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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowDenny’s says it’s closing 150 of its lowest-performing restaurants in an effort to turn around the brand’s flagging sales.
About half of the closures will happen this year and the rest in 2025, the company said during a meeting with investors Tuesday. The locations weren’t revealed, but the restaurants represent about 10% of Denny’s total.
Denny’s has 29 restaurants in Indiana, down from 36 in 2020. The chain has seven eateries in Indianapolis and one each in Westfield, Whiteland and Shelbyville. Denny’s locations in Avon, Whitestown, Lebanon and Bloomington have closed over the past two years.
Stephen Dunn, Denny’s executive vice president and chief global development officer, said in some cases, the restaurants are no longer in good locations.
“Some of these restaurants can be very old,” Dunn said during the investor meeting. “You think of a 70-year-old plus brand. We have a lot of restaurants that have been out there for a very long time.”
Others saw traffic shifts during the pandemic that have yet to reverse, he said.
On Tuesday, Denny’s reported its fifth straight quarter of year-over-year declines in same-store sales, which are sales at locations open at least a year.
Restaurant inflation is outpacing grocery price inflation, which makes it harder for some customers to justify eating out, Denny’s said. And when they do eat out, they often head to fast-casual brands like Chipotle or fast-food chains. Denny’s said family dining—the category in which it competes—has lost the most customer traffic since 2020.
Still, Denny’s said it has bright spots, including a value menu that lifted sales in its most recent quarter and growing sales of its delivery-only brands like Banda Burrito.
Shares in Denny’s Corp., which is based in Spartanburg, South Carolina, tumbled almost 18% on Tuesday.
Denney’s was founded as Danny’s Donuts in 1954 in Lakewood, California, and changed its name to Denny’s in 1961.
Known for being open 24 hours a day (most of its restaurants didn’t have locks until 1988) and the Grand Slam breakfast it introduced in 1977, Denny’s grew to more than 1,700 restaurants in 2019. That number had fallen to 1,536 by June 26.
All but 61 of Denny’s restaurants are franchised.
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Meals are expensive everywhere, because groceries are expensive. We have walked out of the last 3 attempts to eat at Denny’s because they don’t have staffing.
Last attempt was 1 lady trying to take care of half the tables in the restaurant. So, we went down the road to Waffle House, where they had six visible people behind the bar.
The location in Westfield is in a very high traffic area (Route 32 at 31) and rarely has customers. The food is still fine, but they seemingly have lost the breakfast battle to Panera and various donut/bagel places.
I honestly don’t understand why Denny’s hasn’t embraced being closer to bar and nightlife districts more. They seem to be really focused on being near Interstates and other commuter corridors, but I don’t know how much demand there is for a sit down restaurant in these areas at 3am.
Because there’s a Denny’s close to us we sometimes go there for an impromptu breakfast, but more often than not we will instead drive a bit further to local breakfast joints we prefer. We rarely go for lunch or dinner. Our Denny’s always appears busy, though, so I doubt it will be one of the ones to close.