Denny's to close 150 restaurants by end of 2024, including 50

Denny's plans to close 150 of its restaurants as the company aims to strengthen its cash flow.

Fifty underperforming restaurants will close by the end of 2024, while the remaining 100 will close next year, executives announced on an earnings call Tuesday.

According to Stephen Dunn, Denny's executive vice president and chief global development officer, the closing restaurants include older locations that are too outdated or unprofitable to rebuild.

“Some of these restaurants can be very old. So when you think of 70-year-plus brands, you have a lot of restaurants that have been around for a long time,” Dunn told investors at the meeting.

How many Denny's restaurants are there?

There are currently 1,358 Denny's locations in the United States, with a heavy presence in California, Texas, Florida, and Arizona.

More than 167 Denny's restaurants are located outside the United States, more than half in Canada.

Denny's did not specify which of the 150 restaurants are slated for closure.

Denny's shares fell about 18%

Dunn said the 150 closings will clean up the company's restaurant portfolio as it prepares for growth.

The company's shares fell nearly 18% on Tuesday after its quarterly earnings missed analysts' estimates. Its annual stock fell by 50% for the financial year.

“Closing a restaurant is never easy. It's a challenge, you deal with external factors, landlords,” Dunn said. “And of course, you're dealing with people's lives, but we've realized that closing underperforming restaurants is strategically advantageous for many of our franchisees because it strengthens cash flow in the long term.”