Matt's Tex Mex

Update: 

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Popular Tex-Mex restaurant Matt’s Rancho Martinez is closing its Colleyville and Cedar Hill locations this week, according to a statement from Matt’s Rancho Martinez, signed Estella and Matt Martinez.

The Lakewood, Garland and Roanoke are “still operating and healthy,” the statement claims.

“We are taking actions to re-group, re-organize, re-structure and take a close, hard look internally to resolve issues that determine whether we are a sustainable business,” it says.

The statement says the company had to “take drastic measures and make life-changing decisions” which were “made with great pain and are extremely difficult, but necessary. We have an uphill climb before us.”

Original report: 

Joaquin & Marco, Inc., which operates the popular Tex-Mex restaurant Matt’s Rancho Martinez, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this week.

They filed on Monday, Jan. 19, in the Eastern District, the Sherman Division. There are five Matt’s Rancho Martinez locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, not including the location in Allen that closed a year ago. So far three locations have filed a voluntary petition: the location in Lakewood in the Skillman-Live Oak shopping center, the location in Roanoke and the location in Garland.

Yesterday afternoon the manger on duty at the Matt’s in Lakewood was unaware of the bankruptcy filing and unable to answer any questions. We reached out to several people who are a part of the Matt’s Rancho Martinez leadership team, but so far we have not heard back from anyone. The attorney on the petition, Joyce Lindauer, simply said in an email that “They will survive,” but she did not provide any details about the filing.

According to the petition, this is a corporate bankruptcy and the debts are primarily business debts.

In February 2012, Matt’s Rancho Martinez in Lakewood closed its location in Lakewood Shopping Center, where Mi Cocina now operates, and it reopened in its current location in the Skillman-Live Oak shopping center that September. In December 2013, Matt’s rolled out new menus chock-full of gluten free options.