Dive Brief:
- Darden will close 14 Bahama Breeze locations and convert the remaining 14 into a different Darden brand, the company announced Tuesday, marking the end for the chain.
- The move follows a review of Bahama Breeze’s brand positioning and strategic potential, which saw Darden contemplate a sale of the chain.
- The closing restaurants will continue to operate until April 5, while the conversions will take place over the next 12-18 months, the company said.
Dive Insight:
Last May, Darden closed about one-third of Bahama Breeze’s store system and announced, a month later, that it was looking for strategic alternatives for the brand, including conversions or a sale. Those closures were part of a broader retrenchment by the company meant to aid its smaller brands in focusing on core, profitable units.
The closures impact all of Bahama Breeze’s Delaware, West Virginia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New Jersey stores, as well as five in Florida and one each in North Carolina, Virginia and Georgia. Ten Florida locations and one in each of the Carolinas, Georgia and Virginia will be converted to new concepts.
“The conversion locations are great sites that will benefit several of the brands in its portfolio,” the company said. Darden will try to place as many of the impacted workers as it can in other roles in its portfolio, according to the announcement…