Denny's closing more restaurants: Over 150 locations impacted by wave of closures
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Denny's announced this week it is closing more locations than originally planned.
Back in October, the diner chain's leadership announced plans to close 150 lower-performing stores by the end of 2025, starting with 50 closures in 2024.
However, in a Wednesday investors call, chief financial officer Robert Verostek said 70 to 90 would shutter in 2025. This, paired with the 88 he told investors already went dark in 2024, equates to as many as 38 additional store closures from the original October announcement.
Some of these closures are related to expiring leases or aging buildings, leadership said. In a statement issued last year, Denny's executive vice president and chief global development officer Stephen Dunn said the locations the company plans to shutter are often too old to be remodeled or are not turning a profit.
"Some of these restaurants can be very old. So when you think of a 70-year-old plus brand, you have a lot of restaurants that have been out there for a very long time," Dunn said in October.
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In Wednesday's meeting, Verostek said closing stores were open for an average of nearly 30 years.
"In any mature brand, when restaurants have been open that long, it is natural that trade areas can shift over time," he said. "Accelerating the closure of lower-volume restaurants will improve franchisee cash flow and allow them to reinvest into traffic-driving initiatives like our tested and proven remodel program," he continued.
How many Denny's locations are closing?
While Denny's has yet to release a list of closing locations, it plans to shutter up to 178 restaurants nationwide in 2025, according to information given in the investor meetings. The company plans to offset the closures with about 25 to 40 openings, though roughly half of these will be traditional Denny's restaurants, while the other half will be Keke's Breakfast Cafes, which Denny's acquired in 2022.
In a statement to USA TODAY Friday, Denny's said it "does not provide advance notice of closures" and instead works "closely with our owners and teams when a restaurant unfortunately has to close."
The Denny's website lists 1,323 U.S. locations. California, Florida and Texas have a large concentration of stores.
Contributing: Bonnie Bolden, USA TODAY Network
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