On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina, a Tex-Mex chain founded in Dallas in 1982, has filed for Chapter 11 in March 2025 and says it will close all remaining company-owned restaurants nationwide by end of day Friday, June 12, 2026. Two independently owned Cali
For the franchisees behind On the Border’s last remaining California outposts, the news hits in a very particular way: not as an abstract business problem, but as a question that sits on the counter every day—what happens next.
On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina, a Tex-Mex chain founded in Dallas in 1982, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March 2025. Later that year, it was purchased by Pappas Restaurants after a bidding war. Now the company has announced that the 44-year-old chain will close all of its remaining company-owned restaurants nationwide by the end of the week.
In a statement shared with customers and communities. the company said the transition will include closing company-owned locations by end of day Friday. June 12. 2026. “This decision follows a thorough evaluation of the business and was not made lightly,” the statement said. It also added: “We are currently evaluating the future of the On The Border brand and exploring a range of strategic options.”.
At the chain’s peak. On the Border ran more than 150 restaurants in the United States. along with a handful in South Korea. For a time. California held more than a dozen locations. including markets like the Bay Area. Sacramento and the Southern California region. But the shrinkage began long before the latest shutdown announcement. As of early 2025, there were still 120 outposts in states including Texas, Colorado and Illinois. In February 2025—before the bankruptcy filing—40 locations were shuttered or vacated.
The company’s announcement doesn’t erase every On the Border in California. The two remaining independently owned California locations—in Mira Mesa and Escondido, both in San Diego County—will remain open. Phone calls confirmed both outposts intend to stay operating.
Franchisees at those sites are left in limbo anyway. The brand’s future is now tied to “a significant transition in its restaurant operations. ” and to whether independent operators can preserve the name. the menus. and the momentum that once made On the Border a familiar stop. The company said it is evaluating the future of the On The Border brand while exploring a range of strategic options. SFGATE also reached out to the franchisees behind the two California locations to discuss what the future holds for the brand. but did not hear back before publication.
This shutdown lands in a wider wave of strain across Mexican restaurant chains. Over the past few years, several brands have gone through Chapter 11 and then moved quickly on closures, including Tijuana Flats, Abuelo’s Mexican Restaurant and Rubio’s Coastal Grill.
On the Border isn’t alone in that broader stress either. Red Lobster and TGI Fridays have both filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in recent years. In California. the largest franchisee of Carl’s Jr.—Friendly Franchisees Corporation—filed for bankruptcy as well. with plans to close 10 locations and sell the remaining 49 in its portfolio.
The decision to close company-owned locations nationwide by Friday. June 12. 2026. also raises a practical fear for customers who still associate the brand with certain neighborhoods. When a chain stops operating its own restaurants. what remains can depend on ownership structures and contract realities that diners rarely see.
Right now. the picture in California is split: two independently owned restaurants in Mira Mesa and Escondido are still open. while the chain’s company-owned footprint is set to disappear nationwide by end of day Friday. June 12. 2026. Until the brand’s future is settled—and whatever “strategic options” the company is exploring are translated into real-world plans—franchisees and their communities will be watching the same daily problem unfold: a familiar restaurant name may not survive in the same form. even if the doors stay open in the places that still can.
On the Border On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina Chapter 11 Pappas Restaurants franchisees California restaurants Mira Mesa Escondido June 12 2026 restaurant closures