National restaurant chains are still trimming weaker stores in 2026 as operators contend with debt, soft traffic and higher labor and food costs. Florida and California have emerged as two of the clearest focal points for those closures, based on confirmed shutdowns, bankruptcy filings and restructuring moves reported this year.
Florida is absorbing multiple confirmed chain pullbacks
Florida has been tied to several of the year’s highest-profile chain restaurant losses. Red Lobster confirmed that its Tallahassee restaurant on North Monroe Street, described in coverage by Fox News and The Independent as the chain’s oldest continuously operating location, closed on May 24, 2026, after 56 years as part of the seafood chain’s post-bankruptcy footprint reduction.
Florida is also central to Popeyes franchisee Sailormen’s Chapter 11 case. Restaurant Dive reported, citing court filings dated Jan. 15, 2026, that Sailormen entered bankruptcy protection while operating 136 Popeyes restaurants across Florida and Georgia. Nation’s Restaurant News later reported that 20 Popeyes restaurants in Florida and Georgia had closed following that filing, though a complete state-by-state breakdown of those 20 closures has not been publicly detailed.
Hooters added to the state’s concentration of closures after its own financial restructuring. The Associated Press reported when Hooters filed for bankruptcy protection on April 1, 2025, that the brand was struggling with high food and labor prices, changing tastes and stronger competition. Separate reporting identified earlier Florida closures in Jacksonville, Sanford, Melbourne and Gainesville, but the company has not released a new comprehensive 2026 Florida closure list tied to that restructuring.
California’s losses include local closures and longer-running cutbacks
California has also logged confirmed chain restaurant losses in 2026. In Imperial County, KYMA reported that the Applebee’s at 2505 Scaroni Road in Calexico announced it would close, with the restaurant serving its final meal on June 23, 2026. Reporting on the closure said nearly 30 employees were affected, but Applebee’s has not publicly framed the Calexico shutdown as part of a broader California count for this year.
What is confirmed is that California remains one of the states where national chains have been steadily pruning locations. Red Lobster’s 2024 bankruptcy restructuring included California restaurants among its nationwide closures, although the company has not issued a current 2026 California-specific total in the public reporting reviewed for this story.
The state also continues to feel the aftereffects of earlier chain reductions. A California WARN notice dated Dec. 1, 2023, showed Southern California Pizza Company and related entities planned to eliminate about 841 delivery-driver jobs beginning Feb. 5, 2024, after discontinuing direct delivery service. Those layoffs covered locations across Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Rubio’s separately closed 48 California stores on May 31, 2024, saying the decision followed a review of operations and the business climate.
Costs, debt and weak traffic are driving the closures
The reasons behind the closures vary by chain, but the public filings and company statements point to a common set of pressures. In Sailormen’s bankruptcy case, court-backed reporting said the Popeyes operator faced inflation, higher borrowing rates, sales declines, lease strain and a limited qualified labor force. The franchisee reported more than $223 million in sales for 2025 but still posted a net operating loss exceeding $18 million, according to Restaurant Dive’s summary of the filing.
Applebee’s franchisee Neighborhood Restaurant Partners Florida cited similar conditions in its own Chapter 11 case. Restaurant Dive reported that the operator, which had already closed nine restaurants in 2025 and five more in the first quarter of 2026, pointed to inflationary pressure, cash-flow restraints and lower guest traffic. Its restructuring left 53 units across Florida, Georgia and Alabama.
California’s cost structure has also been part of the discussion around chain retrenchment. The state’s $20 fast-food minimum wage took effect on April 1, 2024, for covered chains, and operators including Rubio’s and Pizza Hut franchisees tied major cutbacks to the economics of operating there. For customers, the immediate impact is local: more sudden closures, fewer familiar chain options in some neighborhoods, and ongoing uncertainty where companies have not yet released full location lists as restructuring cases continue.