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GREENSBORO — Ham’s Restaurants Inc., which started with a single restaurant in Greensboro in 1935 , has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The company filed for the protection Thursday , according to court documents. Chapter 11 bankruptcy allows a business to stay open as it reorganizes.

Ham’s already has started the process and has closed restaurants in Burlington and Kinston, marketing coordinator Amanda Jones said. There are no plans to close any more restaurants, she said Tuesday .

“For the average customer, it’s just going to be business as usual,” she said. “When they come in, they’re not even going to know, basically.”

Owner Charlie Erwin , who bought the original restaurant in 1984 and expanded the company, could not be reached for comment.

But in statement, he said the company is trying to protect its more than 1,000 employees during the process. “Ham’s main priority at this time is to keep its employees working, along with continuing to serve the communities we have been a part of for many years,” he said.

All community events — including the annual Christmas Dinner for the Needy that has been held for 25 years at the original Ham’s off Friendly Avenue in Greensboro — will go on as scheduled, officials said in the statement.

Erwin expanded Ham’s from the original restaurant to 14 locations in North Carolina and Virginia. In 2004 , he began offering franchises, which now total about seven.

Ham’s reported assets between $500,000 and $1 million in court filings. Liabilities were estimated at between $1 million to $10 million.

Bankruptcy filings list only the top unsecured creditors that are owed money. Topping that list: $1.7 million to the Internal Revenue Service from unpaid taxes dating to the fourth quarter of 2007 . Ham’s also owes nearly $816,000 to the N.C. Department of Revenue.

Among other debts, Ham’s owes about $870,000 to Sysco Food Services in Charlotte, one of its primary suppliers.

“It’s been the recession,” Jones said. “We’re just down in sales.”

Contact Jennifer Fernandez at 373-7064 or jennifer.fernandez@news-record.com