To say it didn’t work would be putting it mildly. LIV Golf made major financial commitments to its golfers, and its revenue never matched.

Now, the Saudis have pulled their funding, and efforts to bring in new money have failed. LIV Golf has begun its wind-down process, and Chad Van Horn, a double board-certified bankruptcy attorney and founder and managing partner of Van Horn Law Group in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., discussed what’s happening with TheStreet.

He talked about what happens to professional golfers still owed millions in guaranteed contracts. Van Horn also answers whether another buyer could rescue the LIV Golf brand, or if this is the end of the league as we know it.

TheStreet: What does LIV Golf’s decision to “wind down” mean?

Chad Van Horn: LIV 2.0 was the reorganization. On Nov. 5, LIV told the court there won’t be one. ‘Value-maximizing wind down’ is restructuring language for three things: sell whatever has value, pay creditors in the order the Bankruptcy Code sets, and close the doors.

The players still holding guarantees against LIV are now unsecured creditors of a company that is liquidating, and that line gets paid last, if at all.

The brand isn’t necessarily dead. A buyer can still pick up the name, the team IP, and the media rights out of bankruptcy, free of the old contracts. What’s gone is LIV as the company that signed those checks.

TheStreet: What happens next in bankruptcy court?

Van Horn: Big Chapter 11 cases are often built with a switch: reorganize if the new money closes, sell and wind down if it doesn’t. When BC Partners walked, LIV flipped the switch.

The most likely path is staying in Chapter 11, selling the assets under § 363 of the Bankruptcy Code, then a liquidating plan to distribute what’s left. Conversion to Chapter 7, where a trustee takes over, is still possible if the case can’t pay for that process.

TheStreet: What happens to players owed millions in guaranteed contracts?

Van Horn: A rejected contract becomes a general unsecured claim (11 U.S.C. § 365(g)), behind the lender, the professionals, and priority claims like wages and taxes. The players’ real leverage is anyone other than LIV who signed or guaranteed their deal, because a non-debtor doesn’t get bankruptcy protection.

On the golf side, a rejected contract frees the player to sign elsewhere, which puts the DP World Tour’s mid-November membership deadline and the PGA Tour’s one-year suspension rule front and center.

TheStreet: Who else stands to lose money?

Van Horn: Employees get priority for unpaid wages, but only up to $17,150 each. Vendors, venues, and sponsors owed money stand in the same unsecured line as the players. Expect the creditors’ committee to look hard at any payments to executives and other insiders in the year before the filing, because those can be clawed back for creditors.

TheStreet: Could another investor or buyer save LIV Golf?

Van Horn: LIV’s lawyers chose their words carefully: ‘not currently proceeding’ with LIV 2.0, and LIV said the deal ‘is not expected to move forward at this time.’

That leaves a crack open, but a small one. The realistic rescue is a buyer of the assets, not an investor in the company.

ALSO READ: 55-year-old sandwich chain operator files Chapter 11 bankruptcy

A quick look at LIV Golf’s shutdown

• What happened: On Nov. 5, LIV’s lawyers told a New Jersey bankruptcy court that the league would drop its proposed LIV 2.0 restructuring and begin winding down, Yahoo Sports reported.
• The trigger: The day before, BC Partners pulled its planned $300 million investment in the relaunch because LIV failed to sign up enough players, according to CBS Sports.
• Court quote: LIV’s lawyer told the court the league is “toggling to a value-maximizing wind-down of their business,” Sky Sports reported.
• Timeline: The Saudi Public Investment Fund pulled its funding in April 2026, and LIV filed for bankruptcy in September 2026, according to court documents on PacerMonitor.
• 2027 season: LIV had set a 10-event schedule for 2027, and there will be no LIV Golf that year, Sports Media Watch reported.
• Total spent: More than $5 billion over five years, reported Yahoo Sports.

Related: Denny’s restaurants franchisee files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Berkshire Hathaway chairman emeritus Warren Buffett is 96, still sharp and still eating like a first grader. He has a simple theory for why it works, and it has nothing to do with green vegetables.

Read more: Warren Buffett explained how he’d turn $10,000 into $30 billion if he were starting over

Happiness is the secret ingredient

“I think happiness makes an enormous amount of difference…in terms of longevity,” Buffett told CNBC in Tokyo in 2023. “I’m happier when I’m eating hot fudge sundaes or drinking Coke.”

He was 92 then, and he said he’d gladly trade time for taste.

“I know all these people eat all these green things and everything,” he said. “But if somebody told me I would live an extra year if I ate nothing but broccoli and a few other things all my life instead of eating what I like to eat, I would say take the year off the end of my life and…let me eat what I like to eat.”

His menu hasn’t changed much since grade school.

“I always tell people: I found everything I like to eat by the time I was six,” he said.

One quarter Coca-Cola, by his own math

Buffett calls himself “one quarter Coca-Cola,” and he means it literally.

“If I eat 2,700 calories a day, a quarter of that is Coca-Cola,” he told Fortune in 2015. “I drink at least five 12-ounce servings. I do it every day.”

He has regular Coke at the office and Cherry Coke at home. He also has a ready answer for anyone who questions the sugar.

“I checked the actuarial tables, and the lowest death rate is among six-year-olds,” he said. “So I decided to eat like a six-year-old.”

The habit pays off, too. Berkshire started buying Coke stock in 1988, and the soda giant now sends Berkshire about $848 million a year in dividends.

Breakfast priced by the stock market

McDonald’s covers the morning. Buffett picks up breakfast on his drive to the office, and the stock market decides his order.

“When I’m not feeling quite so prosperous, I might go with the $2.61, which is two sausage patties, and then I put them together and pour myself a Coke,” Buffett said in the 2017 HBO documentary “Becoming Warren Buffett.” “$3.17 is a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit, but the market’s down this morning, so I’ll pass up the $3.17 and go with the $2.95.”

Add See’s candy, Dairy Queen and Utz potato sticks, and you have the lineup that has carried him through his 80s and 90s.

Bill Ackman’s water offer went nowhere

The newest example comes from Pershing Square founder Bill Ackman. He said he once had Buffett over for dinner, stocked up on Cherry Coke ahead of time and still offered his guest still or sparkling water.

“But I said, you know, ‘Don’t you drink water?'” Ackman said on the “Equity Mates Investing” podcast in October. “And he said, ‘Bill, I haven’t had water in 48 years.'”

Ackman didn’t say when the dinner happened. It’s also an odd story coming from him, since he has criticized Berkshire’s Coke investment in the past.

Buffett stepped down as Berkshire chairman in September and handed the seat to his son Howard. He’s still on the board as chairman emeritus, and the Cherry Coke stayed with him.

No dietitian will be prescribing hot fudge sundaes anytime soon. But Buffett’s argument was never really about the food. It’s about enjoying what’s on the plate, and at 96, the man who skipped the broccoli is still here to make it.

Related: Read More:

It’s not that I wanted less competition among regional grocery chains or fewer choices for consumers. Instead, I argued that the FTC was unfairly framing the competition in the grocery space.

“Walmart, Costco, and Amazon have a national footprint, and they don’t need to make a high margin (or any margin) selling groceries. All three companies can use food as a loss leader to help them capture customers for their other businesses. Basically, all three of these major chains with massive buying power have the ability to sell groceries at whatever price they want,” I wrote in 2023.

It’s a situation that puts regional grocery chains in an impossible position when it comes to price.

“That puts massive pressure on local grocery chains, even large ones, including Kroger and Albertsons. Those chains may have locations near their customers (Walmart has that too), but they actually have to make money selling groceries,” I added.

Nothing has changed, and both Kroger and Albertsons recently admitted that they can’t compete on pure price.

Kroger and Albertsons make pricing statements

Kroger CEO Gregory Foran has conceded that his company can’t be the price leader in groceries.

“We are not in the game of being the cheapest because we do not have the lowest costs. But we can provide the best value,” he said during his company’s second-quarter earnings call.

More Kroger:

• More Kroger and Albertsons locations will close in 2026
• Kroger plans 110 new stores, with major changes to what’s inside
• Albertsons has a new advantage over Kroger, Walmart, Amazon for grocery shoppers

Albertsons CEO Susan Morris was clear about which companies hers could not compete with on price.

“Our biggest leakage is to the big players: Walmart, Amazon, and, to some degree, Aldi, as a price-competitive player,” she said during Albertsons Q1 earnings call.

Both chains’ CEOs talked broadly about value, but strapped consumers can shop at Walmart, Amazon, Costco, Aldi, and other low-cost players.

How far behind are Kroger and Albertsons?

Kroger and Albertsons aren’t a little bit behind Walmart, Costco, Aldi, and others when it comes to price; they’re way behind.

A February 2026 report from Consumer Reports used Walmart as the baseline and showed where Kroger, Albertsons, and Publix brands fell in pricing:

• Kroger: +14.8%
• Publix: +20.3%
• Albertsons: 24.8%

Walmart was not the cheapest. It was just the baseline. A number of major brands were even cheaper:

• Costco: -21.4%
• BJ’s Wholesale: -21%
• Lidl: -8.5%
• Aldi: -8.3%

Amazon was not part of the survey.

Regional grocery chains simply can’t compete on price

From within five miles of our South Florida home, I can visit four Publix stores, multiple Walmart Neighborhood Markets, two Aldi locations, two Target locations, a Whole Foods, and probably a chain or two I’m missing.

We still do some of our shopping at Publix, knowing it’s more expensive, but the chain loses some of our business to delivery from Target, higher-end spending at Whole Foods, and the odd stop at Walmart.

There’s no convenient Costco, although we could order from one through Instacart, and we’re generally not Aldi fans.

For traditional regional grocery chains, it’s not like consumers are abandoning them. Instead, it’s a slow loss in sales that creates a kind of death by a thousand paper cuts situation.

Thomas Paulson, head of market insights at Advan, spoke with TheStreet about the challenges facing grocery chains. He made it clear that they can’t compete on price alone.

“Walmart, Aldi, and Costco have scale advantages and business model differences that neither Kroger nor Albertsons can match. Where they can compete is on offering: localized and farm-to-store produce, a better/tailored prepared meals/ready-to-eat offering, better service, and easy-to-access, convenient stores,” he told TheStreet.

Paulson thinks Kroger, Albertsons, Publix, and others will be forced to make tough decisions on which stores will remain open, and he sees more smaller chains disappearing.

“More likely, more consolidation, along the lines of what happened with Giant Eagle. Regional players are increasingly just handing over the keys at a lower valuation multiple than the acquirer would otherwise pay, rather than compete store by store,” he added.

RTM Nexus CEO Dominick Miserandino thinks that grocery stores might be playing the wrong game.

“The problem for Kroger and Albertsons isn’t that they’re bad supermarkets. They’re fighting a price war against companies designed to win a price war. Walmart has the scale, Aldi has a much simpler operating model, and Costco has customers paying for the privilege of shopping there,” he told TheStreet.

To win, regional grocery chains have to embrace a different model.

“Traditional supermarkets have to give people another reason to come in, because they’re not going to win by being the cheapest,” he added.

Related: Costco’s longtime shoppers may not love what comes next

The closures have left fewer opportunities for customers to experience the chain’s jungle-themed dining and retail concept, which once helped make it a popular destination for families and tourists alike.

Having visited Rainforest Cafe many times, I found its animatronic wildlife, simulated thunderstorms, and massive gift shop among its most memorable features. While the food has always been somewhat underwhelming, the Sparkling Volcano dessert and souvenir glasses helped make the experience worthwhile.

Now, another Rainforest Cafe location is preparing to close, threatening the chain’s decadeslong presence in a major tourist destination.

Founded in 1994 in Bloomington, Minnesota, Rainforest Cafe has 16 restaurants nationwide and four international locations.

Rainforest Cafe is closing in Disneyland Paris

Rainforest Cafe will permanently close its restaurant at The Walt Disney Company’s (DIS) Disney Village inside Disneyland Paris before the end of 2026.

The closure was originally planned for September but was later pushed back to late 2026. More recent reports suggest November is the most likely timeframe for the restaurant’s departure, ending its 27-year presence at the destination after opening in 1999.

The Disney Village restaurant is one of two Rainforest Cafe locations in Europe. Its closure would leave the Malta location as the chain’s only remaining restaurant in the region.

The shutdown follows the closure of a Rainforest Cafe restaurant at Menlo Park Mall in Edison, New Jersey, in February 2025 after 27 years of operation.

The closure resulted from the non-renewal of its lease, NJ.com reported. This leaves the chain’s Atlantic City boardwalk restaurant as its last remaining location in New Jersey.

Signs of the Disneyland Paris restaurant’s impending departure have also emerged. Guests have reported that operations are already winding down in certain areas, with the gift shop cleared of merchandise and the space being used for stroller parking, Inside the Magic reported.

Why Rainforest Cafe is shutting down its Disney Village location

The Disney Village Rainforest Cafe closure comes amid a multi-year transformation of the destination, which has been adding new shops and restaurants while undergoing renovations, refurbishments, and other changes.

In January 2026, one of the last original Disney Store locations at Disney Village permanently closed after 33 years of operation, another change I previously reported on for TheStreet.

The Rainforest Cafe location is operated by Bertrand Hospitality, which is also preparing to open a Casa Giulia restaurant at the former Planet Hollywood site in Disney Village.

Inside the Magic has also reported an alleged lack of maintenance for the restaurant’s animatronics and other features. However, these are only claims and should not be seen as a confirmed explanation for the closure.

Despite the upcoming shutdown, Rainforest Cafe continues to operate restaurants at Disney Springs and Animal Kingdom in Florida. Additional locations can be found at Tokyo Disney Resort’s Ikspiari, according to the chain’s store locator.

Rainforest Cafe continues to shrink its footprint

Rainforest Cafe once operated a much larger restaurant network. In the early 2000s, following its acquisition by Landry’s Inc., the chain operated 59 restaurants worldwide, according to The Deforestation of The Rainforest Café.

Many Rainforest Cafe locations operated inside shopping malls and retail centers, leaving the chain exposed to declining mall traffic and changing consumer shopping habits. As these destinations struggled to attract visitors, the restaurant gradually lost locations across several markets.

The chain’s elaborate dining concept has also made running its restaurants quite pricey.

Rainforest Cafe founder Steven Schussler has discussed the significant costs associated with opening and operating the restaurants, including animatronics, fog machines, fish tanks, and elaborate lighting. These features contribute to the chain’s distinctive atmosphere but also increase operating expenses, such as electricity costs.

Schussler said it cost $400,000 to build the prototype restaurant for investors to experience in 1994. Adjusting for inflation, that amount would be equivalent to approximately $800,000 today.

“Especially nowadays with the price of power and retail space, I doubt the company will open a new restaurant unless the trend of themed restaurants makes a major comeback,” said Schussler.

Other restaurant chains are closing locations

Rainforest Cafe is not the only restaurant chain shrinking its footprint. Several other brands have shut down locations recently.

Here’s some of my previous coverage of restaurant closures:

• Landry’s: Closed multiple restaurants across several of its other brands, with some locations being replaced by other concepts.
• Golden Corral: Shuttered at least seven other locations across seven states in 2026.
• Bonefish Grill: Permanently closed its Brick Township, New Jersey, location in October 2026 after approximately 20 years, following several closures by its parent company, Bloomin’ Brands, across its other brands.

Related: Landry’s rescues 9 restaurants from bankruptcy as closures mount

Due to that and some other reasons, Morgan Stanley’s restaurants team, led by equity analyst Brian Harbour, said in a research note shared with me on Nov. 3 that Yum!’s third-quarter results back up the firm’s Overweight rating and $185 price target.

Morgan Stanley maintained its call even after Yum! was affected by a recent Taco Bell food-safety issue and the Pizza Hut sale that closed during the quarter.

As I read the note, a small shift in the drive-thru lane caught my attention, especially since it is already changing the daily experience for fast-food customers.

An AI change at Taco Bell that customers are already noticing

Yum! has introduced drive-thrus with voice AIs to about 900 Taco Bell locations. According to Yum! Brands CFO Ranjith Roy, those stores experienced a 1.5% increase in sales, better crew retention, and a 6% jump in the satisfaction level of drive-thru customers, CIO Dive reported.

“Taco Bell has been an example of where digital engagement and digital channels are a real sales driver,” Harbour wrote.

Also read: Applebee’s menu adds items as customer foot traffic slumps

Customer satisfaction is very important for any food company. The smoother AI drive-thru experience means people don’t have to wait too long to place and get their orders. There will also be fewer cases of wrong orders, and the staff serving inside the restaurant will become more hospitable because their workload will be reduced.

AI can also improve sales by asking every customer if they want to add a drink or side to their order. If successful, that would increase the total amount spent per customer. Human workers do this too, but on a busy night when there’s a long line, it can be hard to remember to ask extra questions.

KFC’s new kitchen screens are cutting mistakes and speeding orders

Yum! is also making another shift at its KFC stores in the United States. The company installed an upgraded system called Byte Kitchen Display.

The system shows the cook your orders, predicts meal prep time, and organizes the cooking process when there are multiple orders. It also shows when a delivery rider is close so the order can be packed, and it catches any mistakes before the order reaches the customer. 

Yum! reported that the Byte Kitchen Display improved drive-thru speed by 8% and reduced refunds by 12%. There was also a 20-second drop in the time third-party delivery drivers needed to wait.

Fewer refunds mean fewer wrong orders at the counter, which leads to fewer wasted meals. The drop in the handoff time also means your delivery arrives hotter and on time. 

Related: Domino’s Pizza may have a franchisee problem

These are small wins that help a company build loyalty without a single marketing campaign. However, Yum! is still adding personalized marketing, while simultaneously introducing an internal AI assistant called ByteCoach.

The internal AI assistant helps KFC and Taco Bell managers identify issues and run their kitchens more effectively.

The recovery from Taco Bell’s food-safety hit

Although Morgan Stanley believes in Yum!’s future, Taco Bell had a tough third quarter. The brand’s same-store sales dropped 4% after a cyclospora outbreak tied to lettuce from a single supplier pushed cautious customers to other chains.

However, Taco Bell is already recovering, and according to Yahoo Finance‘s transcript of Yum!’s Nov. 3 earnings call, the brand’s sales have already bounced back to +1% quarter to date and +3% in the last four weeks of October.

More Restaurant Stocks

• An entire island just lost its KFC and Taco Bell overnight
• Breaking News: Wendy’s makes a major breakfast change
• Chipotle is leaning on new menu items to bring diners back

“Since the end of September, Taco Bell U.S. has been outpacing the QSR industry on same-store sales growth,” CEO Chris Turner said on the earnings call.

Loyalty members returned twice as quickly as non-members, and medium and light Taco Bell users are now back to 95% of their pre-incident visit levels.

Yum! Brands’ path into 2027 and the risks worth tracking

Morgan Stanley kept its price target on YUM, valuing the stock at about 24 times its projected 2028 earnings of $7.65 per share. Since YUM closed on Nov. 6 at $161.14, that leaves roughly 15% room to reach the target.

However, to achieve that target, the company needs to put the Pizza Hut sale behind it and ensure Taco Bell keeps recovering by next year. Morgan Stanley is positive, and Harbour wrote, “2027 should be cleaner, and we continue to feel good about YUM’s major KPIs and overall growth profile into that year.”

Investors should watch for continued softness in the KFC China business and higher interest costs from refinancing about $1.6 billion in debt. Taco Bell’s recovery could also be delayed if another safety issue arises.

More Stocks News

• Microsoft’s Oracle move raises new question for investors
• Elon Musk sends a strong signal to SpaceX stock investors
• Datadog has a big-customer problem after a strong quarter
• How much SPCX stock does SpaceX CEO Elon Musk actually own?

The store has traditionally operated in lower-tier strip malls, like its former location in Manchester, Conn. I drove by the store on countless occasions as my gym was nearby, but it wasn’t an inviting retailer, and I was never clear on what the chain sold.

That’s not a glowing endorsement for a retailer that persevered in New York and New England for more than 30 years, but the reality is that I thought it was a low-end clothing store.

The company described its mission on its website.

“Joey’z Shopping offers premium housewares at an affordable price. Our online store gives customers the convenience of shopping from home without giving up the quality or customer service they’ve come to expect from our brick-and-mortar locations,” it shared.

It was also known to sell clothing, shoes, and sometimes bulk candy.

Now, with the store I used to drive by already closed, the chain is shutting down four others, and the fate of its Mount Vernon, N.Y., location remains uncertain, according to a report from Connecticut Scoop.

Joey’z had a clear mission in recent years

While its name did little to explain what it sold, the Joey’z website actually lays out a pretty clear mission for the brand that makes a lot of sense.

“We want to give customers a one-stop shop for housewares that they’ll love to use for years. That’s why we make sure that all of our products are well-made and just as reliable as those from higher-end brands, at a price point that any homeowner can afford. Now that cheap, disposable products are flooding the marketplace, we think that filling this niche is more important than ever,” it posted.

Now, with Manchester already closed, four more locations have begun going-out-of-business sales.

The stores that are currently closing are:

• West Hartford, 50 Kane Street at Prospect Plaza
• Waterbury, 224 Chase Avenue at Waterbury Plaza
• West Springfield, 1150 Union Street
• Springfield, 1297 Liberty Street at Springfield Plaza

Connecticut Scoop was not able to confirm whether the Mount Vernon, N.Y., location, which operates under the name Joey’Z Home and Beyond, will close. In addition, the Joey’z Shopping Spree brand has not mentioned the closures on its website.

More Store Closures:

• Haynes Furniture to shut flagship store as 128-year-old legacy comes to end
• Gucci owner closes over 128 stores with more to come
• Struggling home goods chain closing more stores

The stores are expected to stay open for a closeout sale.

“For shoppers hoping to grab deals before the lights go out, the store-closing sales at West Hartford, Waterbury, West Springfield, and Springfield are already running, though how long each sale will last remains unclear,” Hoodline reported.

A request for comment made through an email form on the Joey’z Shopping Spree website was not immediately returned.

Joey’z seemed to have a dedicated fanbase

The Google Review pages for each location show the chain has never been rated below 4.2 out of 5 cumulatively.

Examples of comments include:

“Been going to Joey’z since 2002 never had an issue with the staff. Love buying my curtains and bathroom items there,” Jennifer Hernandez wrote.

Tracey Mitchell, labeled by Google as “Local Guide,” shared a similar positive experience.

“Awesome store, just like American Discount Store used to be in New Haven and Bridgeport back in the day. Go and shop here and bring extra cash!! They have bargains,” she posted.

And while there were some complaints about returns and pricing labels not matching the price, the vast majority of the over 325 ratings were positive.

“Great value store for home decor items and such. You can pretty much find anything here & they have a VERY large variety of curtains. They also sell Tide VERY cheaply; I’m pretty sure it’s a knockoff, but it works just as well and comes in bulk,” Amber Long wrote.

Joey’z Shopping Spree has not filed for bankruptcy or released a public comment on the closures.

Related: Kroger, Albertsons, Publix have a pricing problem they can’t fix