Breaking News: After 30 Years, Bahama Breeze Is Calling It Quits

After 30 years of serving up Caribbean vibes and tropical cocktails, Bahama Breeze is calling it quits. Darden Restaurants announced Tuesday that they’re pulling the plug on the entire chain, closing 14 locations for good while converting the remaining 14 into other Darden concepts. It’s a dramatic end for a brand that looked as if it could’ve been a frontrunner in the casual dining space.

If you’ve got a favorite Bahama Breeze, you should squeeze in one last visit soon. All 28 remaining Bahama Breeze locations are shutting down. Fourteen will close for good on April 5, 2026, in Delaware, West Virginia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, and five spots in Florida. The other 14, mostly in Florida with a handful in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia, will be converted into other Darden restaurant brands over the next 12 to 18 months. The company hasn’t said yet which concepts will replace them, so we’ll have to wait and see if they become Olive Gardens, LongHorn Steakhouses, or something else from the portfolio.

This was no surprise to the company. Darden launched a strategic review in June 2025 and decided that Bahama Breeze would no longer be a priority, and they also considered selling it. That came just a month after they’d already closed 15 locations in May 2025. The chain peaked at 43 units before those first closures hit.

Bahama Breeze launched in 1996 with its first location in Orlando and quickly found success with its Caribbean-themed menu of yuca cheese sticks, chicken tostones, coconut shrimp, and tropical cocktails. In its early years, the concept was a success, with locations making at least $6 million annually, double what Darden’s other, more established chains were doing at the time. In 2024, the average sales per location dropped to $5.7 million while overall sales fell 7.7 percent.

Because Caribbean food just doesn’t have massive appeal across the U.S., the restaurants had bigger footprints than profits could justify, and consumers in Bahama Breeze’s target demographic have been economically challenged. Meanwhile, Darden’s heavy hitters are doing just fine. Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse saw same-store sales jump 4.7 percent and 5.9 percent, respectively, in the latest quarter.

Darden says it’s going to move as many employees as possible into positions at its other restaurants. There’s Olive Garden, LongHorn, Yard House, Ruth’s Chris, Cheddar’s, The Capital Grille, Chuy’s, Seasons 52, and Eddie V’s, if there are spots available.

For anyone tracking restaurant footprints and location data, Chain Store Guide maintains detailed databases on retail and foodservice establishments across the U.S. and Canada. They track more than 700,000 individual locations with daily updates from their in-house research teams.

Sources: Restaurant Business Online, Orlando Sentinel, CNN Business, Restaurant Dive, Technomic, Chain Store Guide