When a restaurant you visit regularly closes, it impacts you more than a broad closure where dozens, or even hundreds, of locations of a major chain shut down.

Back when I traveled to Alexandria, Virginia every month, the Starbucks next to the hotel I stayed in shut down. That made it less convenient to get coffee and added maybe 5 minutes to my walk to the office.

That’s a minor thing, and it was worse when my local coffee shop, the only non-chain in our area at the time, shut down with no notice. That impacted my regular routine as I would often bring my laptop there to work.

That small inconvenience reflects a broader trend: local closures, while smaller in number than big chains, can have an outsized impact on daily routines, a pattern Datassential data confirms.

Yet despite the attention these local closures get, the overall number of U.S. restaurant closings has actually been relatively low in 2025. According to the Datassentials Sales Intelligence platform, total closures fell below 1,000 this spring. the lowest in at least seven years, showing that nationwide trends don’t always match the perception created by your neighborhood favorites.

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“In April 2025, the latest month for which U.S. restaurant data is available, total restaurant closings hit just 886 — an 82% decrease from the number of closures recorded in January 2018. This represents the most significant decline in restaurant closure statistics 2025 has seen to date,” Datassential reported.

If current trends continue, we may see more strategic closures among casual-dining chains in 2026, while fast-casual and QSR brands with strong digital ordering and delivery programs could continue expanding.

Major restaurants chain 2025 closures

• Starbucks closed around 500 North American cafés as part of a restructuring plan, according to its fourth-quarter earnings call transcript.
• Denny’s closed 70–90 locations in 2025 as part of operational optimization, Fernanda Tronco at TheStreet reported.
• Papa John’s closed 62 U.S. locations (part of 173 global closures), according to TheStreet.
• Jack in the Box reported the closure of approximately 80-120 restaurants by the end of 2025 (with plans for more into 2026), according to a press release.
• On The Border, closed 77 restaurants due to bankruptcy, reported USA Today.

Wendy’s and Starbucks closing 100s of restaurants

Wendy’s and Starbucks are strategically closing hundreds of underperforming locations to strengthen remaining restaurants, improve customer experience, and streamline operations.

“We are working with our U.S. franchisees to evaluate each and every underperforming restaurant in our system from both a financial and a customer experience perspective, and developing action plans for how to improve both. For some locations, it’s about making operational changes or deploying technology. For others, we’re improving productivity by aligning operating hours to better match demand, particularly in the morning and late-night dayparts,” Wendy’s interim CEO Ken Cook said during its third-quarter earnings call.

When fixes can’t be made, closures will take place.

“In other cases, the solution will be to close consistently underperforming restaurants. These actions will strengthen the system and enable franchisees to invest more capital and resources in their remaining restaurants.

• Wendy’swill close hundreds of underperforming U.S. restaurants, with closures starting in late 2025 and continuing into 2026 as part of a strategic review to strengthen the system. Interim CEO Ken Cook said a mid‑single‑digit percentage of the roughly 6,000 U.S. locations may be shutter, about 200-350 closures expected through 2026.

Starbucks generally reviews its fleet of stores every year. That continued under new CEO Brian Niccol, who commented on the efforts during his company’s fourth-quarter earnings call.

“In the fourth quarter, we took decisive action on multiple fronts to accelerate getting Back to Starbucks. This included the completion of our assessment of our coffeehouse portfolio and identified closures as well as a simplification of our broader support organization to one that is streamlined and more closely aligned to our future growth priorities,” he shared.

• Starbucks: While the company’s closure plan spans earlier years, Starbucks has already shuttered roughly 500 North American locations during its efficiency overhaul, and further closures could carry into early 2026 depending on performance and strategy, the company shared in a letter from Niccol.

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Salad and Go and Denny’s closing struggling restaurants

Salad and Go closed 41 Texas locations in September 2025.

“And now, the fast-food salad chain revealed on Jan. 7 that it will exit the Texas and Oklahoma markets, closing its 25 remaining restaurants in Texas and its last seven in Oklahoma, Kirk O’Neil of TheStreet reported.

Salad and Go will continue operating 70 locations in Arizona and Nevada, with 63 in Arizona and seven in Nevada.

• Salad and Go is closing all of its Texas and Oklahoma locations (32 total), with the shutdown completed by January 11, 2026, and relocating its headquarters back to Arizona to refocus on core markets, QSR Magazine reported.

Denny’s has been closing locations since 2024. That continued in 2025 and the planned closures will drag into 2026.

“Denny’s lowest quintile stores have average unit volumes of $1.1 million, less than half that of the top quintile stores that have average unit volumes of $2.9 million. Average EBITDA for the poorest-performing stores is less than $25,000, compared to $250,000 to $350,000 for the top restaurants, according to the investor presentation,” Restaurant Dive reported.

• Denny’s has been closing underperforming locations, with roughly 150 restaurants slated to be closed by the end of 2025 as part of restructuring — with implications for leaner operations into 2026. It is also being taken private in a deal expected to complete early 2026, which could influence further location decisions.

Jack in the Box also began closing locations in 2025, which will continue into 2026. It also sold its Del Taco brand.

“Now, the fast food giant is in ‘survival’ mode as it pays down debt and gets back to basics, said Nick Setyan, managing director and senior equity research analyst at Mizuho Americas told Restaurant Dive.

• Jack in the Box will close up to 150-200 across 2025-2026 as part of portfolio optimization, as part of its Jack on Track revival plan.

Experts share why restaurants are closing

It’s important to note that any chain as large as Starbucks will close some restaurants each year due to population shifts, lease issues, and other concerns. That’s not quite the same thing as restaurants closing because of overall poor brand performance.

Some chains simply grew too fast.

“Growth for growth’s sake is a dangerous strategy in the restaurant business. When you lose focus on unit economics, closures follow,” Maria Thompson, Hospitality Industry Analyst at Culinary Insights Group told Alibaba.

In other cases, including many fast-casual brands, spending patterns and a weakened economy has hurt.

“They’re trying to aim at the average middle consumer,” said Ernest Baskin, an associate professor of food marketing at Saint Joseph’s University. told CNN “When consumers start watching their budget, the middle shrinks.”

People want quality food quickly and cheaply.

“In a time-starved world, people want something to be quick at an affordable price,” said Brian Vaccaro, an analyst at Raymond James shared with CNN.

Related: Fast-food burger pioneer chain closes all remaining restaurants