Patty Slaps: a staff-owned buyer takes the downtown restaurant for $90,000

In September 2025, MTL Blog reported that Patty Slaps, a burger restaurant at 1449 Sainte-Catherine Street West in downtown Montreal, had come first in Canada in Burger Week 2025 with a burger called the Big Jang, against 374 restaurants nationwide. The company that runs it is 14031253 Canada Inc., incorporated in 2022, trading as Restaurant Patty Slaps and employing 26 people, per the Trustee's Report in Support of the Motion, Aug. 24, 2026, paras. 6–7. On July 28, 2026, it filed a notice of intention to make a proposal under s. 50.4(1) of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, with MNP Ltd. as trustee, and listed $3,690,829.34 in claims of $250 or more, per the Notice to Creditors of Intention to make a Proposal, July 31, 2026, paras. 1, 3 and pp. 2–3.

On August 27, the day its first 30 days to file a proposal ran out, Me Vincent-Michel Aubé, sitting as registrar of the Superior Court of Québec, Commercial Division, approved the sale of the restaurant's assets to 9574-1245 Québec Inc. and gave the company until October 11 to make its proposal, per the Approval and Vesting Order and Extension of Time to File a Proposal, Aug. 27, 2026, paras. 4–5, 9, 22. The price in the buyer's letter of intent is $90,000, and the Patty Slaps brand is part of what it buys, per the Motion for an Approval and Vesting Order, Aug. 24, 2026, paras. 10–11. The buyer's shareholders and directors, the trustee reports, are employees of the debtor, per the Trustee's Report, Aug. 24, 2026, para. 40.

A kitchen in Saint-Léonard and a second restaurant at Royalmount

The explanation for the filing is the debtor's own, relayed by MNP from information management supplied. Since opening, the company had been in a start-up and growth phase and had recorded operating losses in its first years. With a network of several restaurants in view, it took on expenses and obligations "before the anticipated revenues materialized" [translation], per the Trustee's Report, Aug. 24, 2026, paras. 8–9.

One was a central kitchen of about 3,773 square feet at 8766 rue Pascal-Gagnon in Saint-Léonard, which "generated no revenue of its own" [translation] and carried rent, utilities, insurance, service contracts and the lease of a vehicle to move product; management puts its cost at about $225,000. The kitchen closed in January 2026. Its landlord, Les Investissements Allpark Inc., remains a creditor, and litigation is under way in court file 500-22-294707-263, per the Trustee's Report, Aug. 24, 2026, paras. 9–10.

The company also built an administrative function sized for several locations, which management later cut back, in part by shrinking the space its head office occupied. It helped finance a second Patty Slaps at Royalmount, operated by a separate company, 16359761 Canada inc., which is not part of this proceeding. The most recent accounting records available to the trustee, dated December 2024, show development spending and advances for that location of close to $1 million; management told MNP that an update of the books was under way to clarify the nature and breakdown of those amounts, and the trustee has not verified them, per the Trustee's Report, Aug. 24, 2026, paras. 11–13.

The expansion did not come on the expected schedule, and the costs of preparing for it stayed mainly with the debtor. Together with the operating losses and the support for Royalmount, the report says, they built up significant debt, "notably to suppliers, tax authorities and related persons" [translation], until the company could no longer meet its obligations as they came due, per the Trustee's Report, Aug. 24, 2026, paras. 14–15.

MNP's unaudited summary of the debt at filing is $738,001 secured, $2,265,863 ordinary unsecured and $686,972 in deemed trusts for source deductions, $3,690,836 in all. The principal secured creditors are Bank of Montreal, PME MTL Centre-Ville and Prime Properties Inc.; the principal unsecured creditors include Revenu Québec, for about $0.8 million in sales taxes, along with suppliers and individuals who had made advances, per the Trustee's Report, Aug. 24, 2026, paras. 16–17, 20. The creditor list filed with the notice puts BMO at $450,000, PME MTL Centre-Ville at $208,000 and Prime Properties at $79,999.96. Its largest entries are Revenu Québec at $798,021 and Jarell Construction at $753,675.16, and its source-deduction claims are $454,124.23 to the Canada Revenue Agency and $232,847.83 to Revenu Québec, per the Notice to Creditors of Intention to make a Proposal, July 31, 2026, pp. 2–3.

Fifteen days on the market

MNP launched the sale on August 5, per the Trustee's Report, Aug. 24, 2026, para. 23. Its teaser offered "14031253 Canada Inc. (Patty Slaps Downtown Montreal)": restaurant furniture and dining-room furnishings, commercial kitchen equipment, walk-in coolers, refrigerated prep stations, office furniture and intangible assets, sold on an "as is, where is basis," with letters of intent due by 11:59 p.m. on August 20, per the Teaser, Aug. 5, 2026, p. 1. The conditions of sale asked for a deposit of at least 10% and tenders valid for 30 days, and reserved the trustee's right to refuse the highest one, per the Conditions of Sale, Aug. 5, 2026, conds. 1, 3–4.

The trustee posted the opportunity on its website and its LinkedIn page. Services FL, which also appraised the assets for MNP, posted it on its own site and contacted 1,733 business contacts and potential investors directly. At the deadline MNP had one offer. One other party had come forward during the process and did not bid, per the Trustee's Report, Aug. 24, 2026, paras. 21, 25–29. The offer was a binding letter of intent from 9574-1245 Québec Inc., dated August 20 and accepted on August 21, per the Motion for an Approval and Vesting Order, Aug. 24, 2026, para. 9.

What the $90,000 buys, and what stays behind

The buyer takes the restaurant and office furniture and equipment described in the Services FL appraisal; the company's intangibles, including its trademarks, websites, domain names, goodwill and other intellectual property; and its inventory of food, drinks, packaging and cleaning products, per the Trustee's Report, Aug. 24, 2026, para. 21. The $90,000, plus applicable taxes, is payable in cash and subject to the usual inventory adjustments, per the Trustee's Report, Aug. 24, 2026, para. 31 and the Motion for an Approval and Vesting Order, Aug. 24, 2026, para. 11.

The buyer also undertakes to keep the debtor's employees, recognize their years of service and assume their accrued, unpaid vacation, obligations the report counts in addition to the price. Beyond those, the letter of intent expressly excludes the assumption of any debt, obligation or liability of the debtor. Cash, bank balances and receivables are excluded too, including the receivable from 16359761 Canada inc., per the Trustee's Report, Aug. 24, 2026, paras. 22, 32–34.