The parent company of Johnny Rockets, Fatburger and Round Table Pizza filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Beverly Hills-based Fat Brands Inc. said in a statement that it filed for bankruptcy on Monday to restructure the debt it accumulated while expanding its company portfolio, citing “difficult and largely unforeseen” market conditions.

The company’s portfolio includes several brands with roots in the Southland. It owns retro diner chain Johnny Rockets, founded in 1986 on Los Angeles’ Melrose Avenue; shopping mall staple Hot Dog on a Stick, founded in 1964 in Santa Monica; and hamburger chain Fatburger, founded in 1947 in Los Angeles’ Exposition Park neighborhood.

Fat Brands also has investments in two brands that got their start in the Bay Area: pizza chain Round Table Pizza, founded in 1959 in Menlo Park, and fast-casual chain Yalla Mediterranean, founded in 2014 in Pleasant Hill.

The company has accumulated more than $1 billion in debt, according to its Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.

“Our dynamic portfolio of brands has demonstrated tremendous resilience in a challenging restaurant operating environment over the last few years,” Fat Brands Chief Executive Andy Wiederhorn said in a statement.

Chapter 11 protection will give the company an opportunity to “strengthen our capital structure to support our concepts,” he said.

Fat Brands has a portfolio of 18 restaurant concepts with more than 2,200 locations worldwide, according to the company’s November SEC filing. More than 90% of its locations are franchised.

Its shares have fallen more than 85% over the last three months. It received a delisting notice from Nasdaq market earlier this month.

Company spokesperson Erin Mandzik said in an email that the company’s restaurants are expected to remain operating as usual throughout the reorganization process.

The Times reported in 2022 that Wiederhorn, Fat Brands’ founder, was investigated for alleged tax fraud. Charges were dismissed in July, but a federal judge ordered the U.S. Department of Justice to explain its decision, as reported by the Los Angeles Business Journal.

After a competitive bidding process, indie studio A24 has acquired the U.S. rights to Olivia Wilde’s comedy “The Invite” in a major deal out of the Sundance Film Festival.

The film, which stars Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton, was purchased for around $10 million, according to a person familiar with the deal who requested anonymity due to the sensitive matter. One factor for Wilde was a preference for a traditional theatrical release.

“The Invite” focuses on a dinner party among neighbors and was billed as a must-see after it premiered over the weekend at Sundance. So far, the film has notched a 91% rating on aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

The market at Sundance has traditionally been viewed as a bellwether for the indie film business. In the last few years, deals have been slower to emerge from the festival, particularly as streamers stopped offering massive sums for films to stock their platforms and as studios cut back on spending.

The deal for “The Invite” is one of a handful that have already been announced. On Tuesday, Neon said it acquired the worldwide rights to horror film “Leviticus,” which premiered at Sundance. Neon also bought the worldwide rights over the weekend for another horror flick, “4 X 4: The Event” from filmmaker Alex Ullom. That deal was the first to be made in Park City, though the film was not shown at Sundance and will begin production later this year. The value for both of Neon’s deals was not disclosed.

At the 2024 Oscars, Ryan Gosling, reprising his role as Ken in Greta Gerwig’s 2023 movie “Barbie,” donned a bedazzled pink suit and belted the ballad “I’m Just Ken.”

“I’m just Ken, anywhere else I’d be a 10,” the actor sang. “Is it my destiny to live and die a life of blond fragility?”

Barbie’s needy male counterpart, it turns out, is not “just Ken.” His full name is Kenneth Sean Carson, according to Mattel, which says the doll saw a uptick in popularity in the years following the hit movie’s release.

Ahead of Ken’s 65th birthday, the El Segundo-based toy giant shared a laundry list of niche biographical details about the doll, including his official “birthday” — March 11, 1961, making him a Pisces — as well as his relationship history with Barbie.

The company said in a statement Monday that Ken has “experienced a resurgence in recent years.”

A Mattel spokesperson cited the “Barbie” movie as a driving factor, as it showed a “different side” of Ken. In a meta move, the company later in 2023 released Ken dolls modeled after Ryan Gosling’s portrayal of Ken.

The “Kenbassador” line launched last year was a “great success,” the spokesperson said. The first product in that toy series was a $75 doll modeled after basketball player LeBron James released in April.

Mattel says it does not break out sales of Ken dolls, but in 2017, when Mattel unveiled Ken dolls with different body types, including one that invited “dad-bod” comparisons, the company told the Wall Street Journal that, on average, girls have one Ken doll for every seven Barbies they own.

Ruth Handler, the creator of Barbie, named the original doll after her daughter, Barbara. The glamorous doll, unique in that it depicted a grown woman rather than a baby, was an instant hit when it debuted at the New York Toy Fair in 1959. Barbie has significantly evolved in the decades since. Recent additions include Barbies with Type 1 diabetes and another with autism.

The Ken doll, created in 1961, was named after Handler’s son, Kenneth. He featured molded hair, wore red swim trunks and carried a yellow towel.

Kenneth Handler told The Times in a 1989 story that there were few similarities between him and the doll named after him. He died in 1994.

“Ken doll is Malibu,” he said. “He goes to the beach and surfs. He is all these perfect American things.”

But when Kenneth Handler was at Hamilton High School in Beverlywood, he “played the piano and went to movies with subtitles.” He continued, “I was a nerd — a real nerd. All the girls thought I was a jerk.”

Like Barbie, Ken dabbled in many different careers over the decades. There have been doctor, pilot, tennis player, firefighter, lifeguard, barista and even Olympic skier Kens, among many others. In 2006, he received a “mid-life makeover” from celebrity stylist Phillip Bloch.

According to the company, Ken and Barbie “met” on the set of their first television commercial in 1961 and soon began dating. After more than four decades, the doll couple broke up in 2004, but reunited in 2011.

Mattel was founded by Ruth Handler; her husband, Elliot Handler; and Harold “Matt” Matson in 1945 in a Los Angeles garage. The toy maker became a publicly traded company in 1960.

Mattel, which also owns Fisher-Price and Hot Wheels, wrote in its October Securities and Exchange Commission filing that “industry-wide shifts in retailer ordering patterns” pushed its third quarter net sales down 6%.

In 2024, Barbie gross billings — which measure the total value of products Mattel ships to retailers before sales adjustments — were down 12% from 2023, which had seen a boost from the movie, according to the company’s annual SEC filing.