This week on Nation’s Restaurant News, the top story was “Portillo’s to shutter five to nine restaurants outside Chicago.” Portillo’s plans to close a “mid- to high-single digit” number of underperforming restaurants outside Chicago, mostly in the fourth quarter, as part of a turnaround plan. The company did not say which restaurants are scheduled to close or where specifically.
In other news, a large Outback Steakhouse franchisee has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and the franchisor is already in line to buy it. San Diego-based Out West Restaurant Group operates 61 Outback Steakhouse restaurants in five Western states. It began having financial difficulties in 2018 and spun out of control after the pandemic, according to bankruptcy documents.
Also, McDonald’s same-store sales declined 0.2% in the U.S. last quarter, the company said on Wednesday, as the fast-food giant’s value and marketing challenges led to traffic declines that weighed on sales.
See what else was trending on NRN.com this week.
