Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

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COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2022
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

13. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

 

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. The Indemnification Agreement expires on March 25, 2026.

 

In addition, pursuant to the 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”). No claims have arisen to date, and the Company does not anticipate that any potential liability would exceed the insured amount.

 

Legal Proceedings

 

Litigation related to leased properties

 

During 2021 and the three and six months ended June 30, 2022, 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 four sites, all of which 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. See Leases section below for discussion of past due rent on abandoned locations.

 

No amounts have been accrued as of June 30, 2022 or December 31, 2021 in the accompanying condensed consolidated 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 June 30, 2022, the Company does not expect the amount of ultimate liability with respect to these matters to be material to the Company’s consolidated financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

 

 

Leases

 

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

 

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:

 

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 the Company is reasonably certain to exercise, are not recorded on the balance sheet.

 

Supplemental balance sheet information related to leases was as follows (in thousands):

 

Operating Leases   Classification   June 30, 2022     December 31, 2021  
Right-of-use assets   Operating lease assets   $ 7,962     $ 8,021  
                     
Current lease liabilities   Current operating lease liabilities   $ 4,180     $ 4,599  
Non-current lease liabilities   Long-term operating lease liabilities     8,604       8,644  
        $ 12,784     $ 13,243  

 

Lease term and discount rate were as follows:

 

    June 30, 2022     December 31, 2021  
Weighted average remaining lease term (years)     6.4       6.7  
Weighted average discount rate     7.8 %     8.1 %

 

As of June 30, 2021, we performed an analysis of the recoverability of our right-of-use assets. Based on the analysis, we recorded an impairment of approximately $0.7 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021, which is included in asset impairment charges in our condensed consolidated statements of operations. The impairment recognized during the six months ended June 30, 2021 was primarily the result of the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States, which had a significant impact throughout the hospitality industry. Negative impacts to the operating results and cash flows varied significantly at the store level, where some stores operated at a reduced capacity and several stores were permanently closed. There were no indicators of impairment related to our right-of-use assets during the six months ended June 30, 2022.

 

During each of the three and six months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021, approximately $0.3 million of lease liabilities were derecognized due to the Company negotiating the cancellation of its obligations under certain lease agreements, which is included in gain on extinguished/settled lease liabilities in our condensed consolidated statements of operations. The cancellations resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Company had lease liabilities of $2.7 million related to abandoned leases as of June 30, 2022. These lease liabilities are included in current operating lease liabilities in our condensed consolidated balance sheets.

 

 

During the six months ended June 30, 2022, the Company amended certain leases and changed its assumptions regarding the exercise of a renewal option, which have been accounted for as lease modifications. The operating lease assets and liabilities were remeasured at the modification dates, resulting in an increase of $0.6 million during the six months ended June 30, 2022 to both the right-of-use assets and lease liabilities. There were no lease modifications during the six months ended June 30, 2021.

 

Rent expense of approximately $0.6 million and $1.1 million was incurred during the three and six months ended June 30, 2022, respectively. Rent expense of approximately $0.6 million and $1.2 million was incurred during the three and six months ended June 30, 2021, respectively, of which approximately $0.1 million was variable.

 

Maturities of our operating lease liabilities as of June 30, 2022 are presented below (in thousands):

 

         
Year ending December 31:      
2022 (remaining six months)   $ 1,427  
2023     2,645  
2024     2,654  
2025     2,501  
2026     2,097  
Thereafter     5,167  
Total remaining lease payments     16,491  
Less: imputed interest     (3,707 )
Total lease liabilities   $ 12,784  

 

PPP Loan

 

As discussed in Note 9, the Company received two PPP loans totaling $4.1 million, which were established under the CARES Act and administered by the U.S. SBA. The application for the PPP loans requires the Company to, in good faith, certify that the current economic uncertainty made the loan requests necessary to support the ongoing operations 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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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.

 

RRF

 

As discussed in Note 3, Pie Squared Holdings received an approximately $10.0 million grant under the RRF and the Company assumed the risks and rewards related to the grant through the acquisition of Pie Squared Holdings. If it is determined that Pie Squared Holdings obtained the grant improperly or the disbursement of such grant monies was not for “eligible uses,” then the Company would be responsible for the ramifications of such actions including the repayment of the $10.0 million of grant monies, among other items.