TGI Fridays – From 270 to Just 85 Locations
TGI Friday’s restaurant chain has collapsed at breathtaking speed, with the bankruptcy filing covering 39 corporate-owned US locations. The chain abruptly shut down dozens of locations in January 2024 and has quietly kept closing restaurants throughout the year, with nearly 50 more locations shuttering in a single week in October. Some closures even marked a complete exit from entire cities, notably in Columbus, Ohio, and Buffalo, New York.
TGI Fridays Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November 2024, citing fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic as the “primary driver of our financial challenges”. Financial experts point to deeper issues, noting that “people are not interested in eating at TGI Fridays” and “the menu hasn’t changed much for almost two decades”. The chain that once peaked at over 900 locations worldwide in the mid-2000s became a casualty of fast-casual competitors and shifting dining preferences.
Red Lobster – Over 130 Locations Gone in One Year
Red Lobster closed approximately 99-100 restaurants during its bankruptcy proceedings, with the company shutting down 93 restaurants as part of its May 2024 bankruptcy filing. The closures added to a tally that saw more than 100 Red Lobster outlets shut down, bringing the chain from 650 locations to around 500 restaurants. After closing a series of locations during its financial troubles, Red Lobster now operates around 545 restaurants, down from approximately 650 locations just four months earlier.
The chain’s downfall was partly blamed on making $20 endless shrimp a permanent menu item instead of a limited-time offer, which cost the company $11 million. Red Lobster’s bankruptcy filing blamed its parent company Thai Union for higher costs after eliminating two breaded shrimp suppliers and giving Thai Union an exclusive deal. Though the chain has emerged from bankruptcy with new ownership, the massive location closures represent one of the largest restaurant contractions in recent history.
Denny’s – 150 Locations Marked for Closure
Denny’s closed about 50 locations in 2024 and announced plans to shutter an additional 100 restaurants by the end of 2025, with half of those closures slated to take place before the end of 2024. The breakfast chain revealed plans to close 70 to 90 lower-volume restaurant locations in 2025, after shuttering 88 locations in 2024. The restaurants marked for closure are in the lower third of the chain’s performers, with annual unit volumes of $1.9 million to $2 million, and the company expects that both same-store sales and annual unit volumes will improve once those restaurants shutter.
Recent closures have already begun, with the chain abruptly closing a longtime location in Camillus, New York that had been operating for over 25 years, as Denny’s works to optimize its footprint while planning to open more than 20 new locations in 2025 with fresh designs. The closures represent roughly 10% of Denny’s total restaurant count, showing how even established breakfast chains aren’t immune to the industry’s current struggles.
