Roadside chains with at least one foot in the grave

[texaskdog]

Red Lobster has been struggling for a while, with the most commonly cited cause being that their traditional customer base (working class families looking for an occasional treat) can no longer afford to eat there.


As for restaurants shrinking in scope, this definitely is an oft repeated trend. I remember as a kid eating at A&W in Connecticut, but today there are none anywhere in the state and very few left in the northeast at all. It appears there are three in all of New England and nine in New York.

Red Lobster is awful. Overpriced, not much for menu options for the non-seafood fan, and the service at the one by us is awful.  People pick it 2x/year for their work birthdays and someone always gets free food.

[jeffandnicole]

We go to Red Lobster once a year - during their unlimited Shrimp fest.  There's about 6 options, and we'll eat at least one of each, and maybe seconds.  Last time we actually walked there - about 6 miles -  so we could walk home and burn some of those calories!

I haven't been in a Friendly's in several years.  I was joking that their newer commercials, where they show kids or a family eating food and ice cream in slow motion, reminded me more of their slow service than their food. 

[Takumi]

A Virginia chain that is all but gone is Aunt Sarah's...only 2 left, both in Richmond. 

I didn't know there was a second one. I just knew about the one on US 1 north of the city, but a Google search shows that there's another one on Broad Street. The one at I-95 exit 64 closed years ago.

My local Friendly's suddenly closed in 2012 and was demolished to make room for a gas station. I can remember eating there only once as an adult.

Old Country Buffet/Home Town Buffet has been going through a major contraction as of late.

[spooky]

Friendly's has made a lot of changes over the years, but the one constant has been piss poor service.

[texaskdog]

A Virginia chain that is all but gone is Aunt Sarah's...only 2 left, both in Richmond. 

I didn't know there was a second one. I just knew about the one on US 1 north of the city, but a Google search shows that there's another one on Broad Street. The one at I-95 exit 64 closed years ago.

My local Friendly's suddenly closed in 2012 and was demolished to make room for a gas station. I can remember eating there only once as an adult.

Old Country Buffet/Home Town Buffet has been going through a major contraction as of late.

That place was so popular in Minnesota.  Here we have Golden Corral, which is doing well.

[cpzilliacus]

Roy Rogers seems to be holding steady at just under 50 locations with a strong customer base in the Washington metro area. Almost a third (17 stores, nearly all locations outside Maryland and Virginia) are in toll road service areas, and a single serious falling-out with HMSHost could decimate the chain. And it's hard to overlook the fact that the chain is less than one-tenth the size it was in 1990.

Marriott wanted out of the fast food business, and sold most of its own Roy Rogers to Hardees (converting to Hardees was a massive failure), and those stores then became McDonald's. 

Marriott sold the concept, brand and rights associated with same to the family of a former Marriott executive,  the Plamondons, who have updated and are reviving the chain, while apparently keeping on the good side of HMSHost, which still uses the concept in many of its service plazas. There are several reasonably new Roy Rogers in Maryland and Virginia that seem to be doing well.

[froggie]

The franchisee went bankrupt, not Friendly's the chain itself.  The chain is alive and well in Delaware.

As well as in New England, apparently.  They've even been advertising on WCAX recently.


Someone earlier had mentioned Bruegger's which I find surprising because they've held pretty steady for the past decade.

[nexus73]

Franchise fade on the Oregon coast: A&W went from four to one in Coos County.  Go 45 miles north of the Coos Bay-North Bend area and you will find another one in Florence.  Both are classic A&W's and the root beer is as delicious as always. 

Rax built a nice place in a bad location and wound up going under.  Carl's Jr. tried the same location and got the same result.  Then it was Arby's turn and they too went down for the count.  Funny to think that with a cool million or so on the line that the person who spent the money didn't do their due diligence regarding traffic flow.

Sambo's built a Googie-styled restaurant here in the Sixties.  That franchise is long gone but the building remains a restaurant.  Too bad it's not a very good one.  We never did get a Denny's.

Taco Time came in before Taco Bell ever did.  They're gone.

Dairy Queen had six in Coos County in their heyday.  Now the count is three.

Pizza Hut, Shakey's and Black Knight are the pizza chains which went down the tubes here.

Quizno's opened one outlet and it lasted about three years.  Subway on the other hand has grown to four in Coos Bay-North Bend and they all seem to do well enough. 

KFC used to have two storefronts and now has one.

Taco Bell has seen two be the regular number but both have moved over the course of time.

Going south of Coos Bay shows a paucity of franchises.  Subway and DQ are about it all the way down (108 miles) to Brookings, which has some but not all of the majors.  Heading north has Reedsport with a few, Florence with a decent assortment and then when one gets to Newport/Lincoln City, which gets lots of PDX/Salem visitors, the amount of franchises is about the same as Coos Bay/North Bend.

The I-5 corridor has been the most popular place for national franchises to locate in Oregon.  In-N-Out is building their first one in Medford right now.  Red Robin, Sonic, Five Guys and regional chain Burgerville are easily found but the most colorful of the bunch is McMenamin's.  We also have the Olive Garden, Red Lobster, PF Chang's, Panda Express, Papa John's, Carl's Jr. and Denny's along the freeway or close by.  The only chain I can recall falling flat on it's face and pulling out in recent years along the I-5 corridor in Oregon was El Pollo Loco.  They sure make a tasty chicken but their attempt to go national went sour and they retrenched back to California for the most part.

California simply crushes it in regards to national and regional chains compared to the Pacific Northwest.  It's like two different world on the West Coast in that regard.

Rick

[lordsutch]

Fazoli's pretty much died out in several southern states (one location left in GA, none in FL), despite being all over the region not so long ago, although there are plans apparently to bring some locations back in central Georgia next year.

Long John Silver's has been in pretty steady decline in the region too.

[Takumi]

Here we have Golden Corral, which is doing well.

The Golden Corral here, interestingly, is now thriving, but in the early 1990s it, at a different location, closed and was replaced by a local seafood restaurant, which is also thriving. Where the Golden Corral is now was once a Ryan's steakhouse (also owned by Old Country Buffet), which had closed around the same time the original Golden Corral had. We've had 2 Hardee's since the mid 1990s, fairly close to each other, but surprisingly both do well.

[route17fan]

Friendly's has made a lot of changes over the years, but the one constant has been piss poor service.

All Ohio locations of Friendly's are gone - seemingly overnight. I miss (and liked) their ice cream.

[briantroutman]

Big Boy seems to be in trouble as they closed all their locations except in Michigan.

That's not quite true...there are other Big Boy locations in CA, OH, IL, and ND. But the chain as a whole isn't in great health. Big Boy is hard to pin down because it's not a tightly controlled franchise. The original location was Bob's in Glendale, CA, then founder Bob Wian himself granted territorial licenses to the Elias Brothers in Michigan, Frisch's in the Ohio Valley, and numerous others. The only standard item was the double decker Big Boy hamburger–beyond that, menus, decor, etc. would vary dramatically from region to region.

Some Big Boy franchisees like Shoney's Big Boy in the South or Eat'n Park Big Boy in western PA decided to expand beyond their territory and give up the Big Boy trademark in order to do so.

Surprised Stuckey's hasn't hit this thread yet.

I forgot about Stuckey's–that's a good example and one of the few non-restaurant chains to mention. I could be wrong (and I'm too lazy to look it up at the minute), but I think that Stuckey's actually went down to the brink of extinction–and maybe even went bankrupt–in the '80s. But then the trademark was re-purchased by a Stuckey family member, and the chain has added location since then...and may be in decent financial health, even though they're nowhere near their former peak.

Here we have Golden Corral, which is doing well.

I've never been in a Golden Corral, and I don't think I ever could after watching this one episode of Forensic Files. Investigators were tailing a suspect (murder or rape probably), and they wanted to get a DNA sample from him to compare to DNA evidence left on the victim. He went into a Golden Corral, ate his meal and left, and investigators quickly seized the fork he left for testing. They got DNA–not one but TWO separate profiles: a male sample (the suspect) and a female sample (an unrelated woman who had eaten at the Golden Corral a week earlier).

Marriott wanted out of the fast food business...

Yes, I'm familiar with the Marriott connection–and at least the Plamondons seem proud of their brand. But jeez–Howard Johnson's, Roy Rogers, Big Boy... Use 'em and dump 'em. Marriott's piling up the corpses.

[PHLBOS]

Personally, while not exactly "roadside" I see Domino's as dying.

Domino's officially changed their name from Domino's Pizza to just Domino's recently.  The reasoning for such was due to their expanded product line (i.e. not just pizzas).  Such a name change was not unlike when Boston Chicken (remember that name?) changed to Boston Market during the 90s... expansion/promotion of its non-chicken products.

[Purgatory On Wheels]

Fuddruckers seems to be a lot less common than it was. I always liked the DIY toppings.

And there aren't a lot of Ground Round restaurants around either. My mom did not approve of tossing peanut shells on the floor but we did it anyway.

I miss Carlos O'Kelly's more than either of them. The food was great and it was the only Mexican-esque place my daughter would go when she was little. But hardly any remain outside of Kansas now.

Didn't realize it until I looked it up, but Chi-Chi's is completely gone from North America. I don't miss them. Last time I visited one was when I was in college and my friends would go, order cheap drinks, and snack on chips and queso for hours.

I don't see how any Friendly's stays in business. I keep trying different ones because I want to like them, but always leave disappointed. And their ice cream scoops have gotten INCREDIBLY tiny.

[mgk920]

Didn't realize it until I looked it up, but Chi-Chi's is completely gone from North America. I don't miss them. Last time I visited one was when I was in college and my friends would go, order cheap drinks, and snack on chips and queso for hours.

IIRC, Chi-Chi's imploded quickly in the 1990s(?) after a fatal food poisoning incident caused when someone working at a Pittsburgh-area outlet didn't wash his hands . . . .

Mike

[cpzilliacus]

Fuddruckers seems to be a lot less common than it was. I always liked the DIY toppings.

The one in Annapolis (off of Md. 450 just west of U.S. 50) was closed a few years ago by Anne Arundel County Health Department restaurant inspectors for some of the usual violations.  It cleaned up and re-opened. 

[NJRoadfan]

Speaking of the Ground Round: http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2015/06/inside_new_jerseys_last_ground_round.html

Our local one before it closed many many years ago was previously a Howard Johnson's. We still have a ton of those plastic baseball caps they used to put ice cream in for dessert!

[jeffandnicole]

Didn't realize it until I looked it up, but Chi-Chi's is completely gone from North America. I don't miss them. Last time I visited one was when I was in college and my friends would go, order cheap drinks, and snack on chips and queso for hours.

OK, I'm confused.  If you can drink cheap and eat for free, what could you possibly miss?  They've been closed for quite a while now.

And there aren't a lot of Ground Round restaurants around either. My mom did not approve of tossing peanut shells on the floor but we did it anyway.

Speaking of the Ground Round: http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2015/06/inside_new_jerseys_last_ground_round.html

I'm amazed at how stupid reporters can actually be.

All Ground Rounds closed in the mid-90's.  It was only recently - let's say the past 5 years or so - that some of the former franchisees went in together and purchased the rights to the Ground Round name and other trademarks of the restaurant, and opened up some stores.  There were absolutely none for many years, so to say that the one in Bradley Beach is the last remaining one is skipping over 20 years of history where there were none.

It's kinda like saying how the Delsea Drive-In is the last remaining drive in theatre in NJ.  All of them had closed.  The Delsea reopened, and is now the only one in NJ.

[briantroutman]

IIRC, Chi-Chi's imploded quickly in the 1990s(?) after a fatal food poisoning incident caused when someone working at a Pittsburgh-area outlet didn't wash his hands . . . .

I believe you're right on everything except the hand washing part... Tainted green onions the lead to a hepatitis outbreak.

[lepidopteran]

Three pizza chains come to mind:

• Godfather's.  "The pizza you can't refuse." Their spokesman was an intimidating but comical dude in a pinstripe suit.  The ones in Ohio at least disappeared in the mid-'80s.
• Noble Roman's.  They had more of a "family" type restaurant, and at least once had a "Monster" character based on one of their pies.  The deep-dish sicilian was the best IMHO.  These vanished in the '90s, but I started to see the name reappear as counter service inside convenience stores, and at least one hotel in the double-aughts.
• Pizza Inn.  "We got a feeling you're gonna like us."  The website says they're still around, mostly in the south.
• Someone else mentioned Shakey's.

Always liked Friendly's, and I don't care what anyone says -- I happen to like their Fishamajig, and still get one when I get the chance.

Some are still around, but you don't see as many Carvel ice cream stands as you used to, especially ones with the signature architecture (they seem to focus more on packaged retail products nowadays).  For that matter, you really don't see free-standing ice-cream-only shops as often as you used to, unless they're "piggy-backed" with something else.  Most new Baskin-Robbins, for example, are paired with Dunkin Donuts shops.  Maybe it's simply not profitable anymore to have an independent store dedicated to ice-cream cones without charging at least $5/scoop.  (And if millenials are choosing to eat healthier than their predecessor generations, that can't be helping either.)

But does anyone remember Farrell's ice cream?  This was a themed, old-time ice cream parlor.  A signature item was the multi-scoop "Zoo"; they sounded a loud bell and drum whenever someone ordered one. (A New York chain called Jahn's did something similar when you ordered a "Kitchen Sink".)  If you could eat a Zoo yourself, you received a button reading "I made a pig of myself at Farrell's".  Once located here-and-there throughout the country, their website indicates only 3 left, all in Southern California.

And then there's Burger Chef.  Once a giant in the industry, they began a steady decline as far back as the early 70s, with the last one closing in 1996 IIRC.  Hardees, their successor, brought back the Big Shef at least once.

Remember Morrison's Cafeteria?  While they located mostly in malls, ISTR they advertised with billboards on Interstates.  Free advertising for the mall, in a way.

Whatever happened to Kenny Rogers' Roasters?  Last one I saw was in a food court, part of a 3-in-1 with Arthur Treacher's and Nathan's.

[texaskdog]

Personally, while not exactly "roadside" I see Domino's as dying.

Domino's officially changed their name from Domino's Pizza to just Domino's recently.  The reasoning for such was due to their expanded product line (i.e. not just pizzas).  Such a name change was not unlike when Boston Chicken (remember that name?) changed to Boston Market during the 90s... expansion/promotion of its non-chicken products.

Nice try to diversify but the other food they have is awful

[lepidopteran]

Domino's officially changed their name from Domino's Pizza to just Domino's recently.  The reasoning for such was due to their expanded product line (i.e. not just pizzas).  Such a name change was not unlike when Boston Chicken (remember that name?) changed to Boston Market during the 90s... expansion/promotion of its non-chicken products.

Similarly, if you look at a McDonald's sign from about 1970 and earlier, the word HAMBURGERS (in all-caps) is present.  This actually gave the "n-billion sold"(*) more meaning.  I suspect they removed hamburgers from the sign for one or both of 2 reasons: (1) pretty much everyone in the country knew what their signature product was by then, (2) plans for an extended product line, such as McNuggets.  (Note that a handful of earlier signs had a "Filet-o-Fish Sandwich" sign added into the arches structure.)

Also, Wendy's used to have "Old-Fashioned Hamburgers" as part of their signage. I think it was in the '80s when they reduced it to just the name.

(*) Around the same time McD's removed "Hamburgers" from the sign, they quietly switched the count notation from n-billion "Sold" to "Served".  Again, two likely reasons were (1) "Served" sounds so much friendlier than "Sold", and/or (2) the burgers given away for promos/contests/tour bus drivers/etc. aren't exactly "sold" anyway.  Eventually, the counting gave way to the Carl Sagan-like "Billions and Billions" Served (especially on tall-mast signs near freeways, since you'd take your life into your hands to climb up there and update the numbers), then they got rid of the count altogether and went with "Restaurant", a permanent marquee sign, descriptive words like "Drive-thru", or just blank space.

[route17fan]

Farrell's Ice Cream! YES! Columbus, Ohio had a location  loooong time ago - I want to say in the Clintonville area.

There was also Duff's Smorgasboard - that has been too long ago - was it Newark, Ohio or Columbus?

[hbelkins]

There was also Duff's Smorgasboard - that has been too long ago - was it Newark, Ohio or Columbus?

The location I was most familiar with was in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. Haven't been there in about 15 or 16 years so I don't know if it's still in business or not, but it was going strong back in the late 90s.

[slorydn1]

There was also Duff's Smorgasboard - that has been too long ago - was it Newark, Ohio or Columbus?

The location I was most familiar with was in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. Haven't been there in about 15 or 16 years so I don't know if it's still in business or not, but it was going strong back in the late 90s.

I was just in Pigeon Forge last month and I can report that Duff's is closed. Not sure when it closed, I think I remember seeing it in the Fall of 2013 when I last stayed up there.