These 7 Fast-Food Chains Are Struggling to Keep Customers

The past five years have been volatile for the food and beverage industry. Starting with the pandemic in 2020 and continuing to the current issue of inflation and pending tariffs on imported goods, prices have gone up, and less people are spending money dining out. As a result, many restaurants and fast food chains have been forced to shake up their business models and even close up shop. Here are 7 fast food chains closing stores now as sales drop, bankruptcy looms, or as a result if restructuring.

Wendy's

In November 2024, Wendy's announced the closure of 140 outdated stores in underperforming areas, in addition to 100 closed in May 2024. "They're just in locations that don't build our brands," Wendy's President and CEO Kirk Tanner said at the time. "You look at a brand that's 55 years old and some of those restaurants are quite out of date." He added that they hope to open new restaurants in more thriving locations. "Our focus is on building new restaurants because we know they deliver well over the average of these poor-performing restaurants," he said. "We, overall, want the best restaurants for the customers and that customer experience we want to deliver."

Boston Market

Boston Market was one of the most thriving fast food chains in the 1990s and early aughts, operating over 1,000 locations at peak. However, the past few years, the brand closed the majority of the locations, and now only 14 remain open. "Every single local one around me closed recently," one Redditor wrote in a recent post about disappearing restaurants.

Carl's Jr

Carl's Jr. has been struggling both domestically and abroad. In July 2024, the Australian master franchisee for Carl's Jr. entered voluntary administration with 20 company-owned restaurants shuttering immediately. This month an Austin, Texas Carl's Jr. is set to close, and in 2024, the brand's first Idaho location in Boise closed up shop.

Domino's Pizza

Pizza lovers in Japan were gutted when Domino's Pizza Enterprises, the largest global master franchisee of the pizza chain, owning 18% of Domino's stores, announced the closure of 205 restaurants in February. 172 of the "loss-making" stores were in Japan, and closed in order "to sharpen market focus and improve profitability" of the overall portfolio.

Quizno's

Quizno's, once the second-largest sandwich chain in the country with over 5,000 restaurants has been on a steady decline. Currently, there are only 148 in the US. In February, the last shop in Connecticut closed, and fans shared their mourning in a Facebook post. "End of an era," a user wrote."I would always grab a sub before going to the beach in summer," added another.

Steak 'n Shake

Since 2018, Steak 'n Shake has closed 200 locations, and as part of a refranchising effort closed 44 in 2019. "They seem to have replaced most of their employees with computers and kiosk and often you cannot even eat inside. It is a shame because their burgers, shakes, and fries are like the best out of any of the major fast food restaurants. Also even just a few years ago their staff were well dressed and really polite but now seem so stressed and overwhelmed. It is really sad to see," one Redditor recently said. CEO Sardar Biglari maintains the brand is set for a comeback. "The new team is setting a new pace in 2025—fast and focused," he recently said.

Dairy Queen

Earlier this year 25 Dairy Queen restaurants abruptly closed up shop in Texas. All of them were owned and operated by a single franchiser, Project Lonestar. "The franchise owner continues to own and operate other DQ restaurants in Texas," a representative said at the time. "These closures are an isolated event and we refrain from publicly sharing contract terms."