evidence: Howdy, folks, and welcome back to HHR. Today, we’re taking another moment for a "Fuddsdate," first, I’d like to address the elephant in the room: no, Fuddruckers is not closing all its locations. That seems to be related to an incorrect TikTok that was spread around in the last couple of weeks. However, three Houston area Fudds have at least temporarily closed: Stafford, Copperfield, and Kingwood. It’s been quite a while since our last Fuddsdate, so let’s take a minute to debrief. Fuddruckers was sold off during Luby’s liquidation in 2021. The new owner worked on expanding the concept as best they could during COVID. Making it into Kroger’s ghost kitchen and pitching plans to open locations in mall food courts. However, things at the company-owned restaurants have been in what I would consider a declining state for the past couple of years. Product shortages, credit card acceptance issues, and a lack of operating soda fountains, which were a prevailing theme in 2023, have once again sprung up this summer. I will add that things at Fuddruckers seemed pretty stable for at least a few months around the holidays, so this may be temporary.