Latest news with #restaurantclosures
CBS News
2 days ago
- Business
- CBS News
What's behind the closures of several Twin Cities restaurants?
The Twin Cities have seen some big losses in the local food scene recently. Since the start of June, four popular restaurants have announced they're closing their doors Stephanie March, editor-at-large of Magazine, has been reporting on big names calling it quits this summer, including Young Joni in northeast Minneapolis, Lurcat in Loring Park and Edina Grill at West 50th Street and France Avenue. "If you think about Lurcat, you know, that's 23 years. That's the D'Amico brothers, you know, who don't even really live here anymore [laughs], they live in Florida," March said. "And then, you know, Edina Grill has kind of been there for a long, long time, and it seems like they've had some company changes and things happen with the unfortunate passing of David Burley, maybe they're going through the motions of trying to figure things out." The most recent closure announcement is Sun Street Breads off East 46th Street and Nicollet Avenue, a fixture for breakfast sandwiches, coffee and baked goods in the Kingfield neighborhood. The owner, Solveig Tofte, decided not renew their lease when it's up in March after 15 years. "For her to say, 'I'm just kind of tired and I want to do something different,' and like we kind of have to let restaurateurs to also do that," March said. "You see people who retire and move into different careers, and for some reason with us with restauranteurs, we're like, 'No, no, but I need my croissant.'" Is there something else externally that's maybe going on right now in our world that's putting pressure on these restaurants? "Between the uncertainty of the tariffs, the uncertainty of the labor market, the uncertainty of the world is causing people and prices, and people are pinching back," she said. March encourages food lovers to not get too down about these closures, as this is an industry that always bounces back "We're pretty vital and vibrant, like there's a lot of stuff cooking right now," she said. "People attach their special occasions and their social lives and just, you know, special things to restaurants that it kind of provides that third place." March says the brewery scene is also changing. She expects more closures over time as more people turn to alcohol-free lifestyles or prefer THC drink options.
Independent Singapore
3 days ago
- Business
- Independent Singapore
Johor Bahru called a lifeline for Singapore's struggling food businesses
SINGAPORE: It has been widely reported that many eateries in the Little Red Dot have been having a difficult time due to high rentals, manpower issues, rising ingredient costs, and other reasons. For a city that has made a reputation for itself as a foodie haven where delicious and affordable food is abundant, this has been a cause for no small concern. A report last week in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), however, says that Johor Bahru, the Malaysian state closest to Singapore, is offering a 'lifeline' of sorts to struggling eateries, providing food business owners an opportunity to continue serving up delicious meals. The report cited the high number of restaurant closures in Singapore in the past year and a half. In 2024, 3,047 eateries shut down, the highest number in nearly two decades. And this year, 1,404 food businesses folded between January and June. Among the notable eateries that are now gone are established names such as Eggslut, Burger & Lobster, and Manhattan Fish Market, as noted by the SCMP . In addition, Wala Wala Cafe Bar also shut its doors, as has the 20-year-old Holland Village branch of Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao. See also Even PRCs file complaints against their own locally made lifts The main attraction of Johor Bahru, and indeed the rest of Malaysia, for Singaporean food businesses is the affordability of both manpower and rent. This gives eateries a chance not just to survive but to thrive, even though the restaurateurs SCMP spoke to said they recognise that ingredients are costlier in Malaysia. For example, Govinda Rajan, who opened a Mr Biryani outlet in Johor Bahru last April, told SCMP that in Singapore, his priority had stopped being profitability and had shifted to survival. Not that the food business is slowing down in Singapore itself, as more F&B establishments opened than closed last year. In 2024, 3,793 new outlets opened, the second highest in more than 30 years. The Singapore Business Review reported on Jul 17 that in 2023, there were 22,747 licensed food establishments in the city-state, which is the highest number ever. It added, 'The risk of oversupply is no longer theoretical.' See also Cigarette-smuggling doesn't pay: Record $34m fine for Singaporean Moreover, in a commentary published last week in Channel NewsAsia, former restaurant owner Chua Ee Chien asked whether it's time to change Singapore's F&B rules. 'Licensed F&B outlets shoulder an enormous burden well before serving their first customer. Rent in prime locations can exceed S$20,000 monthly. You don't have to run a fancy fine-dining joint for fit-out costs to reach six figures. There are various regulatory requirements that businesses must meet across agencies, such as the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), Singapore Food Agency (SFA), National Environment Agency (NEA), Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), and Building and Construction Authority (BCA). 'On top of that, daily costs are compounded by things like utilities, safety inspections, staff training and wages, Central Provident Fund contributions, pest control, professional fees, regulatory delays, and so on.' /TISG Read also: 'Retailers, hawkers and restaurants need to survive' — KF Seetoh says Urban Hawker NYC costs less to run than Orchard Road, MBS food halls See also Singapore is 6th best city in the world for billionaires
Independent Singapore
6 days ago
- Business
- Independent Singapore
Singapore restaurateurs expand regionally amid soaring rents, labour shortages, and shrinking consumer spending in SG
JOHOR BAHRU: Singapore restaurateurs are turning to other parts of the region amid soaring rents, labour shortages, and shrinking consumer spending in the city-state, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP). Food and beverage (F&B) businesses across Singapore have been shutting down at the fastest pace in almost 20 years. Last year, more than 3,000 F&B outlets shut down — the highest since 2005, when 3,352 outlets closed. In the first half of this year alone, 1,404 closures were recorded, only slightly below the 1,611 seen during the same period last year. In fact, government data showed that an average of 307 establishments have closed due to high costs and fewer diners this year, which included Eggslut, Manhattan Fish Market, and Burger & Lobster, as well as Chinese hotpot chain Haidilao. SCMP also noted the closure of Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao's 20-year-old outlet at Holland Village and the Michelin-starred Poise on Teck Lim Road. See also The story of how You Tiao Man's business flourished amid COVID-19 One restaurateur from Singapore, 56-year-old Govinda Rajan, opened his first Malaysian outlet of Mr Biryani and is already eyeing expansion in Johor Bahru. Meanwhile, his Singapore outlets in Little India and Siglap are struggling. 'Don't talk about profit margins anymore,' he said. 'Surviving is the priority now.' Keith Koh, a 35-year-old gastropub owner who opened a Muslim-friendly branch of Lad & Dad in Kuala Lumpur in May, said that lower operating costs there gave him breathing space and helped remind him that he's an entrepreneur. 'In Singapore, sometimes I forget why I'm doing this because I get lost chasing margins due to the high overheads,' he said. 'I lost track of the passion, the fire, the adrenaline I was burning out every other year, but going to Malaysia gave me that sense again,' he added. While F&B business owners mentioned that some ingredients are more expensive in Malaysia, they told SCMP's This Week in Asia that significantly lower rents and labour costs make it easier to maintain profit margins. They also noted Singapore's tight restrictions on hiring foreign workers and the low local interest in service jobs, which have made operations more difficult. Temasek Polytechnic's Diploma in Culinary and Catering Management course manager Geoffrey Tai said more local F&B owners have been eyeing regional expansion over the past 12 to 18 months amid high costs in the city-state. 'Contrast this with Malaysia, where rental, utilities, and manpower are significantly cheaper, and you start to understand the appeal,' he said, adding that while pricing power is lower there, operating costs are too, which makes the numbers 'work out more attractively'. In addition, a YouGov survey of over 4,035 Singaporeans showed that 26% plan to cut back on dining out, while 20% said they will spend less on food delivery. The food scene is under even more pressure as F&B outlet openings continue to surge — over 3,790 new eateries opened last year, followed by another 1,964 in the first half of this year. Singaporean chef-owner Bjorn Shen said many newcomers in Singapore's F&B scene wrongly believe they can make a 30% profit when, in reality, most are lucky to get 5% to 7%. He added that eight in 10 are losing money, with most F&B businesses in Singapore closing within two years. 'For 5% to 7% profits, you should be thanking your lucky stars and kissing the feet of whoever you worship,' he said. 'We have more restaurants here than we have people to feed,' he added. Meanwhile, Mr Shen, who recently opened NEP! in Penang and Baba G's in Bali, said profit margins in those cities can reach up to 20% and 30%, with entry-level staff in Indonesia costing about a fifth of Singapore's rates. /TISG Read also: Knight Frank: F&B surge in S'pore could hurt profitability, waste resources, and destabilise the retail sector
Yahoo
14-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Iconic Breakfast Chain Abruptly Closes Location, Shocking Employees
It seems to be the year of restaurant closures. Subway closed more than 600 eateries, Fernando's Mexican Cuisine closed permanently, and, now, Denny's is following suit. The popular breakfast chain shut its doors at one location in New York State nearly immediately, WYRK confirmed. According to employees, the location on South Western Blvd. in Orchard Park was given two days notice ahead of the restaurant's closure. This Denny's spot officially shuttered on July 9 at 3 p.m.. In sad news for loyal customers, the New York location has also been marked permanently closed on currently has 1,557 restaurants worldwide, with the majority of the locations deriving from the U.S. Most are franchised to individual owners, with only 82 eateries being company operated. The chain is known for its slew of traditional breakfast and brunch options, including iterations of omelets, pancakes, and burgers. It's particularly well-loved by customers who enjoy breakfast for dinner, since most locations are typically open 24 hours every day of the week. RELATED: This is not the first closure Denny's has seen these past few years. USA Today initially reported that Denny's plans to shut 150 of its restaurants doors by the end of 2025 to improve cash flow by upending "lower-volume" locations. "Some of these restaurants can be very old," the Executive Vice President and Chief Global Development Officer, Stephen Dunn, said of the closures. "So when you think of a 70-year-old plus brand, you have a lot of restaurants that have been out there for a very long time." The number then shot up to 180 restaurant closures after an updated release in February 2025, CNN states. An official list of locations has not been revealed, but it looks like we can certainly count this New York State spot as one of Breakfast Chain Abruptly Closes Location, Shocking Employees first appeared on Men's Journal on Jul 11, 2025
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
What happens after your Hooters shuts down? Ask these Hooters Girls.
It's been a rough year for fans (and employees) of Hooters, the restaurant chain known for chicken wings and the revealing orange-and-white uniforms worn by the women who work there. In early June, more than two dozen of its company-owned locations across the U.S. closed their doors for good. It wasn't exactly surprising, given the struggles casual dining restaurants nationwide are facing. Still, the shutdowns put people out of work, including many oft-mythologized Hooters Girls. Drea Rutledge, who worked at the now-shuttered Rockford, Ill., Hooters, is one of them. 'We all knew that Hooters filed for bankruptcy back in March, but we just didn't think it would happen to our store,' Rutledge tells Yahoo. 'My general manager kept telling us that we were fine. Our sales were good. Everything was good, so we thought we had nothing to worry about.' Rutledge took to social media to mourn the loss of her job. "My Hooters location shut down but at least these photos look good," she captioned a TikTok of herself taking selfies in a red bikini. Other Hooters Girls affected by the closures have been following suit. "I'm in shambles," one posted, showing off her low-cut black work top. Some said goodbye through dance routines — spinning around in empty dining rooms or gathering their girlfriends to bust a move outside their old workplace. What's next for these women who are not only out of a job but also the cache that comes with being a Hooters Girl (one of the few food service industry jobs with its own Halloween costume)? Yahoo spoke with a few to find out. Rutledge, who is in her early 20s, started working at the sports bar in 2020. She loved it. 'I was always excited to go to work, and I always upheld the Hooters standards and what it meant to be a Hooters Girl," she says, adding that "being a Hooters Girl was different from being a server." That's because Hooters Girls are actually hired as entertainers, a loophole allowing them to strictly hire young, attractive women. (Per the Hooters website, getting hired as a Hooters Girl "is an honor bestowed upon only the most entertaining, goal-oriented, glamorous and charismatic women. Hooters Girls have that special gift for making every guest feel welcome. She'll have all kinds of opportunities — like appearing in the annual Hooters Swimsuit Calendar. She is an American icon the world over. A waitress she is not.") Whitney Lamb was 18 when she applied to work at the Fort Smith, Ark., location on a whim after getting sucked into the corner of the internet that is Hooters Girls' "Get Ready With Me" videos (think: young women in curve-hugging orange shorts applying makeup). "It looked like a lot of fun,' Lamb, now 22, says. 'And I am not cut out for a job with no fun.' Mya Machelle, a 21-year-old Hooters Girl in the Nashville area, liked the social aspect of the job — namely, swapping stories with customers and coworkers alike. 'This is the first job where I actually had coworkers that I hang out with outside [of work] and really created a bond,' she says. All three women also enjoyed the work opportunities they had outside of the restaurant, including doing promotions and photo shoots, like posing for the Hooters Swimsuit Calendar. And despite making regular What I Make in a Day TikToks during a Hooters shift, Rutledge insists she wasn't really in it for money alone. 'Everybody would always ask me, 'What did you like about working there?'" she says. "And every single time, I would always say the experience, the opportunities and everybody you meet, because the right person you meet could change your life.' But like any job, it had its downsides. Lamb says some days just felt extra long, especially when she wasn't feeling particularly peppy but had to remain cheerful and talkative for her customers. 'In the long run, though, it forced me into a better headspace,' she adds. On June 4, Rutledge was planning to come in to cover a friend's bartending shift when she got a phone call from her manager. 'She said, 'Our store is shutting down. Come to the store to get your things. We're cleaning everything out,'' Rutledge recalls. She immediately texted her friend who worked at the Hooters in Madison, Wis., only to find out her location was also shut down. 'Everybody was trying to call me, text me. It didn't really hit me yet until I got on the phone and I let everybody know. I started crying. I just broke down,' Rutledge says. 'We all loved working there. It was just a really fun job.' Lamb found out about the store closings by reading a post in their staff Facebook group that said: 'Store is closing permanently. If you have any questions, reach out to our GM.' 'It made me feel sad, but I did see it coming,' says Lamb, who had been taking note of the closures that had already been happening since 2024. Machelle has worked at two Hooters locations that have closed. She got a call from her manager letting her know about the first closure, a Hooters in Hermitage, Tenn. She then transferred to the Harding Place location, also in the greater Nashville area, but was only there two months when she learned, via a group chat with her coworkers, that it too was going out of business. 'I woke up in the morning to everybody saying, 'Bye, it was nice knowing y'all.' I'm like, 'What happened?' And they said that the store's closed permanently,' says Machelle. While her coworkers got a call from their manager breaking the news, she maintains she heard nothing despite having a shift to work that evening. Her calls to her manager were never answered, she says. In a statement on the heels of the June store closures, Hooters Inc. CEO Neil Kiefer maintained that "all parties are completely aligned in bringing the necessary resources required to make the remaining 200 domestic Hooters locations as successful as possible." There are also about 60 international locations. For Rutledge, the future is not quite so certain. 'I know that working at Hooters isn't a 'forever' job," she says. But "I didn't plan on leaving so abruptly, either." She's currently filling out applications and looking at other job opportunities. 'I am just at home for the time being." Machelle considered cutting ties completely with the chain but decided to transfer to her third Hooters, this time in a nearby town outside of Nashville. She says she's also been told she's eligible to appear in the next calendar. 'I'm also in college right now for biology and a minor in psychology, so hopefully I graduate with my degree and move forward with that,' she says. 'That's my goal.' As for Lamb, she got her real estate license in Arkansas and Oklahoma and hopes to turn it into a lifelong career. 'Hooters helped me a lot while I was studying to take my test to get licensed, letting me study in between tables. My GM was actually one of my first closings,' she says. 'While I am excited to move on to the next chapter completely, I will miss Hooters.'
