Extra Serving: A restaurant industry podcast · May 27, 2025 · 34 min

Darden closures, McDonald’s late-night hours, and Portillo’s smaller footprint

On this week’s Extra Serving, NRN editor in chief Sam Oches and executive editor Alicia Kelso share their thoughts on the recent National Restaurant Association Show, the biggest restaurant event in the world that’s held each year in Chicago. Their perspective? Expect more innovation around beverages, personalization, and AI. Then they discuss Darden’s announcement that it would shutter two Seasons 52 locations on the heels of announcing that 15 Bahama Breeze units would close. Is something wrong at Darden or is this just following the trend of other companies course-correcting in a difficult season? Next they talk about McDonald’s new late-night hours, which includes much of its system staying open until midnight or later. That follows the announcement that McDonald’s would hire 375,000 more employees — clearly beefing up the workforce as it prepares to accommodate the shifting consumer behavior around dayparts. Finally, Sam and Alicia talk about Portillo’s intent to expand more into nontraditional locations, starting with a new unit in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport. Find out why they think this is a smart move for the Chicago-based hot dog chain.   For more on these stories:   Darden shutters two Seasons 52 locations in addition to Bahama Breeze closures McDonald’s expands late-night hours at most of its restaurants Portillo’s plans smaller locations at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport and in The Villages, Fla.