The Orlando-based Darden Restaurant closed its 15 Bahamas Breeze Restaurants in the eastern US, including five in Florida last week, but spares restaurants in the Orlando area.
“We continuously evaluate the performance of every restaurant,” Darden told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “Closening a restaurant is a difficult choice as it affects team members and guests.
“However, I believe this is the right decision as Bahamas Breeze can focus on top-performing restaurants and enhance the overall performance of the brand.”
The Orlando Metro area has nine Bahamas Breeze locations. There are five in Orange County, two in Osceola and two in Seminole. Darden did not immediately respond to requests for comment on how those locations were working on Tuesday.
The Bahamas Breeze restaurant, closed in Florida, was located in Daytona Beach in Gainesville, Naples, Oakland Park and Sunrise. Four restaurants have been closed in New Jersey in Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New York and Tennessee. Closures reduce the number of active locations from 44 to 29.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Florida has not yet been notified of layoffs resulting from the closure, according to a website tracking notifications for workers coordination and training laws. However, a Massachusetts submission in connection with the state’s only Bahamas Breeze location closure reported 73 workers lost their jobs.
This chain promotes Caribbean style main dishes and cocktails. Current menus include Bahamian seafood chowder, jerk mahi mahi, “tequila sunburn” glass-walled salmon, lobster, shrimp linguine, and shrimp pineapple bowls.
The closure marks another blow to the struggled high-speed casual restaurant segment on TGI Friday, which has recently seen filing for bankruptcy restructuring by iconic brands such as Red Lobster, Boston Market and Hooters.
Bahamas Breeze is one of several restaurant brands owned by Darden. Others are from Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse, Yardhouse, Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, Capital Grill, Chuy, Season 52, and Eddie V.
Investors at Darden, the world’s largest full-service restaurant company with 1,800 locations and over 175,000 employees, have earned the news a lot. As of Monday, the stock price had risen by $22.39 a year.
