The restaurant industry is an insanely tough business, and for some old favorites, it's
gotten even tougher.
Younger diners are more interested in fast-casual places than the sit-down restaurants of their
parents' generation, and more people are just choosing to flex their own culinary muscles
and cook at home.
That means there's a ton of once-popular chains seeing their numbers sink farther and farther
into the red, and many are closing locations by the dozens.
Are your favorite restaurants on the chopping block?
Let's find out.
Ruby Tuesday
Casual, sit-down restaurant chain Ruby Tuesday, once a familiar staple in malls around the
country, hasn't been running in the black for a long time.
In August of 2017, the company reported a revenue drop of 12.8 percent, which is not
surprising given that it closed more than 100 stores the year prior.
It wasn't long after Ruby Tuesday announced the resignation of longtime CEO James "JJ"
Buettgen, that he was replaced by Jim Hyatt, former CEO of Church's Chicken.
The appointment was short-lived, and he was quickly ousted in December of that same year,
when the chain was sold to a private company, NRD Capital.
Even under new ownership, Ruby Tuesday continued to close restaurants, with around 400 locations
closing in the last decade as the company tried to figure out what it's going to take
to get customers back in seats.
"CHOCOLATE!"
Bob Evans
No road trip in America would be complete without a hearty breakfast at Bob Evans, but
in the future, travellers might find themselves needing to go somewhere else.
This side-of-the-highway favorite has instituted some major changes in recent years, all stemming
from its struggles to stay open.
By the end of 2016, Bob Evans closed a total of 27 underperforming restaurants in several
states, including in its native Ohio.
Then in January of 2017, the chain sold the remainder of its restaurants to a private
equity firm called Golden Gate Capital, who also owns Red Lobster and California Pizza
Kitchen.
While the new owners said they did not expect to close more locations, it still remains
to be seen whether or not their changes, such as revamped menus and fresher ingredients,
will impress customers.
TGI Friday's
Plenty of people look forward to Fridays, but maybe not in the way that TGI Friday's
would want.
"We need to talk.
Do you know what this is about?"
Sales for the chain dropped in 2014, 2015, 2016… you get the idea.
Even this once-popular hotspot isn't immune to the threat of fast-casual and the decline
of shopping malls.
In order to stay afloat and ideally become more profitable, the company is trying to
rebrand the itself as a trendy gastropub, redesigning locations to make the bar more
prominent, focusing on urban markets, and of course, offering endless appetizers on
a permanent basis.
IHOP
Remember when IHOP ran that campaign asking people to guess why the chain was temporarily
changing its name to IHOB?
Many assumed the "B" had something to do with "breakfast," until the company revealed it
was an effort to get people in the door for a burger.
The unfortunate reason for jumping on the burger bandwagon is that pancakes just aren't
selling like, well, hotcakes these days.
The company announced the closure of up to 40 of its restaurants in 2018, following up
on the 23 that closed the previous year.
Recently, IHOP has been depending on dinner menus, delivery, hot deals, and publicity
stunts to bring customers in, and while it's working, it might not be enough.
Same-store sales were up in May 2018, but traffic has declined for 10 straight quarters.
Qdoba
There's no shortage of fast casual burrito joints in the United States today.
Those who can't continuously impress get tossed out like yesterday's queso, and that unfortunately
seems to be happening with Qdoba.
The fast-casual Mexican chain started back in 1995, and despite closing numerous locations
over the years, it has continued to replace them with new eateries.
The chain axed 67 out of its 647 locations in 2013, but as of 2017, 729 restaurants were
in operation.
The company also opted for a tweak in its name, dropping the "Mexican Grill" and going
with "Mexican Eats" because according to VP of brand marketing David Craven,
"It's a bit more conversational and relatable to our core customer, and it doesn't position
the brand as being highfalutin."
"Yeeehaw!"
"Yeeeee haw!"
"Yeehaw."
How much that name change has helped is debatable.
Chain owner Jack in the Box sold to Apollo Global Management in March 2018, and shortly
after locations closed in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
Buffalo Wild Wings
There's no denying that chicken wings are an American favorite, but that increase in
popularity is proving to be a double-edged sword for Buffalo Wild Wings.
Remember taking high school economics, and learning about the principles of supply and
demand?
That's at work here.
With B-Dubs's main product, chicken wings, also being purchased by everyone from home
cooks to every pizza place in the country, that's sent the price of wings skyrocketing.
That means the company is paying more and making less, and it hasn't been good for the
bottom line.
That's why half-price wings Tuesday ended, and that's why the chain is also pushing its
boneless wings instead.
Buffalo Wild Wings is hoping the better price point might help stop the bleeding and save
the locations that are left, and after Arby's invested a whopping $2.9 billion in the ailing
chain, you can count on seeing some big changes that might help improve the steadily failing
numbers.