Burger King will close 26 outlets and lay off 400 employees next month: will your local be closing?

Burger King has announced that it will lay off 424 staff members as it prepares to close 26 restaurants through April.

The store closures began on March 17 and will continue through next month as the chain closes its doors due to “unforeseen business circumstances.”

The closures will primarily affect stores in Detroit, but also Dearborn Heights, Ecorse, Ferndale, Flint, Highland Park, Livonia, Royal Oak, Southfield, Walled Lake, Warren and Whitmore Lake.

All 26 Michigan locations will be completely closed on April 15, according to click detroit.

In a letter to the state Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, EYM King of Michigan LLC said they had been unable to reach an agreement with Burger King Corp.

The East 8 Mile Road site in Detroit is set to lay off 30 staff members, the hardest-hit franchise of those listed.

comparably survey of Burger King staff, based on 2,585 employees, found that 29% of staff were concerned about layoffs.

Employees, on average, had a 5/10 confidence rating in the company’s future, while customers believed Burger King would perform ‘neutral’.

While the inability to reach an agreement suggests the locations will reopen in the near future with different carriers, the closures come amid a broader trend of high street store closures.

Since Covid, many stores have struggled to rebuild their customer base, hampered by the rising cost of living.

Applebee’s announced earlier this month that the chain would have 10 to 20 fewer restaurants nationwide by the end of the year.

Applebee’s was planning a comeback after closing restaurants in 2017, but has continued to decline since the pandemic.

President Tony Moralejo still he claimed the company would open more restaurants this year than in 2022.

In January 2023, FSR magazine reported that despite growing in recent years, the country could now lose 15%, or around 100,000, restaurants.

Expensive rentals, dwindling guest numbers, and wage pressures were some of the reasons given for the closures.

Independent locations are down about 8% through 2020, or about 23,500 closings, and have struggled to rebuild.

Chains will also feel the pinch as inflation depletes consumer savings.

At the end of last year, analysis showed that American households could expect to spend an additional $433 per month than in 2021 as prices rose.