On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina has finally given up the fight to survive. According to a company press release, the Tex-Mex restaurant chain closed all of its remaining company-owned locations earlier in June and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on June 19.
Five franchise locations -- two in California and one each in Florida, Nevada and North Dakota -- continue to operate independently and are not included in the bankruptcy filing.
The restaurant had 134 locations in 2024, according to el Restaurante data. In 2025, it closed multiple locations -- including in Arizona, Colorado, Massachusetts, Oklahoma and Rhode Island -- and declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Chapter 11 is the type of bankruptcy that allows a company to continue operating while it restructures; Chapter 7 is the type of bankruptcy that means the company is being dissolved and will no longer operate. Our data showed that the chain was down to 77 units at the end of 2025.
When OTB filed Chapter 11 in 2025, the restaurant sold its remaining assets to Pappas Restaurants, which evidently planned to continue running the restaurant. “This restructuring is the best path forward for On The Border,” said Chris Rockwood, president of OTB Holding LLC, the owner of On The Border, in a press release from that time. “It allows us to address several financial and operational challenges and emerge stronger and refocused on our growth."
However, Pappas evidently was unable to right the ship, and now the restaurant is history.
“This was an incredibly difficult decision. Our teams worked hard over the past year to stabilize the business, but it became clear that OTB would require substantial ongoing investment that would pull focus and resources away from the core operations that define who we are,” said Chris Pappas, spokesperson for OTB Hospitality, in the most recent press release. “While this was a necessary step, we remain incredibly proud of our team members and the heart they brought to this brand, and we are deeply grateful to the guests and employees who supported On The Border for so many years.”
The press release also stressed that OTB Hospitality is a separate legal entity wholly owned by Pappas Restaurants, and the bankruptcy filing applies only to OTB Hospitality, not Pappas itself.
Click here to read the 2026 el Restaurante Multi-Unit Report