The Once-Popular '90s Italian Chain That's Sadly Disappearing (And It's Not Olive Garden)

It's been a tough battlefield for dining brands since the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out many establishments and left others wounded. Buffet restaurants, built on a very non-social-distancing model, were hit especially hard, like the Old Country Buffet chain, which didn't survive the pandemic. A once-thriving Italian restaurant chain, Buca di Beppo, also suffered fallout from the pandemic that it hasn't recovered from, and its restaurants are steadily disappearing.

It seems serving up delicious food isn't enough to keep a restaurant chain thriving. Buca di Beppo's menu is full of hearty, comforting, traditional Italian fare. Its offerings range from classics like spaghetti with meatballs, lasagna, fettuccini Alfredo, and pizza to dishes such as salmon Sorrento, eggplant parmigiana, chicken cannelloni, and shrimp fra diavolo. The atmosphere is old-school Italian verging on stereotypical, with red-and-white checkered tablecloths, framed vintage Italian images crowding the walls, Italian music wafting through the space (with some Dean Martin mixed in for good measure), and themed rooms that include a reservable dining area paying homage to the Catholic Pope. The restaurants even play recordings of men and women speaking Italian in the bathrooms.

Despite its realistically authentic atmosphere and excellent food, Buca di Beppo was among numerous restaurant chains that filed for bankruptcy in 2024. That year, it also shuttered more than 20% of its locations. At its peak, Buca had more than 90 operating restaurants. As of September 2025, only 40 remain.

The reasons for Buca di Beppo's continuing decline are many. Factors that hit it harder than other brands during the pandemic include its family-style dining premise. Buca specializes in shared, family-sized portions targeted at large groups, which, like self-serve buffets, was a tough format to market during social distancing. Customer traffic declined during COVID restrictions and has not recovered since.

The company has also had its share of controversy, which hampered the growth it enjoyed in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In 2005, the SEC began investigating fraud believed to have been committed by three Buca di Beppo executives. The company's CEO, CFO, and controller ultimately pled guilty to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the business they were supposed to be leading.

Three years later, in 2008, Buca di Beppo was acquired by Planet Hollywood International Inc. This didn't reverse the brand's decline. At the time of the acquisition, Buca di Beppo had 88 restaurants, but the number continued to dwindle. When the company declared bankruptcy in 2024, it reportedly owed nearly $50 million in debt.

Buca di Beppo has also faced the same challenges hurting restaurants across the country that don't share its unique difficulties. Rising food and labor costs, shifting customer trends, and inflation-related pressures have all hit the chain hard. Combined, these factors have left the brand steadily vanishing from the American dining scene.