Garduño's seeks bankruptcy protection

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Three of the long-established Garduño's restaurants in Albuquerque closed Monday as parent company Tortilla Inc. filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy intended to save at least part of the business.

Three of the five Garduno's restaurants in Albuquerque closed down and put about 100 people out of work.

The Garduno family said the hardest part of the deal was laying people off, but those left without jobs told News 13 talk is cheap.

"The say they're sorry and everything, but they could have given us a heads up, so I could have been looking for a job for the past month or so," former employee Megan Freidank said.

Dana Brunner said she is devastated.

"It's a very family-oriented business and all of us have been working there for years," the former Garduno's worker explained. "We all know each other very well and we don't want to go anywhere else."

The restaurants that closed down are the Montgomery, Academy and Fourth Street locations.

The Winrock and Cottonwood restaurants are still open along with two in Las Vegas, NV.

The parent company of Garduno's, Tortilla Inc., is at least $6 million in the hole, owing everyone from the IRS, the city of Albuquerque, to liquor and restaurant supply companies.

Owner David Garduno blames the economy and a former employee who he said embezzled more than a million dollars.

"The difficulty has been the domino effect when one thing spirals wrong, it just keeps going," Garduno said. "We got to the point where we have to use the law basically to reorganize."

Gardumo told News 13 he hopes to reorganize the company and expand again one day.

He said his company is still making payments on the $954,000 tax debt it has with the state.