What happened to the Buffalo restaurant chains?

“All the kids love the buns there,” Kasper said.

Maureen Rivera, owner of McPartlan’s Corner and Fairdale Banquet Center, also used to take her young family to Red Lobster. Not necessarily because the food was “high end”, but because the convenience couldn’t be beat.

“It was fast and close,” Rivera said. “And they made some good throws.”

On May 13, Red Lobster and its cheesy, buttery biscuits left the area when all three local restaurants – in Buffalo, Amherst and Hamburg – abruptly closed. The 56-year-old national chain closed dozens of its 650 restaurants this week and is expected to file for bankruptcy before Memorial Day, according to the Wall Street Journal.

And it’s not the only sit-down restaurant chain to leave the Buffalo area in recent years.

TGI Friday’s only has two restaurants left in Erie County. The downtown Buffalo location within the Holiday Inn Express remains open, but is currently under lease. Manager Kenneth Blendowski said he hasn’t heard any official news about its closure.

Ruby Tuesday has closed its last local restaurant during the pandemic. Friendly’s closed its four remaining Erie County locations in 2019. Pizza Hut closed its 17 Buffalo-area restaurants in 2020, then changed its business model and opened six takeout-only restaurants locally over of the last year.

This raises questions: is it them or is it us? Why are so many restaurant chains leaving Buffalo?

Experts point to a range of reasons for the flight of nationally owned casual restaurants, such as Red Lobster.

“The changing competitive landscape, combined with some poor management decisions, combined with the inflationary environment and rising labor costs…it just creates a toxic, perfect storm,” he said. said Charles Lindsey, associate professor of marketing at the University at Buffalo. “And then the pandemic accelerated what was already happening.”

Many chains that have left Buffalo, such as Friendly’s, Ruby Tuesday and Pizza Hut, have filed for bankruptcy in recent years.

Management issues cannot be neglected. At Red Lobster, a $20 “endless shrimp” promotion that became a permanent menu item last summer cost the chain’s largest shareholder, Thai Union, $11 million, according to CNN.

In 2019, Friendly’s then-CEO George Michel cited “changing demographics and consumer preferences, increased competition and rising costs” as reasons for closing the Buffalo locations. After closing 20% ​​of its restaurants, Friendly’s also cited its personal failure to maintain its menu. and up-to-date interior design. He wants to focus on the ice again.

“Sometimes to grow you have to shrink,” Sherif Mityas, CEO of Friendly’s Restaurants, said in a press release.

The fastest-growing chains are those with quick, casual or limited service, like Starbucks and Chipotle, where overhead costs are lower. Customers can order ahead online or at the drive-thru, receive their food immediately and minimize interaction with staff.

Techmonic, in its annual Top 500 Chain Restaurants report, found that full-service restaurant chains, such as Red Lobster, experienced a “significantly slower” increase in sales growth in 2023, compared to limited-service chains such as Chick-fil-A.

“Some people have gotten used to using a drive-thru and eating at home,” said Frederick Floss, a professor of economics and finance at SUNY Buffalo State University.

When Pizza Hut returned to Buffalo in April 2023, it followed a new fast-casual business approach by selling only takeout pizzas. On opening day, a line of customers formed outside the Delaware Avenue store an hour before opening, Buffalo News reporter Samantha Christmann wrote at the time.

“People miss the Hut,” Lori Allan of Depew said in August. “Yes, it’s Buffalo. And yes, we have better pizza, but their pan pizza is unparalleled.”

Buffalo’s food and beverage market is also “very, very competitive,” Floss said, and “less dependent on restaurant chains.”

“Individuals have a lot of choices in Western New York, and it probably feels a lot more like a much larger city,” Floss said. “It makes the competition even tougher.”

Buffalo’s independent food scene, in particular, has seen “tremendous growth” in recent years, Lindsey said. The growing number of choices, especially for customers seeking foods from all corners of the world, from Bangladesh to Georgia to the Caribbean, has made competition fiercer.

“The fact that chains come and go doesn’t say anything about the economy of Western New York,” Floss said. “This has been happening for as long as chains have been around. They come. They go. They come back. Over the years, we’ve seen a number of chains leave Buffalo and come back.”

People may also be more concerned about putting their money back into the community by eating at local restaurants.

“Over the last 10, 15, 20 years, small businesses and various small business associations have been pushing to raise awareness about the importance of shopping local,” Lindsey said.

Annette Kasper stopped going to Red Lobster a few years ago, when Ian became an adult with an “expanded” palate. He has since chosen independent restaurants, like Danny Sheehan’s in Lockport and Griffon Gastropub, for his birthday dinner.

“As I get older,” Kasper said. “He chose a local restaurant.”