The empty Salad and Go drive-thru at 21429 S. Ellsworth Road could reopen as a Swig, the Utah-based soda shop chain known for "dirty sodas" mixed with flavors and cream, after the restaurant company's second bankruptcy auction.
Swig was the biggest buyer in the Sept. 30 auction of 34 shuttered Salad and Go sites, paying a little more than $7.3 million for 13 locations, Phoenix food news site Mouth by Southwest reported Tuesday. Seven are in the Valley, including the Queen Creek store.
The Arizona Republic, citing filings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, also reported that Swig bought 13 locations, 10 of them in Arizona.
The sale is not done yet. The bankruptcy judge is scheduled to consider the auction results at an Oct. 14 hearing, and none of the 34 sales is final until then, according to Mouth by Southwest. Neither outlet reported when, or whether, Swig plans to open in the building.
How the chain was split up
Salad and Go, a drive-thru salad chain, shut every location without warning at the start of August and sought Chapter 11 protection, the Republic reported.
In the first round, the judge approved coffee chain 7 Brew's $123.5 million purchase of 63 locations in four states. That deal includes 30 Valley sites, among them 1754 W. Hunt Highway in San Tan Valley, according to Mouth by Southwest. Dutch Bros, which had made a backup offer for that package, picked up five stores in the later auction.
