Houlihan’s opened its first restaurant in Kansas City on April 1, 1972. Joe Gilbert and Paul Robinson founded the chain with colorful décor and affordable menu prices. Baby boomers loved the lively atmosphere for birthdays and dates. By the late 1980s, Houlihan’s had grown to approximately 100 locations across America.
The chain started shrinking long before recent troubles hit. Fast-casual competitors like Panera, Chipotle, and Shake Shack offered quicker service. Customers wanted faster, cheaper food options. By 2004, only 75 Houlihan’s remained open. The chain bounced back briefly to 92 locations by 2007. That included 31 company-owned restaurants and 61 franchised ones. Private equity firm Goldner Hawn Johnson Morrison bought the chain in 2006. They attempted to update the restaurants with modern designs. Nothing worked. By 2019, there were only 47 company-owned locations operating across 14 states.
The entire casual dining industry faces similar problems. TGI Friday’s reached its peak of 601 U.S. locations in 2008. The chain filed for bankruptcy in November 2024. By April 2025, it had closed 86% of its restaurants. Only 85 TGI Fridays remained open. Red Lobster shut down 131 locations in 2024, following its bankruptcy filing in May. Hooters and Buca di Beppo also struggled with closures. The National Restaurant Association reported 348 full-service restaurant bankruptcies in 2024 alone. Today, Houlihan’s operates just 22 restaurants.
Bankruptcy Sale to Landry’s Brought More Closures
Financial troubles forced Houlihan’s parent company, HRI Holding Corp., into bankruptcy. The company owed $47 million from a 2015 loan. It stopped making payments in December 2018. In 2019, Houlihan’s earned $202 million in revenue. However, profits totaled only $9 million. Thin profit margins and high rent costs squeezed the business. HRI filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on November 14, 2019.
Billionaire Tilman Fertitta’s Landry’s LLC offered $40 million to buy the chain. No other companies bid against Landry’s. The court approved the sale in mid-December 2019. Landry’s completed the purchase on December 30, 2019. The company owns 60 restaurant brands and 600 properties. Landry’s promised to keep locations open and save jobs.
Those promises didn’t last long. Landry’s closed at least 12 underperforming restaurants right after buying the chain. The number of company-owned locations dropped from 47 to 35 immediately. The closures received little public attention. Landry’s called them routine business decisions. Between 2019 and late 2024, another 25 locations closed. Technomic data shows that only 29 restaurants remained by late 2024. That represents a 53% reduction in six years.
Five more locations shut down on December 31, 2025, or January 1, 2026. These included restaurants in Noblesville, Indiana; Hershey, Pennsylvania; Garland, Texas; Long Island, New York; and Upper Arlington, Ohio. Paper signs on doors announced the closures. Many employees learned about losing their jobs just hours before their shifts were scheduled to end.
Rising Costs and Falling Sales Doom the Brand
Economic pressures made survival harder. Food and labor costs rose 35% between February 2020 and April 2025. Menu prices increased 31% during the same period. Full-service restaurants raised prices 4.6% year-over-year by August 2025. They needed to maintain their typical profit margins of 3% to 5%. Customers still stayed away.
Houlihan’s sales dropped from $83.1 million in 2023 to $74.7 million in 2024. That’s a 10.1% decline over the past year. Fewer locations and weak customer demand caused the drop. Experts estimate 750 jobs have disappeared across the 25 closures since 2019. That’s based on 30 employees per restaurant. Some workers, including those in Noblesville, received no severance pay.
Franchisees operating 21 to 23 locations grew angry with Landry’s management. The parent company stopped marketing the brand. It refused to renovate restaurants or update menus. Franchisees paid fees and royalties but had no say in closure decisions. Landry’s prefers converting Houlihan’s locations to other brands it owns. The Noblesville location will reopen as a Saltgrass Steak House. Landry’s uses similar tactics across its restaurant portfolio. It takes prime real estate and converts locations to brands like Morton’s or Del Frisco’s.
The 22 remaining Houlihan’s clusters are in smaller, lower-cost markets. Landry’s website lists current locations but provides no information on future growth plans. Nobody knows if Landry’s will keep a few restaurants open for nostalgic customers. The chain might disappear completely. Houlihan’s story illustrates how casual dining establishments struggle against fast-casual chains and food delivery services.
Sources:
Nation’s Restaurant News, Houlihan’s closes several restaurants, Jan 5, 2026
Nation’s Restaurant News, Houlihan’s Restaurants parent files for bankruptcy, Nov 14, 2019
TheStreet, 53-year-old restaurant chain is quietly closing locations nationwide, Jan 11, 2026
Restaurant Dive, TGI Fridays has closed 60 stores since September, Oct 27, 2024
Restaurant Business Online, Bankrupt Houlihan’s accepts $40M bid from Landry’s, Nov 2019
National Law Review, Landry’s Stalking Bidder in Houlihan’s Chapter 11, Nov 14, 2019