Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Commitments and Contingencies

v3.21.1
Commitments and Contingencies
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2021
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies

10. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

 

Legal proceedings

 

Indemnification agreement and tail policy

 

On March 25, 2020, pursuant to the requirements of the Merger Agreement, Chanticleer, Sonnet and Amergent entered into an indemnification agreement (“Indemnification Agreement”) providing that Amergent will fully indemnify and hold harmless each of Chanticleer and Sonnet, and each of their respective, directors, officers, stockholders and managers who assumes such role upon or following the closing of the merger against all actual or threatened claims, losses, liabilities, damages, judgments, fines and reasonable fees, costs and expenses, including attorneys’ fees and disbursements, incurred in connection with any claim, action, suit, proceeding or investigation, whether civil, administrative, investigative or otherwise, related to the Spin-Off Business prior to or in connection with its disposition to Amergent.

 

In addition, pursuant to Merger Agreement, prior to closing of the Merger, the Spin-Off Entity acquired a tail insurance policy in a coverage amount of $3.0 million, prepaid in full by the Spin-Off Entity, at no cost to the indemnitees, and effective for at least six years following the consummation of the disposition, covering the Spin-Off Entity’s indemnification obligations to the indemnitees (referred to herein as the “Tail Policy”). The Company does not anticipate that any potential liability would exceed the insured amount.

 

Litigation related to leased properties

 

During 2020 and 2021 the Company was in arrears on rent due on several of its leases as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the Company has pending litigation related to 11 sites of which 5 have permanently closed. The outcome of this litigation could result in the permanent closure of additional restaurant locations as well as the possibility of the Company being required to pay interest and damages, modify certain leases on unfavorable terms and could result in material impairments to the Company’s assets.

 

No amounts have been accrued as of March 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020 in the accompanying condensed consolidated and combined balance sheets as management does not believe the outcome will result in additional liabilities to the Company; however, there can be no guarantees.

 

From time to time, the Company may be involved in other legal proceedings and claims that have arisen in the ordinary course of business are generally covered by insurance. As of March 31, 2021, the Company does not expect the amount of ultimate liability with respect to these matters to be material to the Company’s financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

  

Leases

 

The Company’s leases typically contain rent escalations over the lease term. The Company recognizes expense for these leases on a straight-line basis over the lease term. Additionally, tenant incentives used to fund leasehold improvements are recognized when earned and reduce our right-of-use asset related to the lease. These incentives are amortized through the right-of-use asset as reductions of expense over the lease term.

 

Some of the Company’s leases include rent escalations based on inflation indexes and fair market value adjustments. Certain leases contain contingent rental provisions that include a fixed base rent plus an additional percentage of the restaurant’s sales in excess of stipulated amounts. Operating lease liabilities are calculated using the prevailing index or rate at lease commencement. Subsequent escalations in the index or rate and contingent rental payments are recognized as variable lease expenses. The Company’s lease agreements do not contain any material residual value guarantees or material restrictive covenants. As part of the lease agreements, the Company is also responsible for payments regarding non-lease components (common area maintenance, operating expenses, etc.) and percentage rent payments based on monthly or annual restaurant sales amounts which are considered variable costs and are not included as part of the lease liabilities.

 

Related to the adoption of Leases Topic 842, our policy elections were as follows:

 

Separation of lease and non-lease components

 

The Company elected this expedient to account for lease and non-lease components as a single component for the entire population of operating lease assets.

 

Short-term policy

 

The Company has elected the short-term lease recognition exemption for all applicable classes of underlying assets. Leases with an initial term of 12 months or less, that do not include an option to purchase the underlying asset that we are reasonably certain to exercise, are not recorded on the balance sheet.

  

Supplemental balance sheet information related to leases was as follows:

 

Operating Leases   Classification   March 31, 2021     December 31, 2020  
Right-of-use assets   Operating lease assets   $ 8,598,374     $ 9,529,443  
                     
Current lease liabilities   Current operating lease liabilities     5,054,829       4,209,389  
Non-current lease liabilities   Long-term operating lease liabilities     9,407,194       10,667,862  
        $ 14,462,023     $ 14,877,251  

 

Lease term and discount rate were as follows:

 

    March 31, 2021     December 31, 2020  
Weighted average remaining lease term (years)     7.80       7.70  
Weighted average discount rate     10 %     10 %

 

COVID-19 has negatively impacted operating results and cash flows at significantly varying amounts at the store level. Several stores were permanently closed during the year ended December 31, 2020 while others operated at a reduced capacity. Based on an assessment of the recoverability of the right-of-use asset as of March 31, 2021, an impairment charge of $705,122 was recorded during the three-months then ended.

 

During the three months ended March 31, 2021 $43,355 of lease liabilities were derecognized due to the Company negotiating the cancellation of its obligations under certain lease agreements. The cancellations resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Company had lease liabilities of $3,464,889 related to abandoned leases. These lease liabilities are presented as part of current operating lease liabilities.

 

Rent expense of approximately $0.6 million was incurred during the three months ended March 31, 2021, of which approximately $0.1 million was variable. Rent expense of approximately $0.6 million was recognized the three months ended March 31, 2020, of which approximately $0.1 million was variable.

 

PPP Loan

 

The Company received two PPP loans for amounts of $2.1 million and $2.0 million. The PPP loan program was established under the CARES Act and administered by the Small Business Administration (“SBA”). The application for PPP loans requires the Company to, in good faith, certify that the current economic uncertainty made the loan request necessary to support the ongoing operation of the Company. This certification further requires the Company to take into account current business activity and the Company’s ability to access other sources of liquidity sufficient to support the ongoing operations in a manner that is not significantly detrimental to the business. The receipt of funds from the PPP loans and forgiveness of the PPP loans is dependent on the Company having initially qualified for the PPP loans and qualifying for the forgiveness of such PPP loans based on funds being used for certain expenditures such as payroll costs and rent, as required by the terms of the PPP loans. There is no assurance that the Company’s obligation under the PPP loans will be forgiven. If the PPP loans are not forgiven, the Company will need to repay the PPP loans over the applicable deferral period.

 

Presently, the SBA and other governmental communications have indicated that all loans in excess of $2.0 million will be subject to audit and that those audits could take up to seven years to complete. If the SBA determines that the PPP loans were not properly obtained and/or expenditures supporting forgiveness were not appropriate, the Company would need to repay some or all of the PPP loans and record additional expense which could have a material adverse impact on the business, financial condition and results of operations in a future period.