The Nashville-based dining chain O’Charley’s Restaurant & Bar is closing its remaining corporate-owned locations nationwide, including all eight of its Middle Tennessee restaurants, according to multiple reports.
The chain closed its corporate-owned restaurants Wednesday at 8 p.m., according to WKRN News 2, which spoke with managers at six of the eight Middle Tennessee locations. Employees reportedly were notified that the restaurants would close Wednesday.
O’Charley’s was founded by Charles Watkins on 21st Avenue near Vanderbilt University in Nashville in 1971. Watkins sold the restaurant to David K. Wachtel, who once served as the president and chief executive officer of Shoney’s, in 1984.
At its peak in the 2000s, O’Charley’s operated nearly 250 restaurants, according to Nation’s Restaurant News. The chain had steadily reduced its footprint in recent years, with its portfolio falling to 47 locations by 2026, the outlet further reported.
In 2023, the company announced plans to close approximately 17 percent of its restaurants as part of a strategy to “preserve cash flow” and move toward a more asset-light business model. By 2025, O’Charley’s portfolio had declined by 11 percent while sales dropped 19 percent, according to Technomic data cited by Nation’s Restaurant News.
As of earlier this year, the company operated 52 locations across the South and Midwest.
While the corporate-owned restaurants are closing, some franchised locations may remain open. An employee at a franchised location in Niles, Ohio, told Nation’s Restaurant News that the restaurant would remain open “as long as possible,” with a projected closing date later this month or early October, while another franchised location in Chester, Virginia, reportedly had no official closing date.
O’Charley’s has not publicly provided an explanation for the closures. Its social media accounts have been discontinued, and the company’s website has also been scrubbed.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “O’Charleys” by Dan McEntush.
