Roadside chains with at least one foot in the grave

[US71]

Not quite one foot in the grave, but Steak n Shake is close. The quality isn't what it used to be and rumors abound about high franchise fees.

Have there been a lot of closures?

Seems like it. Most are franchised so it's hard to tell how many.

[SEWIGuy]

I think S&S franchised too many locations too quickly resulting in a lot of locations with absentee owners and poor customer service.  One thing I have noticed in the last few years is that the experience and food quality differ too much from location to location.

[hotdogPi]

I'm not sure if it's still the case, but I've been told that the Friendly's in Lawrence, MA has a really good lease. It could easily be one of the last ones open.

The reason I'm not sure it still applies is because this was the explanation for why it was able to survive two floods in consecutive years, and the floods were over 10 years ago. I can't ask about the details of the lease now because the Friendly's in Lawrence is temporarily closed for the pandemic (some other Friendly's are open, like the one in Haverhill).

[hbelkins]

Not quite one foot in the grave, but Steak n Shake is close. The quality isn't what it used to be and rumors abound about high franchise fees.

Have there been a lot of closures?

Seems like it. Most are franchised so it's hard to tell how many.

About the time people started saying SnS was in trouble, several of them popped up in central Kentucky.

I've said this before, but I've never been terribly impressed with SnS. Last time I ate at one was years ago in the Joliet, Ill., area, and that was only because it was just down the street from my hotel, and I didn't feel like going out looking for something else because it had been a long day. They built a new one in Winchester in the last few years; I'll drive through the Rally's or even the McDonald's up the street before I'll go there.

[kphoger]

Apparently, it's not just me, then.

The only time I've had a bad experience at a Steak 'N Shake was only a few years ago, and I'm not even sure I've been to one since then.  Maybe once.

[Rothman]

Last couple times I went, Steak 'n Shake was fine.  Didn't have any complaints.  Probably two years ago, though.  Last time was somewhere in Ohio.

[jeffandnicole]

Remember...the big driver there is their 4 for 4 menu.  Not sure what you're expecting for that price point.  They're offering food at a great value, not offering value for great food.

[kphoger]

Remember...the big driver there is their 4 for 4 menu.  Not sure what you're expecting for that price point.  They're offering food at a great value, not offering value for great food.

The same quality of food and service I'd experienced at the same chain the entire rest of my life?

[GCrites]

I'm not sure if it's still the case, but I've been told that the Friendly's in Lawrence, MA has a really good lease. It could easily be one of the last ones open.

The reason I'm not sure it still applies is because this was the explanation for why it was able to survive two floods in consecutive years, and the floods were over 10 years ago. I can't ask about the details of the lease now because the Friendly's in Lawrence is temporarily closed for the pandemic (some other Friendly's are open, like the one in Haverhill).

Don't be surprised if they are unwilling to share the details of the lease.

[Stephane Dumas]

The case of KFC or PFK as we said in Quebec. There's no KFC located in Quebec City since last December.

[jp the roadgeek]

Only Steak n Shake I ever went to was in Downtown Indy.  Was quiet when I got there but by the time I left there was a line out the door.  Popular late night place in the entertainment district, especially after the bars close so that people could soak up all the booze with the cheap burgers and fries.

[RobbieL2415]

Friendly's is done.  It has to be.  Too much competition in the markets it once dominated.  I can get the same style of food at a better quality elsewhere.  Maybe Dean Foods will buy the rest of the restaurant assets and use their stores for ice cream only.  Their ice cream is good, IMO.

A bunch of them just closed "temporarily"  due to the health crisis, including Manchester, Avon, Wethersfield, and the one on CT 372 in Plainville.  The ones in Southington on Queen St (CT 10) and the Berlin Turnpike in Newington will remain open for take out only.

The local Friendly's locations are all "temporarily closed" and this was a market where they once had a location in every shopping area. Hell, there were places where 2 existed within a mile!

Yea, you'd have one in the mall and another just outside it.

Yup. My favorite example is the shopping malls in Albany. Colonie Center and Crossgates Mall (a couple miles apart) both had one, plus there was one on the street outside of both malls. So you'd have 4 within 5-10 minutes of travel time. All have since closed. Queensbury/Glens Falls had 2 as well (1 just outside of the mall, 1 on US 9 a mile or two away), one of which has closed.

We had a case of that with two locations within a half mile of each other and neither was in a mall.  About 30 years ago, Friendly's acquired a local chain called Farm Shop, and converted the locations to Friendly's.  This included one in Southington, CT about a half mile north of the (still) existing one on CT 10 just the other side of the I-84 interchange.  It remained this way for several years.  The converted Farm Shop location eventually closed and was replaced by Bertucci's, and has since been replaced (just before the pandemic) by Plan B Burger (a very popular local chain).

Let's face it, Bertucci's is horrible.  I'm surprised they're still around.

[In_Correct]

I have never typed it as "e-mail". How ever, since I hate words that look like two different words, I have typed it as "web site". I have typed it as "Internet" ever since Spell Check has suggested it to be capitalized. I often think that Spell Check is not very accurate, but I agree that Internet should be capitalized. I am also using the Serial Commas. I do not care what the Associated Press has rules about any of the commas and hyphens.

An episode of The Bob Newhart Show has Howard taking his son to an ice cream place that I thought was strange. After reading the many pages of this discussion, I now under stand there is a cultural reference to ice cream places that gather around you and sing.

I also needed to read all of the discussion to see if any of these examples have all ready been mentioned:

Based on the negative reviews, I do not know how Catfish King is still in business.

Texas Palominas (not recognized by Spell Check) Buffet is probably out of business entirely. If so, it was probably in business for around one decade. I did not have any bad experiences, but since then, other people have mentioned it be came the worst. Many reviews indicate that buffet restaurants are especially magnets to families that have their children run amok or are too noisy. Perhaps an Arcade would have helped. Another issue with buffets can be very old food that sits there until gathered to be eaten.

Similar reviews have been applied to Golden Corral. There has all ways been speculation that Golden Corral is closing or decreasing. Several Golden Corral locations have closed from various problems, but is other wise unaffected.

Shoney's has gone through its own scandals to the point of bankruptcy. There does not seem to be any more that closed since the new ownership.

Some body had not been to a Sirloin Stockade in a very long time, that they thought they were closed. How ever, there are a few restaurants that mimic Sirloin Stockade. One of these imitation restaurants, "Branding Iron" has closed. A few (but probably not very many) Sirloin Stockades have closed also.

There is a Watsonburger, both Watsonburger and Whataburger seem to be popular in Texas. But Watsonburger is either gone entirely, or has reduced to one location. There is also another restaurant chain (or chains) known as What-A-Burger that does not appear to be suffering. Whataburger is also expanding.

Ruby Tuesday seems to have stabilized recently.

Also, I was confused when I read that "Morrison's" went out of business, unaware that Morrison's in U.K. is not related.

Luby's is not suffering.

How ever, there have been numerous Furr's locations that have been closing slowly, one after the other.

North Rig Grill is a restaurant I am surprised is not every where in Texas.

Grandy's is a restaurant that had around 100 locations, but now less than 30.

Here is the best example of a withering Road Side Chain:

This is the one that I remembered first. It is why I decided to type in this discussion:

Kettle.

This restaurant, not unlike Grandy's, had numerous locations, perhaps over 200. But now There are less than 6 Kettle Restaurants. Kettle does not have an official web site any more.