4 Restaurant Chains Closing North Carolina Locations in 2026

Flavor Hills opened its Durham restaurant in December 2025.

Then in mid-August 2026, the brand shut that restaurant and its Downtown Raleigh location, effective immediately.

That’s short notice.

Here are the restaurant chains that have already closed or are closing North Carolina locations in 2026.

1. Hickory Tavern

Hickory Tavern, the Charlotte-born sports bar and grill, closed three North Carolina restaurants in late August 2026, Nation’s Restaurant News reported.

The closings hit Mooresville, Huntersville and the Providence Road spot in Charlotte.

Those three served their last meals on a Sunday.

A fourth restaurant, in South Carolina, closed too.

The company announced the closings the next day, saying part of the reason was that some restaurants sat too close to others.

Artistry said closing the four lets it direct investment, team resources and operational support to the remaining restaurants.

Artistry, the Florida operator that bought the chain in January 2025, said it was moving affected team members to other restaurants where possible.

Hickory Tavern was the operator’s first acquisition in the Carolinas and its seventh brand.

The chain opened in 1997 and had 20 restaurants across the Carolinas when Artistry bought it.

Sixteen restaurants remained.

Your other Hickory Tavern options included north Charlotte, Ballantyne, Steele Creek, Indian Trail and Gastonia, plus Rock Hill in South Carolina.

2. Bahama Breeze

Darden announced in early February 2026 that it would close 14 of Bahama Breeze’s 28 restaurants.

Raleigh was the only North Carolina restaurant on that closing list.

If Raleigh was your Bahama Breeze, Darden’s list gave April 5, 2026, as its last day.

Bahama Breeze had restaurants in 10 states.

The Caribbean-inspired chain opened its first restaurant on International Drive in Orlando about 30 years ago.

Darden, the chain’s owner, made the decision after a review of strategic alternatives.

The brand itself is ending.

Darden planned to place as many employees as possible within its broader portfolio.

Over 12 to 18 months, Darden planned to convert the other 14 restaurants to its other brands.

3. Red Robin

If Crossroads in Cary was your Red Robin, TheStreet reported in mid-July 2026 that it was set to close in the coming weeks.

The chain said it expected to close 20 more locations in 2026 as leases expire, after closing 23 in 2025.

Red Robin’s First Choice Plan, launched in July 2025, aimed to refranchise stores, cut expenses and reduce debt.

A buyer was lined up.

The Triangle Business Journal, which TheStreet cited, reported that Red Robin agreed to sell the Cary property to Capital Growth Buchalter, a Birmingham, Alabama-based commercial developer, for $3.3 million.

4. Flavor Hills

The Black-owned Southern brand Flavor Hills shut its Downtown Raleigh and Durham restaurants immediately in mid-August 2026, ABC11 reported.

The brand announced on Facebook on Aug. 14 that all of its restaurant locations would close.

Flavor Hills started in Jacksonville, North Carolina, in 2021, then expanded to Raleigh, Durham and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Three Marine Corps veterans founded the brand.

The owners chose Raleigh after seeing many customers travel from there to the Jacksonville original.

The Raleigh restaurant on Fayetteville Street held its grand opening on Jan. 4, 2024, after a soft opening on New Year’s Eve.

Artwork by a Raleigh-based artist lined the walls when it opened.

Durham, its newest restaurant, opened on Dec. 3, 2025, in the former Baldwin’s Department Store at 107 W. Main St.

The menu?

At opening in Raleigh, you could order a churro waffle with fried chicken, a buttermilk fried catfish filet on cheese-infused grits or fried pimento cheese rounds.

Tasting Table described a menu that regularly featured Southern favorites, often with a Caribbean twist, including coconut jerk lamb chops, classic shrimp and grits, and grilled peach Bourbon chicken.

In Durham, Durham Magazine described catfish and grits and flash-fried deviled eggs, with dinner nightly and brunch Wednesday through Sunday.

Downtown Raleigh said it would keep supporting the owners as they focus on the Flavor Hills Experience, a venture centered on catering and private events.

K&W’s 2025 Shutdown

All of K&W Cafeterias’ restaurants closed on Dec. 1, 2025, after 88 years in business.

The Winston-Salem-based chain had eight restaurants in North Carolina, including one in Concord, plus one in Virginia.

K&W had already closed many of its locations before announcing the closing of the rest.

If your K&W was in Greensboro, two of the closed restaurants were on Northline Avenue and South Holden Road.

Piccadilly Restaurants, which bought K&W in 2022, announced the closing online.

A closure notice was taped to the door of the Raleigh location.

K&W said in a statement that the business had struggled in a difficult operating environment and couldn’t return to a sustainable level of performance.

K&W had supplied meals for the Meals on Wheels program in Rowan County.

A Charlotte television station reported that an alternate provider had been found, so clients weren’t expected to have their meals interrupted.

Where to Eat Instead

You can find a Durham restaurant on Red Robin's website, at 5313 New Hope Commons Boulevard Extension.

Bahama Breeze opened at Fayetteville's Cross Creek Mall in February 2024.

Fox35 Orlando's list showed Cross Creek Mall as the only North Carolina restaurant to convert.

In February 2026, Darden wasn't yet naming the brands for its conversions, including Fayetteville's.

So what's replacing it?