Marmalade Cafe Files for Bankruptcy

Four locations, including the original full-service cafe in Malibu, remain open for now.

Holly Bieler · September 5, 2026 · Calabasas

Marmalade Cafe, the Southern California diner chain that closed its Calabasas restaurant last month, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, [the California Post is reporting](https://nypost.com/2026/09/05/business/marmalade-cafe-files-for-bankruptcy-after-closing-calabasas-location/).

The company filed on Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California, citing "rent disputes and mounting supplier debts." The filing lists $12.7 million in assets against a net loss of about $680,000, and more than $2.4 million in unsecured debt owed to 20 named creditors, including $481,150 to Gilmore Farmers Market and $349,014 to the state tax department.

Four Marmalade locations remain open: Malibu, Westlake Village, Sherman Oaks and El Segundo. The company hasn't said what the bankruptcy means for them, and reports indicate management is unclear whether any will ultimately close. However the case was filed under Subchapter V, a streamlined form of Chapter 11 designed to let small businesses reorganize while continuing to operate, rather than liquidate.

The Calabasas restaurant, at The Commons, closed in early August after 28 years. A location on Santa Monica Blvd. closed a month earlier, which the company attributed in its filing to "unsustainable financial losses and a lack of rent relief." The Original Farmers Market location closed in May, and the original Montana Ave. cafe closed in 2024.

Marmalade once employed more than 200 people. By this summer, it was down to about 50, according to the filing.

The chain's history runs through Malibu. Marmalade started in 1990 as a 1,400 square foot bakery and takeout counter on Montana Ave. in Santa Monica. Less than three years later, its founders opened their first full-service restaurant, a 100-seat cafe on Cross Creek Rd. in the Malibu Country Mart. The founders sold the business in 2007.