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Sausalitos: Dramatic closures – 1000 jobs at risk!
Sausalitos files for bankruptcy and closes several branches, including locations in Krefeld, as a result of changing customer behavior.
Sausalitos: Dramatic closures – 1000 jobs at risk!
The popular Sausalitos restaurant chain, known for its Mexican-American food and drinks, has suffered a major blow: In March 2025, the company filed for bankruptcy. The reason is the significant impact of the corona pandemic, which led to a drastic decline in the number of guests and thus in income, reported Mercury.
This bankruptcy affects around 1,000 employees. Before the bankruptcy, Sausalitos had around 40 branches in Germany, many of which have already been closed after the bankruptcy filing. In addition to Cologne (Hohenzollernring), the cities affected include Essen, Berlin, Hanover and Hamburg, to name just a few. At the end of June 2025, there were massive branch closures in several cities, including Wuppertal, Düsseldorf and Stuttgart. As of July 11, 2025, the company's homepage only listed 17 locations - a troubling decline that calls the future of the brand into question.
Branch closures in detail
In total, more than a dozen branches were closed. Especially in cities like Essen, Landshut and Berlin, several locations are no longer in operation. The spokesman for the insolvency administrator, Michael Schuster, explained that the restaurant in Wolfsburg could no longer be continued due to ongoing losses, as there were no parties interested in continuing to operate it. The closure also became necessary in Braunschweig due to a lack of investors.
- Essen (Am Markt)
- Landshut
- Hannover (Osterstraße und Lister Meile)
- Hamburg (Bergedorf und Chilehaus)
- Berlin (Uber Platz und Fasanenstraße)
- Wuppertal
- Düsseldorf
- Wolfsburg
- Köln (Hohenzollernring)
- Krefeld
- Karlsruhe
- Braunschweig
- Stuttgart (Marienstraße)
The insolvency process is being driven by changing consumer attitudes. Customer behavior has changed significantly due to the crises of recent years, which has a direct impact on the presence and profitability of catering establishments RND points out. The catering industry in Germany has been severely affected: Since 2020, over 48,000 catering establishments have had to close their doors, which highlights the challenges in the industry.
Impact on the catering industry
The situation is particularly worrying as sales and earnings in the catering industry, adjusted for prices, are below 2019 levels. Bankruptcies in this sector increased by 27% between 2022 and 2023, which is above the overall economic average. This development is further reinforced by the tense economic situation and critical factors such as inflation, as can be seen from the figures from Credit reform emerges.
The high expectations of the restaurant market may prove to be false, and Sausalitos is just one example of the massive challenges many establishments face. At a time when people are starving for “normal” evenings in restaurants, it turns out that the reality is often very different.