This Beloved Chain Restaurant Is Going Away for Good
It's a sad day for Caribbean chain restaurant lovers everywhere. Darden Restaurants announced it will close all 28 of its Bahama Breeze locations this year, per a press release. The chain known for its jerk chicken and yuca fries is going away for good.
Half of the locations will shut down outright on April 5. The other half will be converted to different Darden concepts. Darden also owns Olive Garden, Yard House, LongHorn Steakhouse, and The Capital Grille, among other brands. It hasn't been announced what brands the converted restaurants will become.
The soon-to-be closed locations are in Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington. As for the soon-to-be converted locations, nearly all of them — 10 out of 14 — are in Florida. The others are in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. What's up with that?
"The company believes the conversion locations are great sites that will benefit several of the brands in its portfolio," the press release stated. It makes sense that so many Bahama Breeze locations were in Florida considering its proximity to the Caribbean. With so many stores being converted, the company clearly sees Florida as an area for growth. Darden also stated they aim to move as many employees as they can to other Darden restaurants.
The writing for Bahama Breeze had already been on the wall. In May 2025, Darden closed 15 Bahama Breeze locations — more than one-third of all of them. At the time, Darden said the closures were the “right decision because it will allow Bahama Breeze to focus on its highest performing restaurants and strengthen the brand’s overall performance," per CNN. Well, so much for that.
People in local subreddits have been mourning the losses of their local Bahama Breezes for the past year. "Amazed me the size of the crowd every time we drove by," one Detroit-area fan wrote on Reddit. "I thoroughly enjoyed their citrus-mustard sauce," wrote another. "That ... was delicious."