Iconic Breakfast Joint With 44 Illinois Spots To Close 150 Stores

According to a report from the National Restaurant Association, the food service industry is starting to experience a rebound from nearly five years of tough times brought on by the pandemic and then continuing in its aftermath:

Sales are forecast to top $1 trillion for the first time in history, and the nation’s second-largest private sector employer is on track to add 200,000 jobs, pushing total employment to 15.7 million people. However, 98% of operators say higher labor costs are an issue for their restaurant. 97% cite higher food costs. 38% say their restaurants were not profitable last year. 45% of operators expect competition to be more intense than last year.

For one particular iconic breakfast place, it's the competition that's proving to be a big problem. This year, they've seen a two-percent drop in revenue from last year, and they've seen overall sales flat or down, which is causing them to close even more locations.

Denny's Is Having Some Of The Same Problems Other Food Joints Have Been Experiencing Over The Last Few Years

A list of both restaurant and retail chains that have either closed a bunch of locations or closed them all would be too lengthy for the space I've got here, so let's just take a look at a partial list of some of the eateries that have been dealing with closings, bankruptcies, and underperformance of their locations over the last year. Some have better prospects for recovery than others:

• Red Lobster
• Cracker Barrel
• Applebee's
• Boston Market
• TGI Fridays
• Outback Steakhouse
• MOD Pizza
• Hooters
• Arby's

For many of these companies, closing locations is a last resort for keeping the entire company in business. Some of these places say the closings have stopped, but others still have more locations to permanently close. Like the place that calls itself "America's Diner" and has 44 Illinois locations.

Denny's Plans On Closing 150 Locations Across The Country By Next Year, Including 50 Spots By The End Of 2024

Facing the awful combination of rising costs and falling sales, Denny's, based in Spartanburg, South Carolina, closed 60 restaurant locations in 2022, and then closed 57 more last year in 2023. Then, at the beginning of this year, Denny's closed 15 more of their spots, saying that the closures took place at their restaurants that were franchises and already at the end of their leases.

Now comes word that 150 Denny's will be closing, which represents about 10% of their overall store count of 1,586 locations. Illinois has 44 Denny's scattered throughout the state. No word yet on which ones will be looking at a permanent closure, but you should expect to see a list coming out very soon. Here's the list of Denny's locations in Illinois:

• Arlington Heights
• Aurora
• Belleville
• Bloomington
• Bolingbrook
• Bourbonnais
• Calumet City
• Carol Stream
• Carpentersville
• Champaign
• Collinsville
• Effingham
• Franklin Park
• Gilman
• Glen Carbon
• Gurnee
• Hanoer Park
• Hickory Hills
• Highland Park
• Hoffman Estates
• Joliet
• Lasalle
• Litchfield
• Mattoon
• Mokena
• Mt. Vernon
• Normal
• Norridge
• North Aurora
• North Pekin
• O'Fallon
• Oak Lawn
• Oak Park
• Oakbrook Terrace
• Palatine
• Pontoon Beach
• Rockford
• Salem
• Schiller Park
• South Beloit
• Vandalia
• Waterloo
• Waukegan
• Willowbrook