Moe & Johnny’s owner files for bankruptcy reorganization

The owner of a popular Broad Ripple bar is seeking to reorganize its assets under the protection of bankruptcy to help clear debt he incurred from another business interest.

Chuck Mack of Moe & Johnny’s, 5380 N. College Ave., filed for Chapter 11 on Nov. 5 using the corporate name of Charles G. Mack Entertainment Services Inc.

Mack listed the bar’s assets at $118,300 and its liabilities at $922,255. Revenue this year through Oct. 31 was nearly $2 million, according to the court filing.

The largest secured creditor listed is the Indianapolis office of Milwaukee-based M&I Bank, which is owed $163,000.

Another of Mack’s business interests, which he said led to the reorganization, is the redevelopment of Buggs Temple on West 11th Street at the head of the Central Canal in downtown Indianapolis

He and Meridian Asset Development teamed up on the former church building, which opened under its new use in 2007 and houses restaurants Creation Café on the first floor and Euphoria on the second level.

A lack of investors, however, caused Mack to use assets from his bar as collateral to finance parts of the Buggs project, prompting him to seek reorganization, he said.

“It was just a perfect storm that we got caught in,” he said, “and this is the financial cleaning up of all of that.”

Mack said Moe & Johnny’s, which he opened in 1996, is in no danger of closing. Rather, he said he lost money from lease failures at Buggs Temple. He’s not involved in the operation of either restaurant there.

But Mack and his wife were partners in the upscale Tavern at the Temple, which survived about 11 months before closing in 2008.

While volumes were on target for Tavern, investors in the concept didn’t materialize as hoped, IBJ reported in September 2008.

“I wasn’t able to raise any money,” Mack said on Thursday. “We weren’t able to do it financially, so we had to get out of that business.”

Nearly $760,000 of the debt listed in Mack’s bankruptcy filing is unsecured. Of the amount, at least $114,757 is listed as “potential liability arising from debtor’s involvement with Buggs Operations LLC.”

The amounts of several other unsecured claims relating to the development are listed as “undetermined.”