorneys for the proceeding, according to court filings.
