Restaurant Chains that closed some markets and are much alive in others

[BamaZeus]

Hehe, Bert's Chili on aisle 5

[florida]

Speaking of that, I have also noticed several restaurant chains (ie, IHOP, TGI Friday's, etc) that are selling frozen/bake at home versions of their more popular menu items.  How long before we see Waffle House doing that?





Mike

Would the frozen Waffle House come with its own dirty silverware?

[cpzilliacus]

Speaking of that, I have also noticed several restaurant chains (ie, IHOP, TGI Friday's, etc) that are selling frozen/bake at home versions of their more popular menu items.  How long before we see Waffle House doing that?





Mike

Would the frozen Waffle House come with its own dirty silverware?

<smile>

I don't think Waffle House would allow its waffle batter to be sold on the consumer market.  I could be wrong, of course, but it would seem like a very bad idea, and would probably anger the people that own Waffle House franchises.

[rickmastfan67]

There used to be a lot of Ponderosa Steakhouses here in the Northeast. Most, if not, all are gone.

There's still a few in the greater Pittsburgh area.

On another note, Cici's Pizza had recently expanded (mid '00s) into the Pittsburgh area.  One of them was really a busy one.  Yet, all of a sudden, they completely disappeared.   Last weekend of I think it was Oct '11 I go to my closest one, then, the next weekend, they are GONE with no warning.   It also seems to have happened to all the others that were in the Pittsburgh area at the same time.

And I'd love to have a Jack in the Box here in the Pgh area.  I've made it a stop whenever I'm in the Charlotte, NC area.

[roadman65]

There used to be a lot of Ponderosa Steakhouses here in the Northeast. Most, if not, all are gone.

There's still a few in the greater Pittsburgh area.

On another note, Cici's Pizza had recently expanded (mid '00s) into the Pittsburgh area.  One of them was really a busy one.  Yet, all of a sudden, they completely disappeared.   Last weekend of I think it was Oct '11 I go to my closest one, then, the next weekend, they are GONE with no warning.   It also seems to have happened to all the others that were in the Pittsburgh area at the same time.

And I'd love to have a Jack in the Box here in the Pgh area.  I've made it a stop whenever I'm in the Charlotte, NC area.

Orlando cut back on their Poderosas as well, but still have Cicis and growing strong with this chain.  All except the one on OBT near Hunters Creek, FL that closed, but that is the only one that folded that I know of.

[nyratk1]

Branching out to non-restaurant businesses, Safeway and Winn-Dixie both had local establishments during my childhood, but neither are in the area now (I believe Safeway has a presence in northern Virginia, but Winn-Dixie has shrunk tremendously in the past 10 years). Ames and Bradlees (both now defunct department stores) closed their local stores years before their national shutdowns, and of course Chevron and Texaco are no longer in the Mid-Atlantic.

I was surprised to find out Safeway once had a NYC division. Apparently, there was one opened in 1957 in Patchogue, NY on the corner of Phyllis Drive and Montauk Hwy. but they quickly withdrew from NYC by the mid 60s. The building then became a Finast that closed in 1988 and then a Blockbuster & Goodwill Store that both closed within the past year or two.

Jack in the Box had a location a half mile west on Montauk Hwy./E. Main St. and they left in the late 70s. That became a Pizza Hut (which moved west from a spot near the corner of Suffolk CR 101 and Montauk - it's an Asian restaurant now) that closed in 1996. Now it's a Latin place called Mi Tierrita.

There's a few chains that were in Suffolk County but retreated back to locations in other parts of the NYC metro or outside the NYC metro but on the I-95 corridor. Hardee's (once took over the Roy Rogers stores for a short period), Roy Rogers (last one on LI in Shirley closed a year or two ago), Arby's (none in Suffolk, one in Nassau) and Fuddruckers.

[Road Hog]

Wendy's is getting a makeover.



Could've sworn I saw this on this thread, but I couldn't find it, so I guess I saw it somewhere else. Anyway, I saw a Wendy's commercial on Sunday Night Football and they were still using the old logo.

[nyratk1]

Wendy's is getting a makeover.



Could've sworn I saw this on this thread, but I couldn't find it, so I guess I saw it somewhere else. Anyway, I saw a Wendy's commercial on Sunday Night Football and they were still using the old logo.

They aren't transitioning to it until mid-next year.

[rickmastfan67]

I wonder when they are going to start the building rehabs/re-builds (thinking they would start that process before the new logo comes out).  My local one is due for a re-build IMO.  The building has pretty much been the same since I was born, however, they have changed the inside some over the years (reconfiguring the tables locations, adding two flat-screen TV's).  Heck, I still remember when they had a buffet inside of it!

[TheStranger]

There's a few chains that were in Suffolk County but retreated back to locations in other parts of the NYC metro or outside the NYC metro but on the I-95 corridor. Hardee's (once took over the Roy Rogers stores for a short period), Roy Rogers (last one on LI in Shirley closed a year or two ago), Arby's (none in Suffolk, one in Nassau) and Fuddruckers.

Does Roy Rogers still have a NYC presence?

[BamaZeus]

per their website, they have a location at:

401 7th Avenue
New York, NY 10001

http://www.royrogersrestaurants.com/locations/#NY

[nyratk1]

per their website, they have a location at:

401 7th Avenue
New York, NY 10001

http://www.royrogersrestaurants.com/locations/#NY

Ah, they were at 2 or 3 Manhattan locations a few years ago.

[roadman65]

Burger Kings and McDonalds are rebuilding their stores with new facades and insides.  It is not only Wendy's.

Also, back to original topic: Ker's Winghouse closed all their Dallas area locations, but are going strong in Florida, and now  opened one off I-75 in Gainesville.  So those traveling I-75 could patronize this particular Breastaurant (as the latest name for Hooters, Tilted Kilts, etc. are being called.) thing.

[NYYPhil777]

Burger Kings and McDonalds are rebuilding their stores with new facades and insides.  It is not only Wendy's.

Also, back to original topic: Ker's Winghouse closed all their Dallas area locations, but are going strong in Florida, and now  opened one off I-75 in Gainesville.  So those traveling I-75 could patronize this particular Breastaurant (as the latest name for Hooters, Tilted Kilts, etc. are being called.) thing.

From what I've noticed, McDonald's is now trying to appeal to people in their 20s-50s and not children as there's no more playplaces.
A restaurant named The Tilted Kilt just opened two months ago on MO-94 near I-70 in St. Charles.
"Breastaurant"-   

[nyratk1]

Burger Kings and McDonalds are rebuilding their stores with new facades and insides.  It is not only Wendy's.

Also, back to original topic: Ker's Winghouse closed all their Dallas area locations, but are going strong in Florida, and now  opened one off I-75 in Gainesville.  So those traveling I-75 could patronize this particular Breastaurant (as the latest name for Hooters, Tilted Kilts, etc. are being called.) thing.

From what I've noticed, McDonald's is now trying to appeal to people in their 20s-50s and not children as there's no more playplaces.
A restaurant named The Tilted Kilt just opened two months ago on MO-94 near I-70 in St. Charles.
"Breastaurant"-   

That reminds me.

Hooters just closed up their LI/Queens locations due to two factors: dissatisfaction with the franchisee and increased competition from Canz-a-city Roadhouse ( http://www.canzaciti.com/ ) The Hooters with exception of one will become some similar restaurant fully under the control of the once-franchisee.

[roadman]

I remember Sambos were all throughout Florida just as Lums used to be.  Although, I do remember a Lums in Portsmouth, NH along Bypass US 1, so it was a regional chain obviously.

Lums tried to make inroads in the Boston MA area in the early 1970s - there was one in Danvers off of Route 128 on Endicott Street that survived until my senior year of high school (1979).

[Road Hog]

Burger Kings and McDonalds are rebuilding their stores with new facades and insides.  It is not only Wendy's.

Also, back to original topic: Ker's Winghouse closed all their Dallas area locations, but are going strong in Florida, and now  opened one off I-75 in Gainesville.  So those traveling I-75 could patronize this particular Breastaurant (as the latest name for Hooters, Tilted Kilts, etc. are being called.) thing.

The new McDonald's all look like banks. Solid brick walls on the back and each side, etc. A lot of the old stores are remodeled to look like this.

Twin Peaks is another "breastaurant" chain that is "big" in DFW.

[Dr Frankenstein]

Swiss Chalet (or Chalet Suisse) disappeared from Québec after they agreed with St-Hubert not to compete with each other. This is why St-Hubert is hard so to find outside of the province; although there are locations in Ottawa, Cornwall, Kingston, Rockland, Bathurst, Moncton, Fredericton and Saint John, and formerly Fort Lauderdale.

[thenetwork]

One former restaurant chain that has yet to be mentioned is the Red Barn, albeit I'm 99.99% sure they are gone.   

Here in Western CO, we have 1 food court Taco Johns, but we lost 3 Smashburgers and a Good Times (blame the latter two chains' demises on poor franchisee management).   We were also supposed to get a CiCi's Pizza in the spring (giving us our first AYCA pizza buffet), but no sign of that restaurant yet. 

On a recent weekend getaway to Colorado Springs, I finally had a blessed reunion with Fazoli's -- which I used to enjoy dining at when I lived in Northern Ohio 6 years ago.  (By then though in 2006, there was only a fraction of the Fazoli's that were all over the place in 2001).

[the49erfan15]

One restaurant I was surprised not to see mentioned is Hot 'N Now. Crazy cheap food, I remember burgers for like $0.39. Fries and drinks were the same price, I think. Problem was, well, it tasted like an $0.39 cheeseburger. We had a few in South Carolina in the early to mid '90s, then they disappeared.

Del Taco's only location in South Carolina is in my hometown of Rock Hill. I got hooked when I went out to California in 2008 (along with In-N-Out and El Pollo Loco, I probably gained 15 pounds that week) and was elated when they opened up one in my hometown. There used to be one in Boiling Springs, SC on I-95 but apparently it closed.

Taco Bueno had a location across from Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC in 2008 that I don't think even lasted a year. The only other fast food option within walking distance was/is McDonald's. How does a fast food restaurant literally across the street from the freshman dorms at a 7,000 student university fail?! Weird thing is nothing has ever made it at that location - it was a Church's Chicken for a few years, and even before that, in the late 90s, it was a place called (I think) Taco Loco. Not sure if it was a chain or what, but it's what the building was originally built for.

Other than that, the SC side of the Charlotte metro area has pretty much the same ol' everything.

[Desert Man]

Denny's used to have 2 or 3 restaurants in Indio Cal. alone in the 1980's, used to have two in Palm Springs (I think one of em remains open) and one in Palm Desert is reportedly slated to close. It's sad to see a great place to eat like Denny's reduce its' number of restaurants when more people lost interest in diner-style cafes.

[BamaZeus]

One restaurant I was surprised not to see mentioned is Hot 'N Now. Crazy cheap food, I remember burgers for like $0.39. Fries and drinks were the same price, I think. Problem was, well, it tasted like an $0.39 cheeseburger. We had a few in South Carolina in the early to mid '90s, then they disappeared.

We had one of those in Tuscaloosa for about 2 years and it was the answered prayer for college students.  For about $3, my brother and I could eat like kings, and frankly, the burgers and fries were dead-on replicas for McDonalds.  If you put a Hot N Now burger and fries next to the McDonalds version, I couldn't tell the difference.  Add some Sam's cola (a case for about $4 at the time) and we ate to our hearts' content.

The only thing that rivalled it at the time was $.99 Whoppers at Burger King.  Get 2 of those, skip the crappy fries, bring it home with your already bought soda, and BAM! dinner for about $2.50

[Jim]

One former restaurant chain that has yet to be mentioned is the Red Barn, albeit I'm 99.99% sure they are gone.

Wow, Red Barn.  I barely remember going there when we had one in Amsterdam, NY, when I was pretty young.  I can't say I remember the food, but what kid doesn't like burgers and fries?  It was on the end of a shopping plaza with a giant red barn facade.  The facade remained for many years after the restaurant closed and I think operated as a couple other restaurants before a remodel of that end of the plaza for a (now long gone) Blockbuster video took away the red barn shape.

Our other fast food burger chain place was Carrol's, many of which became Burger Kings in 1970's (ours did, and is still a BK): http://www.carrols.com/html/History.htm

[MDOTFanFB]

One former restaurant chain that has yet to be mentioned is the Red Barn, albeit I'm 99.99% sure they are gone.

There was a Red Barn here in Wyandotte, MI, on M-85 next to a large strip mall. The barn shape is still there today, though Red Barn closed many years ago and then many other independent restaurants came and went over the years, most recently a pizza restaurant that closed back in January, the building still sits vacant today.

There used to be a lot of Ponderosa Steakhouses here in the Northeast. Most, if not, all are gone.

We also had a Ponderosa, that was between the Red Barn and the strip mall, that outlived Red Barn by many years, but it also closed in January.

[NYYPhil777]

One former restaurant chain that has yet to be mentioned is the Red Barn, albeit I'm 99.99% sure they are gone.

There was a Red Barn here in Wyandotte, MI, on M-85 next to a large strip mall. The barn shape is still there today, though Red Barn closed many years ago and then many other independent restaurants came and went over the years, most recently a pizza restaurant that closed back in January, the building still sits vacant today.

There used to be a lot of Ponderosa Steakhouses here in the Northeast. Most, if not, all are gone.

We also had a Ponderosa, that was between the Red Barn and the strip mall, that outlived Red Barn by many years, but it also closed in January.

Ponderosa too is leaving the St. Louis area. Ponderosa, Country/Old Country/Hometown and other traditional American buffets used to be big in St. Louis.