GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (Michigan News Source) — Grand Rapids-based Meritage Hospitality Group has a beef with Wendy’s.

Meritage, which operated 314 Wendy’s restaurants across 15 states when it filed for bankruptcy protection, is fighting the chain’s attempt to enforce the termination of its franchise agreements. Its footprint included 54 Wendy’s locations in Michigan.

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Meritage filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sept. 17 to restructure its finances and strengthen its balance sheet. The company said it intended to continue operating restaurants and paying employees during the restructuring process, subject to court approval.

Four days later, Wendy’s filed a motion asserting that it had already terminated Meritage’s franchise agreements on Sept. 16, the day before the bankruptcy filing. Meritage disputes the validity of the termination.

“Wendy’s has never intended ‘for the lights to go out,’” Meritage argued, writing that alongside the termination notice, Wendy’s also sent “a so-called Short Term License Agreement … unambiguously seeking the Debtors’ continued operations of all the Debtors’ franchised restaurants and ongoing use of Wendy’s marks and intellectual property rights in doing so.”

According to Meritage, the proposed agreement was never executed but would have allowed the company to continue operating its Wendy’s restaurants from Sept. 16 through the end of the year.

A status conference on Wendy’s motion for relief from the automatic stay is scheduled for Oct. 14.