Bruegger’s Bagels has closed 30 locations around the country this week, months after the company was acquired by JAB Holding.
In an emailed statement, Bruegger’s parent company, Einstein Noah Restaurant Group, said the closure of 30 locations of its onetime rival “was based on financial performance and improved positioning for future growth.”
The brand still has more than 240 locations, the company said.
Bruegger’s locations closed were concentrated mainly in Eastern markets, including Pennsylvania and Ohio. Four locations in Washington, D.C., were among the closures.
So were locations in Vermont and Connecticut, according to local reports. And other reports say that four locations in Minnesota were slated for closure, along with one in Madison, Wis.
JAB-owned Caribou Coffee bought Bruegger’s in August, three years after the investment firm bought Einstein. Caribou and Einstein have been expanding their partnership over the past two years, opening more combined coffee and bagel shops.
Bruegger’s had been struggling recently before the August sale. The chain is the 180th largest restaurant company in the U.S., based on Technomic Top 500 data, with $196.5 million in domestic system sales in 2016.
But that was down 3.2% from 2015. And the number of units at the bagel chain was down 4.1% from the year before.
Meanwhile, the chain’s largest operator, Flour City Bagels, filed for bankruptcy protection in 2016 and sold its 28 New York locations to another operator in August.
In its statement, Einstein said the company will work to find jobs for managers and employees, including positions with Einstein and Caribou locations.
Link to original article written by Jonathan Maze here
