Memphis-based restaurant owner Perkins & Marie Callender’s Inc. says it will be “business as usual” during its restructuring process after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday.

The restaurant chain secured $21 million in financing from Wells Fargo Capital Finance to coincide with its bankruptcy proceedings.

Perkins will use that money to maintain its business and “vendors and suppliers should see no change in normal business operations,” according to apany news release.

Perkins CEO Jay Trungale said restaurant operations will not be impacted by the restructuring and customers will not be affected by the move.

However, Monday’s bankruptcy filing said thepany plans to close 65 underperforming stores; Trungale said thepany would close 58.

The move will cut 2,500 jobs, or about 20 percent of its workforce of 12,350.

“This initial round of store closings was arrived at following store-level analyses of historical financial performance, local market conditions and cost structure,” Trungale said. “The process to identify underperforming locations remains ongoing and will continue throughout the chapter 11 case.”

Thepany has already closed some of those stores. Newspapers and television stations in numerous markets reported finding Perkins or Marie Callender’s restaurants already locked by Monday morning.

It appears thepany will leave open its four Memphis-area Perkins stores.

Management said sluggish consumer spending and highermodity prices were to blame for its sagging sales, particularly in Florida, California and Nevada, where the recession hit hard and where most of its stores are concentrated.

Also, thepany said it could not afford to build new restaurants and upgrade existing ones, so it lost customers to better-funded restaurantpetitors.

Thepany filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware on Monday and said it had assets of about $290 million and liabilities of $440.8 million.

Top creditors include The Bank of New York Mellon Trust and law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher.

While Perkins is based in Memphis’ Crescent Center at 6075 Poplar, neither of the restaurants under its umbrella began here.

Perkins began as a single pancake house in Ohio in 1958, according to its website. As of April 17, thepany owned 160 restaurants in 13 states and franchised 314 stores in 31 states primarily in the Midwest, Florida and Pennsylvania.

Perkins also has stores in five Canadian provinces.

Marie Callender’s began as a pie business in California in 1948, and its first pie and coffee shop was opened in 1964. Thepany now owns 85 restaurants in nine states and franchises 37 stores in four states and in Mexico.

Perkins and Marie Callender’s are both owned by New York investment firm Castle Harlan, Inc. Thatpanybined the two restaurants in May 2006.

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