JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville’s oldest Popeyes restaurant and two others have closed as the fried chicken chain’s franchisee battles bankruptcy, marking the latest closures in a wave of fast-food shutdowns that have swept the region.
The fried chicken chain’s Find a Location tracker online listed the following locations as closed as of Friday:
Recommended Videos
- 1509 University Blvd. N., which opened in 1977
- 7507 Atlantic Blvd.
- 524 Atlantic Blvd., Neptune Beach
The closures follow the shuttering of locations on Kings Road and McDuff Avenue in February.
Sailormen Inc., a Miami-based Popeyes franchise, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January to ease financial strain due to “rising inflation, declining customer traffic and mounting debt,” according to a March report from Yahoo Finance. The company operated about 130 locations when it first filed.
TheStreet reported that a judge approved the sale of 97 Sailormen restaurants to five buyers for a total of $16.55 million. However, the franchisee may be forced to reject leases on about 33 locations it could not sell and permanently close them.
According to TheStreet, 92 restaurants in Florida have been sold, but some locations have been forced to close permanently after failing to find buyers.
Twenty Popeyes locations remain open in Northeast Florida, according to the chain’s website.