A popular indoor pickleball franchise with New Jersey locations in Manahawkin, East Brunswick, and Fair Lawn filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week.
The Picklr has grown by leaps and bounds since opening in 2021. It began franchising locations two years later.
According to Sports Business Journal, the company now boasts more than 70 American locations as well as clubs in Australia, Canada, and Japan.
In New Jersey, there are The Picklr locations on Rt 72 in Manahawkin, Rt 18 in East Brunswick, and Pollitt Drive in Fair Lawn.
What Caused The Chapter 11 Bankruptcy?
The issue that The Picklr ran into began when the company agreed to be a guarantor for facility lease payments for around 40 of its early franchisees.
Jorge Barragan, Picklr’s founder and CEO, told Sports Business Journal that those deals had become an unmanageable burden for the parent company. The Picklr hopes to use the bankruptcy process to renegotiate lease agreements.
Numbers from the company’s bankruptcy show The Picklr had a net loss of $4.4M on revenue of $10.3M in 2025. As of the end of March, The Picklr had total liabilities of about $19M.
Barragan believes that the bankruptcy will “open up doors for a lot of people to renegotiate with the landlords and give people more success moving forward.”
Prime Investors Believe in The Picklr
Tom Neale, the founder and CEO of advisory firm Arete Sports Group, said he first invested in The Picklr around three years ago.
As a franchisee and member of the company’s franchise advisory committee, he has seen enough to have confidence in the company moving forward.
Neals has committed $4.8M in financing and would sponsor The Picklr’s reorganization, according to Sports Business Journal.
Neals points out that Former NFL QB Drew Brees is an investor and franchisee and says that Brees “will likely have involvement with us going forward.”
The company reduced staff before the bankruptcy filing but doesn’t think any of The Picklr locations will be affected by the filing. So, it is still game on at all three of New Jersey’s The Picklr locations.
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