DECATUR, ARK. – Poultry company Cooks Venture filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on April 19, according to court records from the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

The voluntary bankruptcy petition estimated Cooks’ estimated assets between $1 and $10 million, its estimated liabilities between $50 million and $100 million, and total creditors between 100 and 199.

Some of the larger equity interest holders listed in the document included Cooks CA at 32.9% along with investment firms Tasseo at 32.6% and Cultivian Sandbox at 22.8%. Ceres FAO III (W-2) LLC also held 9.7% in equity.

The filing also listed 90,000 live chickens as property that needed immediate attention as proceedings began on the bankruptcy case.

Other assets that will need to be worked out during the bankruptcy are the company’s proprietary breed of chicken, the Pioneer, the processing plants used by Cooks Venture, and the land they are on.

Blake Evans was named as the designated representative for Cooks Venture and still had 0.0024% equity in the business. Matthew Wadiak, founder of Cooks and the first chief executive officer, still maintains 0.04% equity in the firm.

Cooks Venture Poultry Jay Inc., a parent company of Cooks Venture, also filed for bankruptcy. It cited 1-49 total creditors with $500,000 to $1 million in estimated assets and $50 million to $100 million in total liabilities.

According to the ownership statement, Wadiak owns an 85% stake in the parent company, but Cooks Venture maintains a proxy agreement to control his ownership stake. 

After starting the company in 2019, in November 2023, Cooks Venture closed operations in Oklahoma and Arkansas, laying off hundreds of employees.