Denny's Minnesota Wisconsin locations closed this week after the company shut five more restaurants, including four in Minnesota and one in Wisconsin. The closures came as franchisee M15 Inc. said it had accumulated unsustainable debt and planned to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
Denny’s said it was “working with urgency alongside our franchise network to explore every viable path to reopen as many of these restaurants as we can.” That response puts the chain in a narrow race to recover sites while the operator behind them moves toward liquidation.
Kelli Vallade and Christopher Bode
The latest closures add to 150 restaurants shuttered in 2024 and 2025, a pace that shows the Minnesota and Wisconsin shutdowns are part of a wider cleanup rather than a single-store problem. In 2025, Denny’s shuttered 4.5% of its locations and sales declined by 2%, according to Technomic data.
The company’s turnaround effort is now led by Christopher Bode, who was promoted into the CEO role in April after Kelli Vallade stepped down. Denny’s was acquired in January by TriArtisan Capital Advisors, Treville Capital Group, and Yadav Enterprises for $620 million, and the chain has said it is cleaning up the lower-performing fifth of its portfolio while trying to lift average unit volumes from $1.9 million to a target of $2.2 million per store.
M15 Inc. Bankruptcy Filing
M15 Inc.’s planned Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing leaves the closed restaurants in a fragile position. Denny’s says it is trying to reopen as many as possible, but the franchisee’s financial reset means any return to service will depend on what can be salvaged through that process.
For customers and workers tied to the five closed stores, the immediate reality is that the chain is still sorting out which locations can come back. Four of the restaurants are in Minnesota and one is in Wisconsin, but Denny’s has not laid out a list of which sites were affected.
