Last Call: These Restaurant Chains Are Closing Locations in 2023

Year Established: 1958
Headquarters: Plano, Texas, United States
Number of Locations: 6,000+ (with plans to close/sell more than 1,000 stores)*

Pizza Hut was founded in Wichita, Kansas in 1958. It has been around for more than sixty years, and it has expanded quite a lot during that time, reaching a total of 18,000 restaurants across the world. It is a subsidiary of the larger Yum! Brands, which made some strategic decisions concerning the company earlier this year.

Pizza Hut ©HeyDebbie/Shutterstock.com

In the US, there are nearly 6,610 Pizza Hut locations. But Pizza Hut plans to bring this number down drastically in order to streamline profits. In recent years many locations have been closing their doors prompting rumors that The Hut would soon be disappearing for good. Ultimately, this remains to be seen, but it doesn’t look like the company is planning to close any time soon.

Year Established: 1971
Headquarters: Seattle, Washington, United States
Number of Locations: 15,733 (16 upcoming closures)*

Starbucks has such a strong global presence that you can visit almost every country and find one lurking on a street corner. The coffee titan isn’t immune to the ups and downs of business though, despite being worth $121 billion. In 2019 Starbucks closed 150 locations, before closing a further 400 non-franchise shops in 2020 and 200 additional closures in 2021 in favor of opening pick-up-only stores. 

Starbucks @allyssajeyms / Twitter.com

In July 2022, the company announced that 16 US locations closing for good due to safety concerns. However, that may not be it, as it looks like the company is simply changing its strategy and moving away from its formerly popular dine-in model in order to keep up with the uncertain climate.

Year Established: 1934
Headquarters: Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Number of Locations: 260*

Steak ‘n Shake delivers exactly what it says on the tin, delighting customers with its products since 1934. However, things have been tough for the Indianapolis-based eatery for a couple of years now. Back in 2019, 107 locations were shuttered in order to try and revamp the business model and turn it into a more profitable enterprise. 

Steak ’n Shake ©David Tonelson / Shutterstock.com

According to MoneyWise, the company was already on the brink of financial difficulty prior to 2020 thanks to a drop in sales and a rise in overhead costs. CEO Sardar Biglari even considered saving over $1 million a year by abandoning the cherries that go on top of milkshakes. In 2021, Steak ‘n Shake finally produced profit after many bleak quarters, and looks like profits have been steady ever since. Now only time will tell what happens.

Year Established: 1969
Headquarters: Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Number of Locations: 523*

Red Robin is a burger chain founded in Seattle, Washington, in 1969. The first franchised restaurant opened in Washington just ten years later. The company now has more than 550 restaurants in 28 states, with ninety of those operating as franchises.

Red Robin ©jetcityimage/stock.adobe.com

Back in 2021, Red Robin announced it would close 35 restaurants – in addition to laying off dozens of top HQ employees – in order to stave off losses. For now, Red Robin still rejects the suggestions of activist investors to close down the whole company.

Year Established: 1951
Headquarters: San Diego, California, United States
Number of Locations: 2,200*

Jack In The Box Inc is a fast-food restaurant chain that serves bar food. The chain is popular on the West Coast, operating more than 2,200 locations, though it does have some in the Midwest and East Coast.

Jack in the Box ©Birch Photography/stock.adobe.com

Jack in the Box had announced plans to expand nationwide but instead was forced to close down stores in the West. The chain has gone through tough times, with a deadly e.Coli outbreak rocking the company in the late 1990s, and more recently a number of bankruptcies, and temporary closings due to unpaid taxes.

Year Established: 1981
Headquarters: Denver, Colorado, United States
Number of Locations: 165*

Quiznos has around 165 hundred locations total as of 2022, down from 5,000 locations 20 years ago, in 2002. The company started its first major closures back in 2007, shutting down one thousand stores in the US, then slowly closing 90% of its locations.

Quiznos @Quiznos/Twitter.com

Founded by Jimmy Lambatos in 1981, the chain has not had an easy ride. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2014, but it was able to emerge from bankruptcy protection after reducing its debt by around $400 million. It was purchased by the company High Bluff Capital, which is keeping its headquarters in Denver, Colorado.

Year Established: 1955
Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois, United States
Number of Locations: 13,342 US stores*

That’s right, even one of America’s flagship restaurants – with all its billions of burgers served and millions of dollars – hasn’t been immune to the world’s current situation. After struggling with post-pandemic recovery, the company permanently closed 239 locations in 2021 and halted many of its overseas operations including Spain, Italy, the UK, and Israel.

McDonalds ©Наталия Кузина/stock.adobe.com

The chain has since reconfigured its business model in the wake of the pandemic’s grip letting up on the country. Now that life is back to usual, things have taken a positive upswing for the company. It seems the chain lost 5% of its total locations but average sales have risen by 32%, possibly due to a more targeted marketing strategy.

Year Established: 1985
Headquarters: Golden, Colorado, United States
Number of Locations: 307*

Boston Market, once known as Boston Chicken, is a casual dining restaurant that specializes in rotisserie chicken. There were around 12,000 branches open as of 1998. However, that number has been whittled down, as has its employee count. Which once stood at 14,000 in the company’s heyday. Boston Market stated that it was undergoing a “multifaceted transformation plan,” which was the cause of the rapid closures.

Boston Market ©Jonathan Weiss/Shutterstock

In 2019, 45 additional closures As of 2022, there are now 307 locations left standing. Not only does Boston Market operate restaurants, but it also has a side hustle. Since 1999 products under the Boston Market name have been available to purchase in multiple grocery stores across the country. The company also provides catering for large-scale events.

Year Established: 1965
Headquarters: Milford, Connecticut, United States
Number of Locations: 20,787*

Anyone can open a sandwich shop, but it takes a shrewd businessman to turn it into a global empire. Since launching in 1965, Subway has become a prominent eatery in multiple countries. However, even this foot-long titan has taken a hit in recent years. In 2016 Subway closed over 359 stores, before shutting a further 866 the following year in another brutal blow to the business. In 2018 over 1,100 closed – a number matched and surpassed in 2019.

Subway @subway / Facebook.com

Given the current climate and the challenges faced by the restaurant industry, more locations will likely have no choice but to close. If the trend over the past few years is anything to go by, Subway may struggle to regain its footing in 2023. With that being said, the company has been trying to revamp its current stores and opened new locations in Indonesia and Morocco in 2022.

Year Established:  1968
Headquarters: Frederick, Maryland, United States
Number of Locations: 48*

Roy Rogers Restaurants, which is named after the old Western actor Roy Rogers, is a chain of burger joints in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region of the US. The chain used to be called RoBee’s House of Beef until it was bought by Marriott (the hotel chain) in 1968. The chain’s sales campaign was aggressive, and it drew in customers quickly.

Roy Rogers @ RoysRestaurants/Twitter.com

At its height, Roy Rogers Restaurants had around six hundred branches in America. It was sold to Hardee’s parent company in 1990. It’s since whittled down to 41 branches. Roy Rogers hasn’t completely abandoned all hopes for growth though. In 2021, the company entered a new partnership with One Holland Corp. with plans to open 10 new locations by 2027.

Year Established: 1979
Headquarters: Houston, Texas, United States
Number of Locations: 76*

Fuddruckers is a burger chain that is known for grinding its meat and baking buns on-site as well. It has 76 company-operated branches in the US, with an estimated revenue of around $150 million. Over the last few years, the company was seeking to increase revenue by shutting down stores that weren’t making enough money.

@Fuddruckers/Facebook

Fuddruckers has been through different ownership changes (it was owned by Luby’s Inc.) and bankruptcy declarations, declaring bankruptcy back in 2010. Things took another turn for the worst when Fuddruckers’ parent company announced plans to liquidate all its assets in September 2020. Fortunately, Fuddruckers was sold off to the highest bidder, Black Titan Franchise Systems, in an $18.5 million dollar deal.

Year Established: 1958
Headquarters: Memphis, Tennessee, United States
Number of Locations: 300*

Breakfast and bakery chain Perkins is a privately-owned company that was founded back in 1958 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is located in thirty-two US states and four provinces of Canada, and it is owned by the company Marie Callender’s. The parent company filed for bankruptcy in 2019. This came on the heels of abrupt closures, where zero notice was given to staff or customers.

Perkins ©Jonathan Weiss/Shutterstock

This was a move that garnered Perkins a lot of criticism. It laid off 2,500 employees in total. A month after the company announced its bankruptcy plans, Huddle House, Inc. said it would buy all of the remaining 342 restaurants. These locations still continue to operate, but it’s not clear if this is a long-term plan or if they will be axing any more jobs.

Year Established: 1983
Headquarters: San Diego, California, United States
Number of Locations: Defunct (2022)

HomeTown Buffet was a buffet-style restaurant chain that had more than 250 restaurants at its peak. HomeTown Buffet was a subsidiary of Ovation Brands, which in turn is a subsidiary of the parent corporation, Food Management Partners, Inc. Ovation also operates Furr’s, Ryan’s Grill, Old Country Buffet, and Tahoe Joe’s.

Hometown Buffet @PE/Twitter.com

The company was bought by Food Management after a 28-year run as a solo company, ceding a big victory to its top competitor Cracker Barrel. HomeTown Buffet went from 250 restaurants to just 33 in 2019 and closed all remaining locations in 2022 after filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.

Year Established: 1960
Headquarters: Lake Forest, California, United States
Number of Locations: 592*

Del Taco is a Mexican-inspired restaurant founded in the 1960s. It also serves burgers and fries. It is most popular in the West and Southwest, and it has approximately 600 restaurants across the United States. In 2020 the company shut down the less popular branches, in a bid to recoup losses during the pandemic.

Del Taco © Ken Wolter / Shutterstock.com

In December of 2021, Jack in the Box announced it had completed a $575 million deal to acquire America’s second-largest Mexican restaurant chain with the hopes of accelerating growth for both quick-service brands.