Moo & Oink Inc., a Chicago-based meat seller that has a history in the city dating back 150 years, may be forced to liquidate their assets and close unless they can locate a buyer.
The news is based on a letter mailed to the company's creditors earlier this month, where the company's trustee Steven Nerger said Moo & Oink will be liquidating "as soon as reasonably possible" unless a new investor buys the small chain, which is best known for their selection of meats and their zany-at-times commercials, the Austin Weekly News reports.
(Scroll down to watch one of Moo & Oink's best-known commercials.)
The company owns and operates three stores within city limits -- including one in the Austin neighborhood and two on Chicago's South Side -- in addition to one located in the south suburbs, which have struggled to turn a profit as of late. Between 2009 and 2010, the company lost $2.7 million, in addition to another $713,000 it lost through June of this year.
Despite the report, a consultant working with Moo & Oink told Crain's that the company's possible shuttering was "a rumor. We are in business.”
Employees at the Moo & Oink told ABC7 they had not yet been notified of the stores' closing. One customer told the station that "[p]eople won't have nowhere to go get their meats" if the stores close, "because this is the best place to buy meats."
Photo by Kim Scarborough via Flickr.