Moo & Oink Beefs Up Auction Block

Where’s the beef, you ask? Well, according to the bankruptcy court, it’ll be on the auction block next month.

Bidders will be able to vie for famous Chicago grocer and butcher Moo & Oink at a Dec. 14 auction, NBC Chicago reported. Creditors successfully forced the four-store chain into Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation earlier this year, which means that all its assets will be sold and the proceeds distributed to such creditors as the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1546.

“It seems this is the best chance to get the company operating under new management and restore the business. I hope that works,” Judge Jack Schmetterer of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Chicago said Monday upon approving the auction, according to NBC Chicago.

Lawyers in the case told the Chicago Sun-Times that the sale has drawn interest from major retail chains as well as a private investment group and Best Chicago Meat Co. The latter, which supplies restaurants and retailers with such meat products as hot dogs, is looking at Moo & Oink’s brands and other intellectual property. The auction rules allow for Moo & Oink’s sale as an entire business or in bits and pieces.

Moo & Oink’s four stores, three of which are in Chicago, closed in September in connection with the bankruptcy, the Sun-Times reported. The move not only placed the chain’s 150-year legacy at risk but also resulted in the loss of 200 jobs.

The stores, which once offered rib tips, moo patties, sausage, chitlins and french fries, are located in communities that make up what some call Chicago’s “food desert.” These are areas where it can be difficult to find healthful and fresh grocery stores, and they can be found in Chicago and other big cities.