Casual dining chains across the U.S. are still cutting locations as operators contend with weaker traffic, higher labor costs, and more expensive leases. That pressure is now showing up again at Bravo Italian Kitchen and Brio Italian Grille, two long-running Italian restaurant brands often viewed as rivals to Olive Garden. Recent closures in Ohio and Iowa, on top of earlier shutdowns in New Jersey and Florida, show the chains are still shrinking more than a year after their latest bankruptcy filing.
Bravo and Brio have closed 18 locations since the bankruptcy filing
Bravo Brio Restaurants LLC, the company behind Bravo Italian Kitchen and Brio Italian Grille, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on August 18, 2025, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida, according to court records. At the time of that filing, the company said it operated 23 Bravo Italian Kitchen locations and 25 Brio Italian Grille restaurants across 12 states. The bankruptcy was intended to let the company restructure debt, cut costs, and close underperforming restaurants, according to reporting that cited the company’s court filings.
Since that filing, the company’s store count has continued to fall. Recent reporting carried by Yahoo Finance said the operator has closed nine Bravo Italian Kitchen locations over the last year and now runs 14, while Brio Italian Grille has also closed nine locations and now operates 16. That brings the combined confirmed reduction to 18 restaurants since the August 2025 filing.
The latest confirmed Bravo closures include the Dayton Mall restaurant in Miami Township, Ohio, which local outlet WDTN reported as closed on September 8, 2026, and the Jordan Creek Town Center location in West Des Moines, Iowa, which the Des Moines Register reported as permanently closed on September 4, 2026. Earlier in 2026, Brio closures were also reported in Cherry Hill, Marlton, and Freehold, New Jersey, as well as Orlando, Florida, according to local business and regional news reports.
Ohio and other local markets are seeing the footprint get smaller
In Ohio, the newly confirmed closure is the Bravo Italian Kitchen at the Dayton Mall in Miami Township. Local television outlet WDTN reported the restaurant was marked permanently closed, and the Dayton Business Journal said the mall location had opened in 2006. That closure matters locally because it further reduces the company’s visibility in a state where the brands once had a broader suburban mall presence.
Iowa has also now lost a confirmed location. The Jordan Creek Town Center Bravo in West Des Moines has closed, according to the Des Moines Register report published September 4, 2026. Based on the recent confirmed reports cited in the source material, Ohio and Iowa have each lost at least one Bravo location in this latest stretch of downsizing.
What is not yet public is a complete state-by-state closure list from the company. Bravo Brio Restaurants LLC has not released a comprehensive list of all affected locations in Ohio, Iowa, or nationwide since these latest closures were reported. That means the confirmed local impact currently rests on individual location reports rather than a single company-issued summary of every restaurant that has gone dark.
Inflation, softer spending, and weak traffic remain at the center of the cuts
The company has directly tied the restructuring to broader economic strain. In reporting cited by Restaurant Business, Bravo Brio said inflationary pressure, rising food and labor costs, and softening discretionary consumer spending had contributed to underperformance. The company also said the problem was especially severe in shopping centers with high vacancies and declining foot traffic, a notable detail because several of the recently closed restaurants were located in malls or major retail centers.
That explanation fits a broader pattern across casual dining. The same Yahoo Finance report noted that Red Robin has planned additional closures and that Ruby Tuesday’s unit count has steadily fallen for years, underscoring how established chains are still retrenching. For Bravo and Brio, the combination of debt restructuring and continued location exits suggests the bankruptcy process did not end the need for further cuts.
For customers, the practical takeaway is that closures are continuing on a market-by-market basis rather than through one national announcement. Diners in affected cities should expect some locations to disappear with limited notice, while remaining restaurants continue operating unless the company or local reporting confirms otherwise. As of the latest reported counts, Bravo remains at 14 locations and Brio at 16, showing that both brands are still operating, but on a much smaller national footprint than when the bankruptcy case began.