A recent Instagram post bemoans the disappearance of “all our favorite restaurants,” claiming that 16 chains are shuttering many or all locations this year.
“Restaurants closing in 2024,” the May 22 post says. “Fuddruckers is expected to close ALL locations by the end of the year. Old Country Buffet is closing ALL remainder locations. IHOP is closing 100 locations.”
Other Facebook posts include as many as 24 restaurant chains, and these claim definitively that Fuddruckers, a hamburger chain, is “closing ALL locations.”
These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
Some of the information in these posts is accurate; some of the most dramatic claims, such as Fuddruckers closing all its locations, aren’t.
In May, Fuddruckers posted a statement from owner and CEO Nicholas Perkins, calling the closure claim “misinformation stated by a non-credible blog.”
“Our brand will not be closing all stores in 2024,” the statement said. “This year, we will be welcoming new franchisees into our system.”
The last Old Country Buffet, meanwhile, closed in Illinois in 2020, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Fox Business reported that same year that IHOP was closing nearly 100 restaurants. We found no stories about 100 more locations closing in 2024. Rather, up to 25 new IHOP restaurants are set to open this year.
Other claims in the posts, such as that Applebee’s is closing 35 restaurants, track with recent news reports.
But Fuddruckers isn’t shuttering. We rate the claim that the chain will close all locations False.