Major Breakfast Chain Will Close 150 Restaurants

Another major restaurant chain has announced it will be closing its doors in dozens of states.

The breakfast restaurant chain Denny’s has announced that it will close 150 stores over the next year.

Fifty stores are planned to close by the end of 2024, and another 100 stores are scheduled to close in 2025.

Denny’s executive vice president, Steve Dunn, announced that closures will impact “underperforming locations.”

Denny’s says it expects to close 150 locations by the end of 2025

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— FOX 12 Oregon (@fox12oregon) October 22, 2024

Denny’s gets burned as business slows, set to shutter 150 underperforming diners https://t.co/1v18X5ZhZj pic.twitter.com/oze144aEFU

— New York Post (@nypost) October 22, 2024

Here’s what CNN reported:

Denny’s is closing 150 restaurants over the next year, and the 71-year-old diner chain is mulling a major change to its 24/7 operating hours.Fifty locations are set to close by the end of 2024, while the remaining 100 will shutter in 2025, Denny’s announced in an earnings call Tuesday. That amounts to a tenth of its restaurants, leaving 1,375 locations once completed.

A specific list of closing restaurants weren’t immediately announced.Denny’s is targeting “underperforming restaurants” that are weighing down the company’s financial performance, according to Steve Dunn, Denny’s executive vice president and chief global development officer. The affected locations are either too old to be remodeled or in areas that have become unprofitable.The chain, best known for never closing its doors, is also making a major concession with its franchisees over the requirement of remaining open 24/7.

Since the pandemic, about a quarter of its restaurants have not returned to those around-the-clock hours, so Denny’s is easing up on the requirement for a franchise to do so.Denny’s joins a broader trend of restaurants slashing hours since the pandemic. Major shifts in customer behavior, including earlier dinner times and drinking less alcohol late into the evenings, have held back a return to pre-pandemic patterns. Higher labor and food costs have also led restaurants to close earlier.

The chain, best known for never closing its doors, is also making a major concession with its franchisees over the requirement of remaining open 24/7. Since the pandemic, about a quarter of its restaurants have not returned to those around-the-clock hours, so Denny’s is easing up on the requirement for a franchise to do so.Denny’s joins a broader trend of restaurants slashing hours since the pandemic. Major shifts in customer behavior, including earlier dinner.

Denny's says it expects to close 150 locations by the end of 2025 https://t.co/AvvdCEwEgg

— The Associated Press (@AP) October 22, 2024

Per AP:

Denny’s says it’s closing 150 of its lowest-performing restaurants in an effort to turn around the brand’s flagging sales.

About half of the closures will happen this year and the rest in 2025, the company said during a meeting with investors Tuesday. The locations weren’t revealed, but the restaurants represent around 10% of Denny’s total.

Stephen Dunn, Denny’s executive vice president and chief global development officer, said in some cases, the restaurants are no longer in good locations.

“Some of these restaurants can be very old,” Dunn said during the investor meeting. “You think of a 70-year-old plus brand. We have a lot of restaurants that have been out there for a very long time.”

Others saw traffic shifts during the pandemic that have yet to reverse, he said.

On Tuesday, Denny’s reported its fifth straight quarter of year-over-year declines in same-store sales, which are sales at locations open at least a year.