{"id":57454,"date":"2025-08-25T15:10:29","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T19:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=57454"},"modified":"2025-08-25T15:10:36","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T19:10:36","slug":"18-burger-kings-abruptly-close-triggering-mass-layoffs-more-to-come-soon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2025\/08\/25\/18-burger-kings-abruptly-close-triggering-mass-layoffs-more-to-come-soon\/","title":{"rendered":"18 Burger Kings abruptly close, triggering mass layoffs \u2013 more to come soon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The restaurant industry has been under a lot of pressure this year, and it seems like it\u2019s finally starting to boil over.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"379\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/burger-king.webp?resize=500%2C379\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-35523\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The latest victim? Burger King.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More specifically, one of Burger King\u2019s franchisees, Consolidated Burger Holdings, closed 18 stores (and, of course, likely had to let just about everyone at those stores go) in a desperate attempt to maintain viability before finally succumbing to bankruptcy in mid-April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-it-gets-worse\">It gets worse<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In case you were thinking \u201cso they closed 18 restaurants and then fell into bankruptcy, how could that possibly get worse?\u201d \u2013\u00a0the answer is that it definitely can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You see, Consolidated Burger Holdings (CBH) still operates 57 Burger Kings across Florida and Georgia, and many of them are likely on the chopping block as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So the layoffs we\u2019ve seen, unfortunately, could just be a sign of things to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CBH is currently going through a court-managed sales process to try and sell the remainder of its portfolio as part of the bankruptcy \u2013 but so far, there haven\u2019t been any reported buyers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not great signs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-industry-headwinds\">Industry headwinds<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We\u2019re seeing lots of chains shutting down stores as they try to find some way to survive a trifecta of difficult headwinds that are all hitting more or less simultaneously:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Of course, there\u2019s food inflation \u2013\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thecoconutmama.com\/targeted-ice-raid-spikes-beef-prices-by-14-75\/\">beef<\/a>, eggs,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thecoconutmama.com\/coffee-prices-abruptly-spike-15-and-its-about-to-get-much-worse\/\">coffee,<\/a>\u00a0feels like \u201cyou name it, it\u2019s more expensive.\u201d That\u2019s impacting restaurant margins as they try to figure out how to pass on costs to customers without facing a revolt.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Plus some real shifts in demand \u2013 Gen Z wants healthier food, chain restaurants in general are just getting less wallet share (and that goes double for greasy chains like Burger King), and of course we\u2019ve seen a huge shift toward takeout with delivery apps like DoorDash and Uber. That is, of course, also impacting restaurant margins.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>And finally, there\u2019s the current economic malaise which is just putting the squeeze on everyone. When people start getting worried and tighten up spending, restaurants are one of the areas that tend to get cut.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you\u2019re Burger King, you\u2019re facing all of the above and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Plus, let\u2019s face it, the US economy really only recently fully recovered from the 2020 shocks and the big inflation push we saw in 2022. There\u2019s a lot that\u2019s still very fragile, and restaurants (especially chain restaurants) haven\u2019t caught a break in a long time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here\u2019s hoping everyone gets some breathing room soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Especially\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-real-victims\">The real victims<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The people who\u2019ve suffered most in all of this \u2013 in my opinion \u2013 are the workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They showed up every day and did a great job \u2013 and then lost their jobs through no fault of their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And of course \u2013 we all understand that CBH is in dire straits \u2013 but it still stinks for these folks who did their work, did it well, and still have to find a new job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I hope the next chapter is kinder and ends better than this last one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Readers \u2013 if you have any food service job leads in Florida and Georgia, or advice or encouragement for these folks \u2013 please leave a comment and share!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The restaurant industry has been under a lot of pressure this year, and it seems like it\u2019s finally starting to boil over. The latest victim? Burger King. More specifically, one&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35523,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"17","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyM1wvMDlcL2J1cmdlci1raW5nLndlYnA_Zml0PTUwMCUyQzM3OSZzc2w9MSIsInR4dCI6IjE4IEJ1cmdlciBLaW5ncyBhYnJ1cHRseSBjbG9zZSwgdHJpZ2dlcmluZyBtYXNzIGxheW9mZnMgXHUyMDEzIG1vcmUgdG8gY29tZSBzb29uIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJoaWdod2F5IiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.qnOcrb0QcTbs8ca0CHBN3BXwpkncwR5RmpH2OTYd5UQMQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":35523,"url":"http:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/burger-king.webp","type":"image\/webp"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[12041,12042],"class_list":["post-57454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regional-and-world-news","tag-18-burger-kings-abruptly-close","tag-triggering-mass-layoffs-more-to-come-soon"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57454"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57455,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57454\/revisions\/57455"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}