Which fast‑food franchises have announced California store closures or relocations since 2023, and what were their stated reasons?
Executive summary
Rubio’s Coastal Grill publicly announced the closure of 48 California locations in mid‑2024, citing underperformance and rising costs as the rationale [1] [2]. A handful of other chains and franchisees — including Arby’s, franchise groups operating KFC/Burger King/Pizza Hut outlets, Wendy’s and larger operators like Jack in the Box — have also been linked in reporting to store shutdowns, sales or portfolio pruning since 2023 for reasons that range from franchisee bankruptcies to strategic restructuring and cost pressures [3] [4] [5] [6].
1. Rubio’s: a public, concentrated pullback across California
Rubio’s announced the largest named rollback in the reporting: 48 California restaurants closed over a single weekend and the company framed the move as shuttering “underperforming” locations to position the business for long‑term success; coverage tied the timing to a wave of higher operating costs in California after the fast‑food wage law change [1] [2] [7]. The company said it would continue operating 86 remaining restaurants across California, Arizona and Nevada [2].
2. Franchisee bankruptcies and landlord/ownership moves: KFC, Burger King, Pizza Hut and others
Several closures traced to franchisee insolvency rather than corporate strategy: reporting notes that subsidiaries of the EYM Group that operated KFC, Burger King and Pizza Hut locations filed for bankruptcy and shuttered outlets, a pattern that began in 2023 and continued into 2024 [4]. Those actions were attributed in coverage to franchisee financial distress and court disputes, not to a single regulatory trigger [4].
3. Individual store shutdowns and brand pruning: Arby’s, Wendy’s and Boston Market examples
Local and national outlets documented isolated long‑running store closures such as an Arby’s in Santa Maria that closed after decades of operation [3], while chains like Wendy’s announced plans to close a tranche of underperforming locations nationally as part of a refresh — reporting noted 150‑store reductions mentioned in some outlets though details on which specific California stores would be affected were not always disclosed [5]. Boston Market and other legacy concepts have been reported as contracting amid bankruptcy proceedings and store shutdowns [8].
4. Strategic corporate moves and potential asset sales: Jack in the Box and Del Taco
Larger strategic choices have also appeared in reporting: Jack in the Box told investors it might close up to 200 stores and hinted at divesting brands in its portfolio — including potential sale of Del Taco after weaker results — actions framed as maximizing shareholder return and portfolio optimization rather than purely local California cost pressures [6]. The article reporting this was published in 2025 and signals ongoing restructuring beyond the 2023–2024 window but flows from the same economic pressures cited elsewhere [6].
5. The repeated explanation: wages, inflation, and “underperforming” locations
News coverage consistently cites a mix of causes: chains and franchisees point to underperforming stores and strategic consolidation, while many articles link closures to higher labor and operating costs in California after the state’s fast‑food wage and governance changes (AB 1228 and the $20/hour fast‑food wage law were central to reporting) — though the balance between law‑driven closures and longer‑running brand‑level issues varies by source [1] [9] [10]. Industry analysts in coverage say California’s higher costs create headwinds, but other reports and data point to growth in total restaurant counts and caution against attributing every closure to a single law [11] [9].
6. Scale, data limitations and competing narratives
Aggregates and trackers show large numbers of closures in California — datasets cited hundreds to over a thousand closures depending on methodology and timeframe — but those trackers mix independent restaurants, chains and franchised outlets and occasionally differ sharply, illustrating gaps in public data and methodology choices [12] [13]. Media narratives emphasizing wage laws as the primary cause sit alongside reporting of franchisee bankruptcies, shifting consumer tastes and corporate restructuring; each source brings implicit agendas — industry outlets highlighting regulatory cost burdens, trackers emphasizing raw counts — so causation varies by firm and should not be generalized without firm‑level documents [12] [4] [10].