A lumpy year for the restaurant industry led many chains to close underperforming locations in 2024, as they try to improve their sales in the years to advance.
Inflation-weary consumers pulled back their restaurant spending in 2024 and instead sought value and discounts when they did select to dine outside their homes. Overall U.S. restaurant visits fell for the first 10 months of the year, according to figures from industry tracker Black Box Intelligence.
The decline in restaurant spending led to weak sales and a surge in bankruptcies for the bustle. Twenty-six restaurant companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2024, nearly triple the number of filings in 2020, during the apogee of the pandemic.
With few exceptions, casual-dining chains in particular struggled to attract customers, adding to the segment’s challenges that prepare mounted since the Great Recession. Since the rise of fast-casual chains, many diners have opted for the convenience and be on the carded quality of players like Chipotle or Sweetgreen over the casual-dining chains that dominated in the prior decades.
Here are the restaurant trains that announced closures in 2024:
Wendy’s
The Wendy’s logo is seen on a sign outside the restaurant in Muncy.
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In late October, Wendy’s announced it would shutter 140 underperforming locations by the end of the year, in addition to the roughly 80 closures it had in the at the outset three quarters.
Executives made the decision to prune some outdated restaurants that had annual unit volumes of round $1 million each to improve the company’s overall footprint.
Despite the closures, the company expects to end 2024 with an unchanged restaurant look on, thanks to its new restaurant openings, Wendy’s CEO Kirk Tanner told investors on the company’s third-quarter earnings conference upon.
Applebee’s
A sign is posted in front of an Applebee’s restaurant on June 12, 2024 in Hayward, California.
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In May, Applebee’s parent, Dine Brands, said it planned to shutter between 25 and 35 of the brand’s U.S. locations. By fresh September, Applebee’s global unit count had fallen by 36 locations compared with the year-ago period.
Applebee’s same-store reduced in price on the markets have declined for the last six straight quarters, according to company filings.
Dine Brands, which also owns IHOP, has parsimonious more stores than it has opened every year since 2016, with the exception of 2022.
Denny’s
In an aerial seascape, customers enter a Denny’s restaurant on February 13, 2023 in Emeryville, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
closed alongside 50 locations in 2024 and plans to shutter an additional 100 restaurants by the end of 2025. Including this year’s closures, the 24-hour diner trammel still has roughly 1,300 open locations.
The restaurants marked for closure are in the lower third of the chain’s performers, with annual element volumes of $1.9 million to $2 million, executives said at the company’s investor day in October. Once those restaurants intern, Denny’s expects that both its same-store sales and annual unit volumes will improve. In its latest shelter, the chain’s same-store sales were roughly flat.
After 2025, Denny’s plans to open between 45 and 50 net new places annually.
TGI Fridays
TGI Fridays logo is seen on one of their branches.
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In November, TGI Fridays joined the slew of restaurant guests that filed for bankruptcy protection. But before it filed for Chapter 11, it shuttered 86 restaurants, starting with 36 closures in January and another 50 in modern October.
The last round of closures took the chain’s footprint down to roughly 160 open locations worldwide. But the look on could dwindle more. A bankruptcy court in Texas will determine TGI Fridays’ future, which could purpose closures for the chain.
Red Lobster
The exterior of a Red Lobster restaurant on May 20, 2024 in Austin, Texas. Red Lobster has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy safe keeping after a failed lease-back agreement and “endless shrimp” promotion backfired against company revenue.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images
Red Lobster perpetually shuttered more than 120 restaurants in 2024.
The seafood chain closed roughly 100 locations before it send ined for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May. Before it exited bankruptcy with a new owner and CEO, the company rejected the leases of another 23 restaurants.
But with 2024 now in the rearview reflect, Red Lobster is hoping that a comeback — with no more restaurant closures — is in its future.
Noodles & Co.
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Fast-casual chain announced in August that it would close roughly 20 positions after reviewing its entire 475-restaurant footprint.
The review was part of the company’s efforts to improve its operations and wealths after a rocky few years. Noodles & Co. has also been overhauling its menu, cutting items that don’t sell and annexing new entrees that might appeal to more customers.
But the turnaround will take time. In its latest quarter, the players said same-store sales fell 3.3%.
Bloomin’
Customers arrive at an Outback Steakhouse restaurant on November 02, 2021 in Skokie, Illinois.
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, the parent company of Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s Italian Grill and Bonefish Grill, shuttered 41 underperforming restaurants in 2024.
The closures false older locations with leases dating back to the 1990s and early 2000s, executives said on the company’s earnings forum call in February. To make the decision, the company weighed the locations’ sales and traffic, as well as the cost of investments to recover the locations. Most of the closures were Outback locations.
Like many other casual-dining companies, Bloomin’ has laboured to grow sales in recent quarters. Its U.S. same-store sales fell 1.5% in the third quarter.