Denny's in decline?

Brian Lutz
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Re: Denny's in decline?

Post by Brian Lutz »

I recall that the Denny's in Pendleton OR (which seemed quite busy) had video lottery machines when I was there on a roadtrip a couple of years back. Up here, a lot of the Denny's locations have attached bars which do pull tabs. I rarely see many people in the bars, but then again I'm not generally there during the late night hours when I'm sure those do most of their business.
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Re: Denny's in decline?

Post by Super S »

Brian Lutz wrote: August 2nd, 2018, 11:07 am I recall that the Denny's in Pendleton OR (which seemed quite busy) had video lottery machines when I was there on a roadtrip a couple of years back. Up here, a lot of the Denny's locations have attached bars which do pull tabs. I rarely see many people in the bars, but then again I'm not generally there during the late night hours when I'm sure those do most of their business.
Denny's has not consistently had bars. Some franchisees have removed them when the restaurants change hands, others add them. Some have a simple divided section instead of a full bar which allows pull tabs, video lottery, etc.
SamSpade wrote: August 2nd, 2018, 10:29 am I love this board sometimes, @Storewanderer, you just led me to Ely, Nevada. Something I probably wouldn't have done on my own.

Sounds like people preferred the old casino restaurant to Denny's, but it's a rather nice looking remodel.

Back to the Portland area Denny's discussion, someone mentioned the location at the corner of Hassalo and Grand. It really is kind of in disrepair. The roof is moss covered and wasting away. They now have a large sign pointing out their hours (not 24 hours). I guess because Denny's is a franchise, there is some leeway. They are open 6 am to 1 am. It has a parking lot. This lot is probably primed for redevelopment as the inner city density grows. Someone would need to purchase the adjacent Red Robin as well.

The Denny's in NE Portland (near mall 205) was so terrible a few years back I have really not wanted to return. The one on Hayden Island (Jantzen Beach)revenue is likely boosted by its Oregon Lottery video lottery (slot) machines. I do admit that this location has always been OK though, both in the old building and the new.
I always thought being open 24 hours was a requirement for Denny's. I know some Shari's locations have moved away from being 24 hour operations, but did not know Denny's was doing this. I can see it though with some of the things that have been going on in Portland lately.
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Re: Denny's in decline?

Post by Brian Lutz »

I haven't seen any Denny's that weren't 24 hours around here, although there are a lot of places where they are basically the only thing open past 1AM (although IHOP has been moving a number of their locations to 24 hour operation here lately as well.) For that matter, food choices here tend to become very limited after 9pm when most restaurants close.
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Re: Denny's in decline?

Post by Brian Lutz »

And now the Denny's in Downtown Everett just closed down, only about six months after the interior was remodeled. It seems to have been rather sudden, as we were there just a couple of weeks ago and everything seemed to be normal. At this rate I'm guessing there will be none left there within a year or two.
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Re: Denny's in decline?

Post by Bagels »

Any decline you're noticing is probably specific to the local market. Denny's has had a few strong years of growth. When I was growing up in Metro Detroit in the 80s and 90s, Denny's was very prevalent, but by the time I graduated high school twenty years ago, almost all had vanished. I thought the chain was dead, until I moved to SoCal and there were Denny's literally everywhere (I had visited the area many times, but never appreciated how popular Denny's & IHOP were here; of course, both chains originated from the area.)
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Re: Denny's in decline?

Post by Brian Lutz »

I did see that the building next door to the Denny's in Everett (a fairly small 2-story office building that used to house a radio station and a real estate office) seems to be vacating as well, which leads me to suspect the plot of land that the Denny's sits on is being redeveloped. I've seen at least two former Denny's locations end up turning into Chick-Fil-A, so I am starting to wonder if that might happen here too.
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Re: Denny's in decline?

Post by jamcool »

Denny’s seems to be opening smaller sites and moving into strip centers, like the new one in Surprise, AZ which shares a strip center with a Verizon store and a few other retailers
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Re: Denny's in decline?

Post by Alpha8472 »

Denny's is pushing online ordering or online pickup. They are trying to get people to eat at home instead of coming in to eat. This allows for smaller restaurants, cheaper rents, fewer servers, and cost savings. The restaurant employee wages are going up due to increases in minimum wage. Order online and the restaurant can hire fewer employees. Denny's used to have many servers, now you are lucky to find one waiting on tables.
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Re: Denny's in decline?

Post by Super S »

Alpha8472 wrote: January 20th, 2020, 4:33 pm Denny's is pushing online ordering or online pickup. They are trying to get people to eat at home instead of coming in to eat. This allows for smaller restaurants, cheaper rents, fewer servers, and cost savings. The restaurant employee wages are going up due to increases in minimum wage. Order online and the restaurant can hire fewer employees. Denny's used to have many servers, now you are lucky to find one waiting on tables.
This may be true of some locations, but Denny's still has many restaurants situated along freeways and major highways. These locations tend to be busier as they serve travelers, and are usually staffed better.
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Re: Denny's in decline?

Post by pseudo3d »

I don't know any Denny's in my immediate area (300+ mile radius) that have closed in recent memory, and of the four I know of two were in truck stops that they eventually pulled out of, and the other two were in a somewhat declining major thoroughfare. Otherwise, every Denny's I know of is in front of a hotel or off of a freeway, sometimes both.
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