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Caribbean-inspired restaurant chain Bahama Breeze has an uncertain future. Its parent company, Darden Restaurants, closed 15 of its locations in May. Now, the organization has announced it wont be putting a lot of investment into the remaining 28 Bahama Breeze locations and aims to sell the brand. Here’s what to know: What has Darden said about Bahama Breeze? The news came during Dardens fiscal fourth-quarter earnings call on Friday, June 20. We have made the difficult decision that these remaining locations and the Bahama Breeze brand are not a strategic priority for us, Ricardo Cadenas, CEO and president of Darden Restaurants, said on the call. We also believe that this brand and these restaurants have the potential to benefit from a new owner. Consequently, we will be considering strategic alternatives for Bahama Breeze, including a potential sale of the brand or converting restaurants to other Darden brands. How is Darden doing as a company? Darden Restaurants also owns Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, both of which enjoyed growth in the most recent quarter. The Orlando-based company said same-store sales for Olive Garden and LongHorn rose 6.9% and 6.7% respectively. The company reported total sales growth of 10.6% to $3.3 billion for the quarter, driven in part by its acquisition of Chuy’s Tex Mex and the opening of new restaurants. Shares of Darden Restaurants Inc (NYSE:DRI) are up more than 18% year to date. The stock price was essentially flat in premarket trading on Wednesday. According to Darden, Bahama Breezes current lead will move to another of one the organizations entities, while the president of its specialty restaurant group will lead Bahama Breeze during the current changes. Which Bahama Breeze locations have already closed? A Bahama Breeze spokesperson confirmed to USA Today a list of all the Bahama Breeze locations that recently closed: 3989 Plaza Blvd, Gainesville, Florida 32608 2088 9th St N, Naples, Florida 34102 1786 W International Speedway Blvd, Daytona Beach, Florida 32114 2750 Sawgrass Mills Cir, Sunrise, Florida 33323 3339 N Federal Hwy, Oakland Park, Florida 33306 406 E Golf Rd, Schaumburg, Illinois 60173 413 Middlesex Rd, Tyngsborough, Massachusetts 01879 539 E Big Beaver Rd, Troy, Michigan 48083 375 Hughes Center Dr, Las Vegas, Nevada 89169 520 Woodbridge Center Dr, Woodbridge, New Jersey 07095 1201 Hooper Ave, Toms River, New Jersey 08753 101 NJ-23, Wayne, New Jersey 07470 1600 Bergen Town Center, Paramus, New Jersey 07652 612 Smith Haven Mall, Lake Grove, New York 11755 2830 N Germantown Pkwy, Memphis, Tennessee 38133 Fast Company reached out to Darden to confirm the above closings, many of which are already reflected on local Yelp pages.
Category:
E-Commerce
Shake Shack just unveiled a new design concept in Atlanta that includes the companys first-ever restaurant with a full bar, encouraging diners to linger longer over boozy chocolate shakes. The new restaurant will be the second-largest Shake Shack ever by square footage and is located in the Battery, a mixed-use development space thats adjacent to Truist Park, where the Atlanta Braves baseball team plays. The fast-casual burger chain says it will open more restaurants with a full bar if the concept is well received, adding a new element to the chains accelerated store opening strategy. Shake Shack has been embracing a wider array of distinct restaurant formats, including drive-throughs in the suburbs, smaller formats that prioritize to-go orders, and locations in stadiums, train stations, and airports. In 2025, Shake Shack is projected to open 45 to 50 new company-owned locations, the most ever in a single year. The North Star goal is to operate at least 1,500 Shake Shack company-owned locations over time, well above the prior aspiration of 450 that was shared with investors when Shake Shack filed to go public in 2015. We know that one of the biggest barriers to entry for Shake Shack is that there’s just not a Shake Shack close enough to you, says Andrew McCaughan, Shake Shacks chief development officer, during an interview with Fast Company. So were certainly trying to solve that problem. [Photo: Shake Shack] The new Atlanta location features 115 total seats, including 23 at the bar, and the interior decor includes a mural, a wall of free arcade games, and 14 televisions to show sporting events. Theres also a walk-up pickup window for to-go purchases and a hot dog cart in front of the restaurant on game days. But the most unique element is the bar with a wide range of speciality cocktails priced between $12 and $14. Theres a lemon fizz mixed with Titos vodka and St-Germain Elderflower liqueur; a Patrón margarita; and a boozy espresso shake that blends chocolate frozen custard with Jameson Irish whiskey, Mr Black Coffee liqueur, and La Colombe cold brew, topped with whipped cream. Alcohol has been foundational and we offer it in many Shacks across the board, says McCaughan of the chains long history of selling wine and beer, including at the first-ever restaurant in Manhattans Madison Square Park in the earliest days of operation. Shake Shack says the inspiration behind the full bar came from the Shake Shacks licensing partners, who have already experimented with the format at the Denver airport and the Atlantis luxury resort in the Bahamas. The chains expansion plans come as sales continue to swing upward, with total revenue increasing 15% to $1.25 billion in fiscal 2024 from the prior year, bolstered by both new restaurant openings and a 3.6% increase in same-Shack spots open for 24 fiscal months or longer. Total revenue also leapt by nearly 11% in the most-recent fiscal first quarter results posted in May. With only 380 U.S. locations and another 210 internationally, Shake Shacks ambitious growth plans still have a long road ahead. The new growth target was set by a newer management team led by CEO Rob Lynch, who joined in 2024 after previously serving as president and CEO of pizza restaurant Papa Johns International. He succeeded Randy Garutti, who retired after working for Shake Shack for more than two decades. Shake Shack also lured COO Stephanie Sentell from Arbys owner Inspire Brands and has added more outside restaurant expertise to the companys board in an agreement that helped avoid a proxy battle with activist investor Engaged Capital. Some experts say that bringing in fresh perspectives have helped Shake Shack run more efficient and consistent operations. This approach similarly helped Chipotle Mexican Grill after founder Steve Ells stepped down and Brian Niccol became CEO in 2018. Niccol got mostly good marks for his work at Chipotle and has since been tapped by Starbucks to help the coffee giant enact a turnaround. Chipotle operates over 3,700 restaurants and is aiming to reach 7,000 locations in North America over the long term. Brian M. Vaccaro, managing director of restaurants at investment bank Raymond James, says hes long been impressed with the brands average unit volume, which Shake Shack is targeting in the range of $2.8 million to $4 million per location. That demonstrates to us that Shake Shack is a differentiated brand that can have success in a wider range across the country, says Vaccaro. With the optimized operations and improved margins, we think it can drive some pretty positive shareholder returns. [Photo: Shake Shack] On top of recent menu innovations including the return of a summer BBQ menu and fried pickles, the latter the first-ever side item added to the menu, Shake Shacks embrace of technology has also evolved. The company unveiled its first self-serve kiosk in New York City in 2017 and after some early bumps in getting these devices to work for guests, has since rolled them out to nearly all locations. McCaughan says the kiosks have allowed Shake Shack to shift employee resources away from the cashier station to food preparation. That was a shift we made, allowing technology to play a better role interacting with the guests, he adds. In the Atlanta restaurant and a nearby kitchen innovation lab that recently opened, Shake Shack is testing new kitchen equipment that can help make sandwiches and shakes more efficiently, but also retain the chains food preparation standards. Were taking a fresh look, says McCaugan, of the companys more engineer-focused approach to rethink time-saving machinery for fryers and griddles. But, he says the chain wont be embracing more autonomous-focused efforts like the Infinite Kitchen thats being explored by rival Sweetgreen and utilizes robotics to mix up salads. We dont necessarily see the value-add today, says McCaughan. Weve looked at all that equipment in the past.
Category:
E-Commerce
As summer begins and the last month of spring draws to a close, many employees in the technology industry have had their lives disrupted due to layoffs. Several tech companies have cut workers this month, including some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley. Here are some of the highest-profile firms that have reduced their workforce in June 2025. Microsoft The Redmond, Washington, company has the distinction of being the only one on this list with two rounds of layoffs in Juneone at the beginning of the month and one at the end. Worse, these June layoffs follow the Windows-makers massive layoffs in May, which saw the company cut around 6,000 jobsnearly 3% of its global workforce. On June 2, GeekWire reported that Microsoft was making additional cuts305 to be exact. This time, the job cuts were all located in the companys home state of Washington. We continue to implement organizational changes necessary to best position the company for success in a dynamic marketplace, a Microsoft spokesperson told GeekWire of the losses. Xbox (Microsoft) But Microsoft wasnt done with cutting jobs. Yesterday, Bloomberg reported that Microsoft would cut jobs at its Xbox gaming division. However, these job cuts may not come until next week. Its unknown just how many jobs will be lost, but Bloomberg says Xbox division managers are expecting substantial cuts across the entire group. The Xbox job cuts are also expected to be part of a larger workforce reduction. Bloomberg says Microsoft will cut thousands of jobs next week. If the job cuts do happen, they are likely to occur on or around Monday, June 30, the last day of Microsofts 2025 fiscal year. Fast Company reached out to Microsoft for comment. ZoomInfo Technologies The Vancouver, Washington, online marketing company that provides B2B software for sales, recruiting, and marketing professionals announced on June 9 that it plans to lay off 150 workers in June. That represents about 4% of the companys 3,500-strong workforce. According to The Oregonian, ZoomInfo CEO Henry Schuck called the job cuts a very difficult, but necessary, decision in an email to employees. Schuck went on to say that the workforce reductions will enable the company to focus on its core business parts and simplify decision-making. Google The search giant is laying off 25% of its Google TV team, according to a report from The Information (via 9to5Google). The cuts reportedly came after Google reduced Google TVs budget by 10%. Its unknown exactly how many jobs were lost, but the Google TV team reportedly consisted of around 300 people before the cuts, so 25% of that number suggests about 75 jobs were lost. We’ve reached out to Google for comment. Interestingly, the cuts at Google TV may have less to do with the Google TV smart television software and more to do with another Google home entertainment product: YouTube. Google is reportedly redesigning YouTube to make it appear more like a premium video streaming service, similar to Netflix or Disney Plus. The reduction in Google TVs budget may be so that the funds can be reallocated to YouTube. The Walt Disney Company Disney would not typically be considered a tech company, but when it comes to the House of Mouses latest round of layoffs, the categorization fits. Thats because the company has laid off workers in its product and technology divisions. Specifically, Business Insider reports that Disney product and technology chief Adam Smith, who oversees technologies designed to enhance the companys various streaming servicesincluding Disney Plus, Hulu, and the upcoming ESPN streaming servicehas cut under 2% of the product and tech divisions. The exact number of tech jobs lost is unknown, but the job cuts were reportedly made with the aim of rebalancing resources in the affected divisions. We’ve reached out to Disney for comment. Over 60,000 tech employees laid off in 2025 so far Unfortunately, Junes latest tech layoffs are just a fraction of the job losses that the sector has seen this year. According to data compiled by Layoffs.fyi, 147 tech companies have laid off 63,443 workers in 2025 so far. The end of June represents the midway point of the year, and if the second half of 2025 matches the first, it would mean that around 127,000 tech jobs will be lost in 2025. Yet the final number may be more or less, as past layoffs arent a predictor of future ones. In all of 2024, 551 tech companies laid off 152,922 workers, according to Layoffs.fyi. That was down significantly from 2023, which saw 1,193 tech companies lay off 264,220 workers. In 2022, 1,064 tech companies laid off 165,269 employees.
Category:
E-Commerce
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