L&K - mediocre Bob Evans/Lyon’s type place that seemed to be concentrated along I-71 in Ohio.
Lordburger - Burger chain in the Northeast Ohio/Western Pennsylvania area
Burger Chef - I think everyone knew this one. Pioneers in putting bacon on hamburgers; went belly up around 1982 or so
Mmmm…Burger Chef. Loved them.
Sambo’s - closed due to a perception of racism.
I don’t know if this was a chain or local…Alaskaland.
Wimpy’s.
Pappy’s Pizza.
Showbiz Pizza Place (with the audio-animatronic bear Billy Bob…)
Some of these may still be extant, just not around here.
jayjay There’s a Showbiz Pizza right across the street from the local mall. Bad shape and their sign always is missing the right letters but it’s still going. Damn good pizza.
Little Old Taco Maker - Southern California (elsewhere?)
Mmmmmmm, Mexicones! Best combination of refried beans and spicey alleged meat substance topped by cheese food in a fried corn cone.
Died sometimes in the late 60’s, I think.
We used to have a lot of “Bob’s Big Boy” running around here in southern California, but now the only time you see one is in an Austin Powers movie. Which is sad… I used to love that place.
Foster’s Old Fashioned Freeze, an ice cream chain, circa 50’s-60’s, that had great soft serve ice cream.
Lums and Carrols. Two places in Upstate NY. Lums had frosted mugs of soda.
as far as I an tell, Sonic Drive Thru has disappeared off the face of the earth
We have one (a Sonic Drive-In) the next major thoroughfare over in Orlando, FL. There was a big ad campain when it opened in Oct 2000. My husband insisted that we must go. All I can say is I will not be going out of my way to patronize this chain. 
I LOVED Burger Chef & Jeff-here in Florida they had a “toppings bar” --all the pickles (or not) that I wanted. YUM!
Shakey’s Pizza! Loved the pizza and the entertainment. I remember going and it being SOOO packed. I was a kid at the time-so I do not know now if I would enjoy it or not. But I loved itwhen I was ages 6->12.
Ahhhh. Burger Chef. They had children’s meals long before the Clown did, and the toys were better, too.
I was going to say Arthur Treacher’s Fish & Chips, but Google claims they’re still around. They used to have fries cut in the weirdest shape… the flodsister used to use them to scoop up truly impressive amounts of ketchup, back when ketchup was one of her major food groups.
No “Bob’s”, but around here (Cincinnati, and they recently moved to Indianapolis…elsewhere?) we have “Frisch’s Big Boy”. Same Big Boy in his checker pants. So if “Big Boy” is the chain and the first name is who runs them, there still (sorta) around.
And the Burger Chef (and Jeff!) toys… weren’t they great? I remember getting this 3 piece “rocket” toy. Plunger, launcher, and a rocket top that would actually fly off. You could put an eye out before your fries got cold. And wooden yo-yo’s. A concusion waiting to happen. Ahh, the memories…
Godfather’s Pizza. Was that just local? The comercials were so bad I’d guess they were.
Snappy Tomato Pizza. Also, just local? (Snap…Snap…Snappy To-ma-to Pizza! Ooo-oo-oo-ooooooo)[Their jingle by the way]
Bonanza Steakhouse. Almost exactly like Ponderosa.
Where are you, Texas? Our little town had both a Bonanza and a Godfather’s. The Godfather’s Pizza was still in business only a few years ago.
How about A&W drive-ins? They had PapaBurgers, MommaBurgers, BabyBurgers, and TeenBurgers, but my favorite was the pork tenderloin (not sure if it had a family name or not). They also did the best root beer on the planet.
Dropped off the face of my corner of the earth, anyway:
Carrol’s burgers weren’t just in upstate N.Y. We had them in New Jersey, too.
Godfather’s Pizza wasn’t “local”. They spanned several states (although I’;ve never seen one in Massachusetts, and I don’t know if they’re around still).
Sonic has disappeared? It’s weird you say that. Sonic has JUST started advertising in the Boston area. They must be planning on expanding here.
Dee’s burgers in Salt Lake City. When they sold the Dee’s chain to another Fast Food Franchise (see below) they took out all the giant Dee’s clowns (their symbol) to a vast Dee Clown Graveyeard outside town.
Hardee’s bought up Dee’s and converted their restaurants. Now Hardee’s seems to have gone the way of asll fast food flesh.
Big Barn was a chain in Salt Lake, too. They all closed before I came, but one local hamburger joint got some old signs, and was selling “Big Barney” burgers on account of those signs. One Big Barn restaurant was turned into a Chinese Restaurant. It was a good restaurant, too. I only realized what it had been when I stood well back, mentally subtracted part of the facade, and realized that the restaurant looked like a big barn.
I realize that International House of Pancakes is still around, but they closed an awful lot of their traditional peaked-roof restaurants, which are now serving as entirely new and different restaurants. I’ve seen these in Salt Lake and in Malden, Mass.
Gino’s was a fast-food joint run by footballer Gino Marchetti. It served Kentucky Fried Chicken and hamburgers. It was years before I realized that there were separate KFC franchises.
Wild Bill’s or Pecos Bill’s was a franchise that never got started. It was the subject of a 60 Minutes story. Three of the franchisees, who had bought into the franchise that never was, decided to make a go of it, even without national advertising. One of them was on route 18 in East Brunswick, N.J. It lasted for a few years, but it’s now a Wendy’s.
Genos (or was it Ginos?)
Their flaghsip sammich was the Geno Giant. It was rectangular - sort of the shape of the BK Chicken Sammich, 'cept it was a burger.
Genos was a Burger King/McDonalds type chain, and I believe it is one of the places that helped launch Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Colonel Sanders marketed his chicken through other restaurants before the KFC chain was born.
In the Northeast USofA, Kentucky Fried Chicken got it’s hook into the market via Genos.
Damn! I could go for a bucket, even at this early hour.
I also believe they helped pioneer the “salad Bar” thingy in Fast Food Restaurants that seems to have finally faded from the 80’s.
Philster:
It was definitely “Gino’s” with an “i”. I can still visualize their logo – a cartoony Gino Marchetti carrying a burger on high.
It you wanted ketchup with your fries you got a minitaure cup of it with a lid – the “Tater Dunker”.
The first chain to sell KFC was (and still is – they’re still around) Harmon’s in Salt Lake City. The very first KFC is south of Salt Lake, with “World’s First KFC” in big brass letters on the side.
Wow, Usually someone beats me to it. I can’t believe Jack-In-The-Box has not been mentioned yet. Anybody else remember them? I heard a rumor that the burgers there were made from Kangaroo meat. They used to put Thousand Island dressing on their burgers.
Roy Rogers is done for around here. They bought out Hardee’s, then McD’s bought out them. (I think that’s how it went)
What about Tastee Freeze? Haven’t seen one of those in a while.
I’d endorse the votes for Shakeys too. And like other posters have noted, we’ve got a Sonic drive through in southeastern Kentucky that is always packed.
My fond childhood memories rest in the lovely Ground Round. A sit-down restaurant that was kept just dark enough that you couldn’t see exactly what you were being served and every table had baskets of peanuts and popcorn. The tradition, at least at the Ground Round we frequented, was to freely toss one’s peanut shells and popcorn and really anything else on to the floor. The only restaurant I knew of where if something didn’t crunch under your feet–there was a problem.
Yup. Sambo’s is gone. (For those who don’t know, Sambo was an Indian boy who was chased around a tree by a tiger. He climbed the tree and the tiger ran around the tree faster and faster until he turned to butter. The restaurant had “stained glass” – actually coloured plexiglass – pictures of the story.)
Are Bob’s Big Boy all gone? I thought they just got rid of the big fibreglas statue out front. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen one in a while.
Shakeys Pizza is still around. There are a couple of them within a few miles of me.
Straw Hat Pizza. This was my favourite when I was a kid. I’ve heard there’s still one in the L.A. area, but I don’t know where it is.
A&W still exists, but I haven’t seen one with “car hop” service. They seem to be drive-throughs or in malls now.
Pup’n’Taco. Never went to one, but I was chanel surfing a long time ago with interesting results: “And the banquet was laid out on the table…” click “Pup’n’Taco! Pup’n’Taco!”
JoJo’s restaurant. They seem to have been bought by Coco’s.
Naugles. Absorbed by Del Taco (“of the taco”?), I always thought they were better. Mmmmm! Alcohol-fueld cruise down the boulevard, followed by Naugles!
Pioneer Chicken. Are they still around? They had bigger pieces of chicken than KFC (back when KFC had “side breasts” and “centre breasts” instead of the whole piece) and I liked their yellow gravy better than KFC’s brown gravy.
There are other places that were not chains that I miss. Joy’s was a little lunch counter near Barstow, CA. Joy made the BEST burgers I’ve ever eaten. Her mother took ill and she had to close the diner to care for her. The Kittyhawk Café was at Santa Monica airport. The burgers there were the SECOND best I’ve had. Breakfast was good too. A bit greasy, but good. They closed and The Spitfire Grill opened in their place. The new owners must have cleaned the grill, since the burgers aren’t as good. Everyone knows you can’t make a decent burger without violating a few health codes!