Denny’s is closing 150 restaurants

New York (CNN) —& Denny’s is closing 150 restaurants over the next year, and the 71-year-old diner chain is mulling a major change to its 24/7 operating hours.Fifty locations are set to close by the end of 2024, while the remaining 100 will shutter in 2025, Denny’s announced in an earnings call Tuesday. That amounts to a tenth of its restaurants, leaving 1,375 locations once completed. A specific list of closing restaurants weren’t immediately announced.Denny’s is targeting “underperforming restaurants” that are weighing down the company’s financial performance, according to Steve Dunn, Denny’s executive vice president and chief global development officer. The affected locations are either too old to be remodeled or in areas that have become unprofitable.The chain, best known for never closing its doors, is also making a major concession with its franchisees over the requirement of remaining open 24/7. Since the pandemic, about a quarter of its restaurants have not returned to those around-the-clock hours, so Denny’s is easing up on the requirement for a franchise to do so.Denny’s joins a& broader trend& of restaurants slashing hours since the pandemic. Major shifts in customer behavior, including earlier dinner times and drinking less alcohol late into the evenings, have...