Denny's closures add five diners in Minnesota and Wisconsin

Denny's closures grew by five restaurants on 3 September, when the franchisee M15 Inc. shut its four Minnesota diners and one in Wisconsin, according to Nation's Restaurant News.

The restaurants were in Burnsville, Maplewood, Roseville and North Branch, Minnesota, and in Hudson, Wisconsin. Local reports say the doors were locked at 7am and that staff were told the same morning.

What the franchisee said about the Denny's closures

Denny's says it is looking for operators to reopen the five closed diners.

M15 Inc. said it could no longer meet payroll or pay for supplies after accumulating debt, and that it intends to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, according to Nation's Restaurant News and Fast Company. The company has not commented publicly beyond that statement, and the reported figures have not been confirmed in a court filing.

Denny's said in a statement that it was "working with urgency alongside our franchise network to explore every viable path to reopen as many of these restaurants as we can". The company did not give a timetable.

The five sites bring the number of Denny's restaurants closed since the start of 2024 to about 155, on the company's own count. Denny's closed 4.5% of its locations during 2025 and reported a 2% decline in sales for that year.

A chain in the middle of a rebuild

The 73-year-old chain was bought in January for $620 million by a group of private-equity investors together with Yadav Enterprises, one of its own franchisees. Chief executive Christopher Bode has since run a programme the company calls Project Grand Slam.

Part of that plan is the removal of the weakest restaurants, which the company says should lift average sales per site from $1.9 million to $2.2 million. Denny's also started a national catering service over the summer.

Casual dining in the United States has spent the year shedding sites, a month after O'Charley's closed its company-operated restaurants. Denny's has not said when, or whether, the five diners will reopen under a new operator.