(WFRV) — About 800 Dunkin’ Donuts locations may permanently close this year, according to a new report from the Dunkin’ Brand Group.
The Massachusetts-based company also said it may close about 350 international locations.
The move is “part of a real estate portfolio rationalization,” according to Dunkin’.
The U.S. locations represent about 8% of the company’s domestic restaurants and accounted for about 2% of its U.S. sales in 2019. The closures will mostly involve low-volume sales locations and would include the previously announced 450 Speedway locations.
The Dunkin’ Brand Group also includes Baskin-Robbins restaurants. The latest report does not detail the closure of any Baskin-Robbins locations.
As of July 25, about 96% of Dunkin’ locations in the U.S. are open. So far this year, 229 locations have already closed.
Dunkin’ reportedly said a decline of 18.7% during the second quarter of 2020 was due to a decline in traffic caused by the coronavirus. Baskin-Robbins reported a sales decline of just 6% in the second quarter.
There is no word yet as to which Dunkin’ locations will close this year.
On Wednesday, McDonald’s announced its plans to close 200 U.S. restaurants this year, about half of which are low-volume locations in Walmart stores. The company is going ahead with the construction of 400 new restaurants in China.
