Bennigan's Grill and Tavern today closed all its corporate-owned restaurants nationwide after filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, CBS 2 News in Chicago is reporting.

Independently owned franchise will remain open, CBS 2 reported.

Bennigan's has two restaurants in Albuquerque, at 2105 Louisiana NE and at 6321 San Mateo NE, and a Bennigan's restaurant also is located at 1745 E. University in Las Cruces. 

Bennigan's spokeswoman Leah Templeton told the Chicago station that Bennigan's and Steak and Ale restaurants -- both owned by the Metromedia Restaurant Group of Plano, Texas -- have filed for bankruptcy, along with the holding company S&A Restaurant Corp.

A Steak and Ale Restaurant is located next-door to the Bennigan's at 2105 Louisiana NE in Albuquerque.

All four New Mexico locations are listed as part of Metromedia's nationwide chain of restaurants on the company Web site. 

But not all restaurants using the Bennigan's and Steak and Ale names have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, Templeton said in a statement.

Franchise locations are not named as debtors in the bankruptcy filing and are not affected, Templeton said.

A Chapter 7 filing usually means a company has "major league debt" and is being liquidated, rather than reorganized, and its employees are unlikely to get a last paycheck, CBS 2's legal analyst Irv Miller said.

The bankruptcy filing does not affect two other chains owned by Metromedia -- Ponderosa and Bonanza Steakhouse, Templeton said in the statement.