10 Restaurant Chains That Flopped

[hornadylnl]

very true^^

Funny Tacos ftw

 

[LEaSH]

Penguin Point holds a special place in my heart.

When I was young ('70s) we hardly ever went out to eat, but every once in a while, my Mom and I would meet my Dad at the Penguin Point on Bristol Street in Elkhart across the street from the Miles headquarters where he worked.

We are probably of near same vintage.

Any food not prepared at home was viewed as a luxury that we rarely would be treated to. Mom's cooking was excellent, but she deserved a break so often, too. And usually friday nights during lent was a great excuse for Penguin Point or Knights of Columbus fish fry.

Thank to all the Penguin Point tips, guys. I did google them and they seem to have a handful of stores still up around the northern half of Indiana.

 

[LEaSH]

And yes Godfathers pizza chain seemed to do everything right. What happened?

We need Del Taco here in the midwest. Stat!

 

[hornadylnl]

Ponderosa, Shoneys, Ryan's. There may still be some around but not around here.

 

[snapping turtle]

The future is in the traveling food trucks. Not the roach coaches of the past. Scratch box rocks.

The penguin point in Anderson was ok.
I sold my burger chef and Jeff glow in the dark flying disk for 13 dollars on eBay.

 

[chezuki]

Ponderosa, Shoneys, Ryan's. There may still be some around but not around here.

Idk where you are, but there's a Ponderosa in Mooresville and a Ryan's in Greenwood.

 

[The Bubba Effect]

For you guys missing Rax, there was still one Rax left somewhere in Virginia in late 2001. I was driving out to with some buddies to a wedding and stopped in a small town to gas up and get some food. We saw a Rax and got all excited and got roast beef and milk shakes. We told them how excited we were and they said something about how they were the last Rax.

A few hours later I get a call from some other friends heading out to the wedding and they were laughing their assses off. Apparently they stumbled into the same place, were just as excited as we had been and the employees thought it was some kind of scam because they ordered the same food, asked the same questions, told the same stories, etc. It's not easy being part of the hillbilly hive mind.

 

[Jack Burton]

[h=3]Casa Gallardo in St. Louis was started by Ramon Gallardo, who worked his way from busboy at age 15 to owning about 500 restaurants across the country. They had some of the best Mexican food available in large scale venues. It was really, really good stuff.

Ramon sold out to, IIRC, General Mills for several hundred million dollars about 20 years ago. He was kept as president. Of course, with that much money in the hole GM immediately started to cut the cost for the food, which lowered the quality considerably. Within a few years the chain was only a handful of restaurants, and now it is completely gone.[/h]

 

[hoosierdoc]

As a hotel, not as a restaurant.

What about as an ice cream joint?

http://hojoland.homestead.com/28flavors.html

 

[chezuki]

What about as an ice cream joint?

HoJoLand.com

I remember everything being Howard Johnson in Blazing Saddles.

 

[metaldog]

I miss Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor.

 

[Ruffnek]

I always liked Dog 'N Suds.

 

[metaldog]

Also miss Taco Grande.

 

[ddavidson]

Idk where you are, but there's a Ponderosa in Mooresville and a Ryan's in Greenwood.

There's a Ponderosa in Beech Grove (SE Indy) and a couple of Ryan's in Indy. Shoneys still exists in Kentucky at least.

 

[Hammerhead]

There's a Ponderosa in Greensburg. There's Shoney's in Missouri, but last time I was there, it wasn't the same as it was in my youth. There's a Dog n' Suds in Lafayette.

There's a Godfather's Pizza in Hope, Mt. Vernon, Batesville, Chandler, Fort Branch, Fortville, Frenchlick, Greentown, Huntingburg, Jasper, Petersburg, Bloomfield, and Austin. There are several in IL and KY as well. The one in Hope is in the Huck's gas station.

When Burger Chef was bought out by Hardee's, Hardee's kept the Burger Chef cash registers. I cut my fast food first job teeth on those dinosaurs in the mid 90s. They were still in use when Carl's Jr. bought Hardee's.

 

[wabash]

wikipedia: "Hardee's brought back the Big Shef hamburger on a limited-time basis in 2001 at select Midwestern locations, and has done so again as of April 2007."

I had a big chef hamburger back then. I was driving in Indiana or Illinois, and saw the big chef advertised on a restaurant sign. I remember thinking it had been a long time, so I went in and had a big chef. I thought it was a Burger Chef restaurant, but maybe it was something else. Later, I read that it was brought back because they needed to "use" the trademark to keep it.

 

[damdayshifter]

burger chef. that was the place

 

[damdayshifter]

I hope Cracker Barrel makes the list!

 

[Ruger-9mm]

That list brought back memories for me. I remember Rax and ChiChis, and more that weren't on the list and have been mentioned in the thread. Let's see: Shoneys, Lees Famous Chicken, Don Pablos (I know there's one in Greenwood, but it clearly isnt doing well). There's more, but my brain is slow this morning.

 

[Stschil]

I remember Burger Chef as it was our normal lunch time hang out in High School. Just a block away, in fact.
When I was younger, (back in the 70's) My Dad worked for TWA and we were able to fly out to Disneyland almost every year. Always the stayed at same hotel, which had a Sambo's right next door. It was out favorite breakfast and supper spot.