Burger King 2023 Closures

[retailfanmitchell019]

Food stamp acceptance (cash part) in CA fast food restaurants is interesting. I see restaurant level marketing surrounding it in SoCal and the payment terminals present in many units.

Jack In The Box has heavily marketed the fact that it accepts EBT- even in places like Carlsbad and Del Mar (very very few people, if any, that use EBT).

[storewanderer]

Food stamp acceptance (cash part) in CA fast food restaurants is interesting. I see restaurant level marketing surrounding it in SoCal and the payment terminals present in many units.

Jack In The Box has heavily marketed the fact that it accepts EBT- even in places like Carlsbad and Del Mar (very very few people, if any, that use EBT).

I've noticed that too with Jack in the Box. That is a waste of space to market in those places, they'd be better off marketing basically anything else. Carl's Jr. used to also market it heavily back when they had more corporate operated sites, while some franchisees marketed it and others did not.

[mburb1981]

Following the closure of the last of these locations yesterday, it has been revealed that the big reason for these closures was the complaint Burger King corporate filed with EYM King of Michigan in early March that after terminating the franchise agreement, EYM's restaurants continued to display BK symbols and operate as if they were still officially BK restaurants.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/busin ... 117827007/

[Bagels]

Nothing political about these closures. These are a concept that seems to have some issues with performance, and a block of 26 locations in slow/no growth type of areas. Enough of the locations appear to need major renovations to get up to current brand standards that it may just be an economic thing with this block of locations. This block of locations is not viable. But some pieces of the block are viable and it will be broken out (evidently under some other franchisee).

I am surprised Burger King Corporate held even some of these locations previously though. I wonder if a previous franchisee went under, Burger King Corporate stepped in and assumed the block of locations, then transferred it to this franchisee.

I wonder what tax credit that was. Or if it was Federal or State. Empowerment Zone Credit is based on percent of wages and needs 90 days of employment.

Food stamp acceptance (cash part) in CA fast food restaurants is interesting. I see restaurant level marketing surrounding it in SoCal and the payment terminals present in many units. But in NorCal there is zero marketing (even in rural areas) and I am not even sure if most fast foods accept it up in the Northern part of the state. This seems to be a franchisee by franchisee thing. I don't think this has been a huge sales generating program for fast food.

I don't know the history, but the franchisee did indeed acquire all (or nearly all) these stores directly from BK. The stores in/around Detroit were previously owned by another franchisee, so either they defaulted -- and the stores went to BK ownership -- or they choose not to renew their franchise agreement -- and the stores went back to BK. McD's owns the physical building and the land its restaurants occupy (I'm keeping this simple). Many older BK franchisees own the building and the land, although for new builds, BK generally works out the same relationship McD's does. It's unclear what relationship existed here.

My educated guess is that this franchisee acquired all of these stores at a discounted rate solely because it bid on the Detroit locations. It was probably hopeful the Detroit locations would break even at best, or come close to breaking even, but that wasn't happening, so it defaulted on those locations while trying to keep the other (many of which are plum) locations but ultimately BK said no.

[mburb1981]

More Burger King closures have been announced. The majority of these 27 closures are in Minnesota and Utah, with 3 locations each in Montana and Nebraska and a location each in Kansas, North Dakota and Wyoming getting the axe as well. All of these are owned by Meridian Restaurants Unlimited, which filed for bankruptcy in March due to low sales and high inflation.

https://www.businessinsider.com/burger- ... ist-2023-4

[BatteryMill]

More Burger King closures have been announced. The majority of these 27 closures are in Minnesota and Utah, with 3 locations each in Montana and Nebraska and a location each in Kansas, North Dakota and Wyoming getting the axe as well. All of these are owned by Meridian Restaurants Unlimited, which filed for bankruptcy in March due to low sales and high inflation.

https://www.businessinsider.com/burger- ... ist-2023-4

Hope another franchisee picks up on the mess.

[Brian Lutz]

Can't say I'm too surprised by the State street one in Sandy. I occasionally go to the Sonic next door and pretty much never see anyone at that location, and have seen it already closed at 8pm on some days.

[storewanderer]

Burger King seems to really be suffering. I recall last year the CEO of RBI came out and said they were going to stop doing value-based promotions on the Whopper. Citing it is their signature item and they need to stop discounting it. While I understand the logic, the problem is too many promotions for too long... combined with franchisees like the one in Reno who think a single Whopper is worth 6.59 (no cheese) or 7.39 (cheese). For quite a few years the Whopper was on constant 2 for $5, etc. type promotions.

I guess that didn't work out so well.

In general it seems like these flame broiled chains, Burger King, Carls, are not doing well. I find it strange. I don't think the problem is the food. I think the problem is too much bad execution.

[Brian Lutz]

I've noted that the two Burger Kings in Sandy that closed look like they just basically stuck closed signs on the doors, locked up and left. None of the Burger King signage has been removed (one of the locations didn't even bother removing the "now hiring" lettering from the signboard in front) which leads me to believe that BK is hoping someone picks these locations up and reopens them quickly. I also see that some of the remaining locations in the area have had to resort to putting large "WE'RE STILL OPEN" signs up, lest customers assume that they have closed as well.

[storewanderer]

I've noted that the two Burger Kings in Sandy that closed look like they just basically stuck closed signs on the doors, locked up and left. None of the Burger King signage has been removed (one of the locations didn't even bother removing the "now hiring" lettering from the signboard in front) which leads me to believe that BK is hoping someone picks these locations up and reopens them quickly. I also see that some of the remaining locations in the area have had to resort to putting large "WE'RE STILL OPEN" signs up, lest customers assume that they have closed as well.

This is standard lately for fast foods that close. They just... up and close. They still look open, but they are not open. This has happened lately in my area with multiple fast foods. I don't think there is money to come and cover up signs, etc.

I do find it odd someone does not go in and remove unused supplies, etc. But they don't even do that until the landlord takes control of the site and puts it for lease.