PHOTO VIA BAHAMA BREEZE FACEBOOK PAGE
Darden Restaurants, the Orlando-based hospitality giant best known for Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, is winding down its Bahama Breeze casual-dining division after thirty years in business. The company announced this week that it will discontinue the Caribbean-themed Bahama Breeze chain, closing half of the remaining 28 restaurants outright and converting the other half to other Darden brands over the next 12 to 18 months. This marks the end of the brand that started in Orlando in 1996 and once operated dozens of locations nationwide.
Affected local restaurants include:
- Closing – 1251 West Osceola Parkway, Kissimmee
- Closing – 1540 Rinehart Road
- Converting – 499 E. Altamonte Drive, Altamonte Springs
- Converting – 8160 Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway, Kissimmee
- Converting – 1200 N. Alafaya Drive, Orlando
- Converting – 8849 International Drive, Orlando
- Converting – 5620 W. Oak Ridge Road, Orlando
- Converting – 8735 Vineland Avenue, Orlando
Executives cited years of underperformance as the reason for the move. Since 2015, the number of Bahama Breeze restaurants had declined even as Darden’s overall footprint expanded. Sales trends at the brand lagged behind other concepts in the company’s portfolio, and a strategic review initiated in mid-2025 concluded that the chain no longer fit Darden’s long-term priorities.
Darden, which is headquartered in Orlando and operates thousands of restaurants across its portfolio, will focus on stronger-performing brands as it reallocates sites and staff displaced by the Bahama Breeze exits. The company says it expects minimal financial impact from the closures, and investors have apparently responded positively to the announcement.
