# Defunct restaurant chains
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [December 6, 2006, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004 "2006-12-06T00:37:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Taters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taters)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/21 "2006-12-06T02:03:59Z")
Bob’s Big Boy, Herfy’s, Sambos, Church’s Fried Chicken, are among a few I can remember.
There are some burger stands called Herfy’s just opened in the last couple of years. However, these have nothing to do with chain that closed.
There was also a mexican fast food place, but I just cannot remember the name of it. The stores always looked like little mexican type buildings, and they were very small. I think the last one closed sometime in the 80s.
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### Author:  [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/22 "2006-12-06T02:04:03Z")
Straw Hat pizza. I think Papa John’s bought them out. I remember the local Straw Hat fondly for its many video games and the “quarter horse”.
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### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/23 "2006-12-06T02:07:18Z")
[QUOTE=robardin]
Howard Johnson’s. …I never stayed at one overnight …
[/QUOTE]
Heh-heh. I did. My son was conceived at the Howard Johnson’s in Elgin, IL.
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### Author:  [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/24 "2006-12-06T02:07:48Z")
There’s still a Big Boy in Burbank, plus they are popular in Japan. Church’s is still around and google reveals my lamented [Straw Hat](http://www.strawhatpizza.com/locations.htm) to still be around too. Hrm, I wonder if it’s worth the trip to Barstow…?
Nevermind, nothing is worth a trip to Barstow.
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### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/25 "2006-12-06T02:07:57Z")
Arthur Treacher’s Fish and Chips- are they still around? Used to like their hot dog in the fried fish batter when I was small.
The Red Barn- my sister worked their in high school and we got _all_ the Popeye (I think) glasses!
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### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/26 "2006-12-06T02:08:58Z")
[QUOTE=IvoryTowerDenizen]
Arthur Treacher’s Fish and Chips- are they still around? Used to like their hot dog in the fried fish batter when I was small.
The Red Barn- my sister worked **their** in high school and we got _all_ the Popeye (I think) glasses!
[/QUOTE]
Gadzooks!!! there not their- heaven’s to Betsy!!!
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### Author:  [@Taters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taters)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/27 "2006-12-06T02:09:39Z")
I just remembered another one.
Farrells. I used to love that place as a kid. It more of an old-timey ice cream parlour, but they served burgers and sandwiches (hot and cold) too. On the way out, they had the front set up like an old candy shop so the kids could get even MORE sugar!
They had Green River soda and tons of different ice cream sundaes and treats.
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### Author:  [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/28 "2006-12-06T02:12:30Z")
Oh damn, I can’t believe I forgot Taco Viva! It was so awesome, cheap Mexican fast food long before Taco Bell exploded in popularity in the early '90s. You could occasionally find a sad remaning Taco Viva in the food courts of the less-posh malls into the mid-'90s, but I haven’t seen one in almost a decade. It was a rare treat when I was a kid, since my parents were convinced all Mexican food was too spicy so none of us would like it.
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### Author:  [@5\_time\_champ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5_time_champ)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/29 "2006-12-06T02:12:36Z")
[QUOTE=Taters]
Bob’s Big Boy, Herfy’s, Sambos, Church’s Fried Chicken, are among a few I can remember.
[/QUOTE]
Church’s Fried is still around, there are 15 in the St Louis area. [http://www.churchs.com/](http://www.churchs.com/)
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### Author:  [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/30 "2006-12-06T02:17:11Z")
[QUOTE=The Sausage Creature]
Straw Hat pizza. I think Papa John’s bought them out. I remember the local Straw Hat fondly for its many video games and the “quarter horse”.
[/QUOTE]
There is still one in Sacramento (technically, it’s in Rancho Cordova).
I fondly remember Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlor. The last one closed just last year, from what I can tell.
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/31 "2006-12-06T02:23:14Z")
[Bill Knapp’s](http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=4611). Loved their biscuits, and their au gratin potatos!
Zantigo’s. I loved their chilitos. They were bought out by Taco Bell.
Wimpy’s hamburgers. I understand there are still some of these outside of the US (it orginated in England) but the ones in the US are no more, as far as I can tell.
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### Author:  [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/32 "2006-12-06T02:28:59Z")
[QUOTE=Taters]
I just remembered another one.
Farrells. I used to love that place as a kid. It more of an old-timey ice cream parlour, but they served burgers and sandwiches (hot and cold) too. On the way out, they had the front set up like an old candy shop so the kids could get even MORE sugar!
They had Green River soda and tons of different ice cream sundaes and treats.
[/QUOTE]
Hawaii has gotten two of these places in the last two months:
**Suburban Plankton** Farrell’s just opened up in Windward Mall in Kaneohe, Hawaii (bedroom community of Honolulu). Haven’t eaten there yet, though.
**5 time champ** , Church’s Chicken just opened an restaurant in the Pearlridge Mall (Hawaii) food court.
Bob’s Big Boy is still here, too.
**Airman Doors, USAF** Kenny Rogers Roasters was all over the Philippines when last I visited.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/33 "2006-12-06T02:29:22Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I have vague-but-fond childhood memories of a chain called Lums, that served hot dogs boiled in beer. I think there might be one left somewhere in South Florida, but they all disappeared from Miami in the '80s.
They’re still a few around in New York. Elmira and Plattsburgh have them.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/34 "2006-12-06T02:35:26Z")
Horn and Hardart. I think there may be one around in Philadelphia, but they were a sensation in the 1930s – the Automat. Food was kept behind a glass window and you put money in a slot to open it. Once it was empty, someone behind it would refill it. Coffee came from a spigot; you’d put in your nickle and a cup would pour out. I went to them back in the 60s, when they were dying out due to competition by more modern fast food, but it was quite the place to go.
There was also Carroll’s and Wetson’s around here. The food in both places was awful. Carroll’s started managing Burger Kings around here, and let their restaurants die; Wetson’s was inedible.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/35 "2006-12-06T02:47:49Z")
There’s a Bob’s Big Boy about 4 miles from here. Still have that red relish on the Big Boy Burger, too.
I wish Made-Rite still had locations in SoCal. Memories of childhood…
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/36 "2006-12-06T02:51:39Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun]
Heh-heh. I did. My son was conceived at the Howard Johnson’s in Elgin, IL.
[/QUOTE]
No wonder they went out of biz. Imagine coming in for an ice cream cone and seeing that. Disgraceful.
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### Author:  [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/37 "2006-12-06T03:08:22Z")
I came in here to mention [Pofolks](http://www.pofolks.com/), but it turns out they’re still in business. Somehow.
For the uninitiated: The name “Pofolks” is supposed to be how an illiterate person would say “Poor Folks.” The chain was (is) devoted to its carefully crafted image as “poor country folks food”; it was like eating dinner on the set of _Hee-Haw_. Drinks were served in Mason jars, and the menu included such delicacies as the fried hotdog sandwich. All the signs everywhere were misspelled in a dreadful attempt at hillbilly quaintness–I remember clearly that the sign over the cash register said, “HEER’S WHAR YA PAY.” I don’t recall specifically, but I feel pretty sure there were a lot of needlepoint wall hangings saying things like “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.”
The menu, as you can see on the [site](http://www.pofolks.com/menuitems.htm), offers “appetizements,” “Chicken Livers an’ Gizzards,” and “our Famous Kuntry Fried Steaks.”
There were a few Pofolks restaurants in Atlanta in the late 70s or early 80s; my mom used to take me there sometimes. Not being much of a cultural connoisseur at the time, I loved it.
I remember asking Mom why everything was spelled funny. “It’s supposed to be country,” she said. I didn’t get it, but it seemed like one of those things I wasn’t going to get for a while either, so I let it go.
Can’t say I miss Pofolks.
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### Author:  [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/38 "2006-12-06T03:23:38Z")
Wasn’t there a Popeye’s chicken once? I seem to recall going to several in the Los Angeles area a few decades ago for their popcorn shrimp.
And two other chains, perhaps small, in the LA area: Pioneer Chicken (bigger portions than KFC) and All-American Burger (burgers of the plump persuasion). One of each of those stores was on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood between Highland and La Brea, IIRC.
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### Author:  [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/39 "2006-12-06T03:30:11Z")
Big Boy restaurants still exists, some under the Bob’s franchise, some under the various other franchises that existed at one time or another. Around these parts, it was Frisch’s; not sure if they still have that name attached or not. Elias Bros. was the franchisee in Michigan; they bought the Big Boy umbrells company from Mariott’s in 1987, but went bankrupt in 2000. Robert Ligget bought the umbrella company, now called Bob’s Big Boy International. Shoney’s still operates numerous Big Boy’s in the south.
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/40 "2006-12-06T03:32:51Z")
[QUOTE=Musicat]
Wasn’t there a Popeye’s chicken once? I seem to recall going to several in the Los Angeles area a few decades ago for their popcorn shrimp.
[/QUOTE]
Just head to Milwaukee, **Musicat**. You’ll find some there.
[http://www.popeyes.com/](http://www.popeyes.com/)
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