Olive Garden-owner abruptly shuts a third of its restaurants
Bahama Breeze has abruptly closed 15 restaurants after suffering a sharp decline in earnings.
The struggling restaurant chain shuttered a third of its locations in Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, and Tennessee.
The closures came after Bahama Breeze suffered a 7.7 percent sales slump last year.
With these shutdowns, only 29 restaurants remain open in the US, and it has left employees in tears.
'Closing a restaurant is a difficult choice because it impacts our team members and guests,' said spokesperson Kiara Buckner.
'However, we believe this is the right decision because it will allow Bahama Breeze to focus on its highest performing restaurants and strengthen the brand's overall performance.'
The brand's parent company, Darden Restaurants, has tried to offer affected workers jobs at other Darden-owned establishments such as Olive Garden and Red Lobster.
Other staff members who the company were not able to rehire have been paid severance.
Founded in 1996, the small, Caribbean-inspired restaurant chain opened its first location in Orlando, Florida.
Bahama Breeze expanded to other states and operated approximately 43 locations by 2014.
Even though it is a small chain, thousands of people currently or previously worked at a Bahama Breeze restaurant.
The newly closed location in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts, laid off 73 employees, while four shuttered New Jersey restaurants left 327 workers jobless.
However a restaurant chain owned by Darden that has shown no signs of slowing down is Olive Garden, which is not planning to close any locations this year.
It also refreshed its menu with fan-favorite specials and left loyal customers thrilled after announcing they could place orders on the website or app and have them delivered by Uber drivers.
The chain did however lose its title of being the top US restaurant after holding the top spot for seven years.
It comes as various other restaurant chains have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this year.
Restaurant chains have struggled over the last couple of years for reasons like price hikes and inflation.
Some of them have been able to get away with closing several locations rather than filing for bankruptcy.
Jack in the Box made headlines after announcing it would close up to 200 restaurants due to financial problems.
Red Robin has also been through financial issues and is considering closing 70 restaurants to avoid filing.
Others that weren't so lucky include On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina, Hooters, and the Dallas-based pub chain Bar Louie.
While Bahama Breeze has not discussed its intention to close all locations, like TGI Fridays, the chain could soon be at risk of losing all restaurants for good.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Bahama Breeze for comment about the closures.
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