As the restaurant industry endured another difficult year, many chains opted to close underperforming locations as they try to turn around their businesses.

Inflation-weary consumers have pulled back their restaurant spending, choosing to eat at home or chasing deals when they go out for a meal. While some restaurants have won over reluctant diners, the industry has largely struggled with the sales slump. Traffic to restaurants open at least a year fell every month in 2025, excluding only July, according to Black Box Intelligence.

In years past, restaurant closures have been more concentrated across casual-dining chains, which lost customers to fast-casual competitors like Chipotle. But this year, chains across the industry announced plans to shutter at least hundreds of locations.

In such a tough environment, some restaurant companies even filed for bankruptcy protection. Hooters, Pinstripes and On the Border were some of the notable names that landed in bankruptcy court this year.

Here are the chains that announced closures in 2025:

Starbucks

A Starbucks coffee cup sits on a table inside a Starbucks in New York on Dec. 2, 2025.

Spencer Platt | Getty Images News | Getty Images

In September, the coffee giant announced a $1 billion restructuring plan that included closing roughly 500 of its North American locations. The closures even extended to shuttering its upscale Reserve Roastery cafe in Seattle, the company’s hometown.

Starbucks’ announcement followed CEO Brian Niccol’s one-year anniversary at the helm of the company. Under his leadership, Starbucks is trying to reverse a sales slump in the U.S., its biggest market.

Executives plan to share more details about the turnaround at the company’s upcoming investor day in late January in New York.

Wendy’s

A Wendy’s restaurant sign in Austin, Texas, Nov. 10, 2025.

Brandon Bell | Getty Images News | Getty Images

In November, Wendy’s announced that it would undergo a strategic review of its restaurant footprint and begin closing underperforming locations that quarter. While the company did not announce a specific number of closures, interim CEO and CFO Ken Cook told analysts that the company could shutter a “mid-single digit percentage” of its U.S. restaurants shuttering, which would mean hundreds of the burger chain’s locations.

The closures are one phase of Wendy’s “Project Fresh” turnaround plan. The company has reported same-store sales declines even as rivals McDonald’s and Burger King see higher demand for their Big Macs and Whoppers.

In 2024, Wendy’s shuttered about 140 locations.

Denny’s

A view of a Denny’s restaurant in Hayward, California, Feb. 14, 2025.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

In February, Denny’s said it planned to close between 70 and 90 restaurants in 2025. In recent months, the diner chain’s sales sunk as customers opted to visit cheaper fast-food restaurants for breakfast. The shift in behavior led the company to shutter underperforming locations and attempt to improve the rest of its restaurant footprint.

In November, the chain announced it had sold itself for $620 million to Yadav Enterprises, TriArtisan Capital Advisors and Treville Capital Group. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026, pending regulatory approval.

Jack in the Box

Geri Lavrov | Getty Images

In April, Jack in the Box said it would close between 150 and 200 restaurants as part of its “Jack on Track” strategy to improve its financial performance. By the end of its fiscal 2025 on Sept. 28, the chain had permanently shuttered 86 restaurants.

Bahama Breeze

In May, Bahama Breeze parent company Darden Restaurants closed 15 of the chain’s locations, which represents roughly a third of its overall footprint.

Following the closures, executives decided that the Caribbean-inspired chain was not a strategic priority for Darden, so the company is exploring strategic alternatives for the brand. Options include selling the chain outright or converting its restaurants into other Darden brands, like Olive Garden. Darden expects to make a decision on Bahama Breeze by the end of its fiscal 2026, which concludes in May.

Hardee’s

Dozens of Hardee’s locations will close by end of the year after the franchisor sued ARC Burger, one of its largest franchisees. Hardee’s alleges that the operator fell behind on payments like royalties, rent and taxes.

ARC, which is owned by private equity firm High Bluff Capital Partners, operated 77 Hardee’s restaurants before the legal battle began. Its footprint stretched across eight states, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, Montana, South Carolina and Wyoming, according to legal filings.

Papa John’s

The Papa John’s Pizza logo is shown in Austin, Texas, May 9, 2024.

Brandon Bell | Getty Images

In the first three quarters of 2025, Papa John’s shuttered 173 restaurants worldwide, according to company filings. Most of the closures affected international locations, although 62 of the pizza chain’s U.S. locations also closed.

Despite the closures, Papa John’s still had nearly 6,000 restaurants in operation at the end of September.

Noodles & Co.

Michael Siluk | UCG | Universal Images Group | Getty Images

At the end of October, Noodles & Co. had closed 29 company-owned restaurants this year, and executives said that they planned to shutter another two to five underperforming locations by the end of 2025.

In 2024, the fast-casual chain closed 20 locations.

By the end of 2026, Noodles & Co. is planning to close another 12 to 17 stores, as it aims to improve the company’s financial performance and boost sales at the chain’s nearby locations.

Outback Steakhouse

An Outback Steakhouse restaurant in Daly City, California, Jan. 31, 2025.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

In October, restaurant company Bloomin’ Brands closed 21 locations across the company. The closures hit Outback Steakhouse, the gem of its portfolio, as well as Bonefish Grill and Carrabba’s Italian Grill.

Bloomin’ has identified nearly two dozen other restaurants that will not renew their leases when they expire over the next four years, executives said in November when sharing the company’s quarterly earnings. At the same time, the company announced a $75 million turnaround plan to improve Bloomin’ sales and its overall financial health.

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Carlos Tavares, chief executive officer of Stellantis NV, speaks to the media at the Stellantis auto manufacturing plant in Sochaux, France, on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. 

Nathan Laine | Bloomberg | Getty Images

DETROIT — Automaker Stellantis plans to shutter and sell its large vehicle proving grounds in Arizona at the end of this year, CNBC has learned.

The decision is the latest cost-cutting measure by the trans-Atlantic automaker under CEO Carlos Tavares, who has been increasingly under pressure from Wall Street, dealers and the United Auto Workers union amid the company’s lagging financial performance, layoffs and overall business decisions.

The Arizona Proving Grounds covers 4,000 acres between Phoenix and Las Vegas in Yucca, Arizona. It has been used for vehicle testing and development for the automaker since then-Chrysler purchased the property for $35 million from Ford Motor in 2007.

Stellantis Chrysler Arizona Proving Grounds

Source: Google Earth

As of July 2019, the operations employed 69 people, including workers represented by a local chapter of the UAW, according to the automaker.

The closure was confirmed by three people familiar with the plans who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity because the matters are private.

Stellantis plans to use a proving grounds in Arizona owned by Toyota Motor beginning next year, according to two people familiar with the decision. Toyota opened its operations, which are costly to maintain, for other companies to use in 2021.

Toyota Arizona Proving Grounds

Source: Google Earth

Stellantis confirmed the closure Friday morning, citing the company’s ongoing cost-cutting and real estate evaluations.

“Stellantis continues to look for opportunities to improve efficiency and optimize its footprint to ensure future competitiveness in today’s rapidly changing global market,” the company said in an emailed statement.

The automaker also said it is “working with the UAW to offer proving ground employees special packages or they can choose to follow their work in a transfer of operations” but that employees could be placed on an “indefinite layoff, which would entitle them to pay and benefits for two years.”

The UAW, which has been increasingly critical of Tavares and such layoffs, did not respond for comment on the planned closure.

Stellantis, like most automakers, has several proving grounds in different climates and geographies to develop and test vehicles ahead of selling them to consumers. Stellantis’ other major U.S. proving grounds facility is a 4,000-acre campus located west of Detroit in Chelsea, Michigan.

Stellantis’ complex in Arizona was one of 18 facilities the company notified the UAW it could potentially close during the union’s contract negotiations last year with Stellantis.

A majority of the other operations were parts and distribution centers that were expected to be consolidated into “mega sites,” as well as the company’s massive 500-acre campus in metro Detroit formerly used as Chrysler’s world headquarters.

The status of the other properties was not immediately clear, however, local and state politicians, including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, have expressed concerns that Stellantis could move to shutter the former headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

Stellantis has significantly reduced the number of its U.S. employees in recent years amid Tavares’ cost-cutting measures.

Stellantis has reduced employee head count by 15.5%, or roughly 47,500 employees, between December 2019 and the end of 2023, including a 14.5% reduction in North America, according to public filings. That doesn’t include further head count reductions and layoffs this year.

The automaker had only about 11,000 U.S. salaried employees at the end of last year. That compared with 53,000 at General Motors and 28,000 at Ford.

The reductions have occurred as Stellantis has attempted to outsource many engineering efforts to lower-cost countries such as Brazil, India and Mexico, according to several people familiar with the moves.

Bloomberg News earlier this year reported that Stellantis moved to recruiting a majority of its engineering workforce in those countries, where the cost per employee amounts to roughly €50,000 ($53,000) or less per year — far less than similar positions in the U.S. and Europe.

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