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Denny's, the American restaurant chain, has announced the shutting down of dozens more of its restaurants this year. The diner-style restaurant is closing nearly 30 more eateries than it had previously announced.
On February 12, 2025, the national diner chain’s chief financial officer, Robert Verostek confirmed the additional closings through an earnings release. This move comes with Denny’s plan to jumpstart its sinking ship.
Why is Denny's closing restaurants in 2025?
Denny's Corporation, like many other restaurant chains, is battling inflation, ever-increasing food prices, and changing customer habits. The diner’s decision to close 30 additional locations comes after last year's decision taken in October to shut down a total of 150 locations.
During Wednesday’s release call, the brand revealed that it had already closed around 88 locations last year. Denny’s now plans to shut the doors of 90 locations in 2025. This estimate includes the recent decisions of closing 30 more locations than previously announced.
According to Today, Verostek confirmed that some of these closures are related to lease expirations. The CEO Kelli Valade of the restaurant chain during the investor earnings call, stated:
“In any mature brand, when restaurants have been open that long, it is natural that trade areas can shift over time.”
Besides lease expirations, the restaurant chain's decision to shutter these locations are said to be because of expensive remodelling due to their running tenure of more than 30 years, or their location in inprofitable areas. Continuing on Denny’s decision about the closure and its remodeling, Valade added:
“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.”
Robert Verostek also revealed that major economic and environmental events, like tariffs, snowstorms, bird flu, and California wildfires played a viral role on consumer spending across the nation.
“When we entered 2025, there was a feeling of the consumer stabilizing and a sense of normalcy ahead. This was even in the face of horrific wildfires and snow storms spanning across the U.S. and even into the Deep South. Yet, there has been a shift in consumer sentiment and a slowing that persisted through the remainder of January and has seemingly accelerated in the last few weeks given the evolving macro environment,” he said.
As per the reports, no specific list of closing locations were immediately revealed.
Denny's plans on expansion
Denny's also noted that it is planning on opening between 25 and 40 new restaurants in the near future. Denny’s plans to run half of these new diners at its locations, and the rest at Keke’s Breakfast Cafe locations. Denny's Corporation acquired the latter in 2022.
More about Denny's
Denny’s Corporation initially started as a donut shop in Lakewood, California in the year 1953. Harold Butler and Richard Jezak were the founding fathers. The brand which is now a family-friendly restaurant chain, saw its switch from the initial donut shop to a coffee shop.
According to the restaurant chain’s website, Denny's now operates at more than 1,500 locations around the U.S.. It also operates worldwide in countries including Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico, the Philippines, UK, New Zealand, and more.
