# 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:** 21
### Author:  [@jed67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jed67)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2010, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/401 "2010-07-10T08:34:59Z")
Does anyone remember Red Coach Grille?
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### Author:  [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2010, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/402 "2010-07-10T08:39:05Z")
> [@madmonk28](#):
>
> Another chain that hasn’t quite gone away, but that is the process is Shakey’s Pizza. We had one in my town as a kid with a player piano. I had my birthday there once.
Shakey’s is HUGE in the Philippines. You can also go to Tower Records there and feel like you are in retro-Sacramento paradise.
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2010, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/403 "2010-07-10T13:14:47Z")
Duff’s Smorgasbord?
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/404 "2010-07-10T14:44:27Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#):
>
> If **Shakey’s Pizza** has already been mentioned, please excuse the post, but I used to love that place.
>
> They are not really “defunct”, but the restaurants are spaced so far apart, they may as well be. (They’re a big hit in Thailand!)
Alas! I believe they have exited the kingdom. Actually, the only one I knew of was in Siam Square, and I believe it closed down even before you made that post some years ago.
But back to the OP: I have fond memories of Burger Chef from when I was a child. I would love to try it again.
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### Author:  [@Jamodu\_Green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamodu_Green)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2010, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/405 "2010-07-10T15:53:48Z")
In Australia, Chilis no longer operates.
Starbucks also closed alot of their stores out of in recent years, but are still trading. At one stage, they had 85 stores nationally, but closed 61 of them at once.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2010, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/406 "2010-07-10T15:58:40Z")
Welcome to the board, **jed**. A hint: at the bottom of a post is a little button that has quote marks and a plus sign on it. You can use that button to multi-quote in a post and not make 8 in a row to reply to people.
**Sam** - The Shakey’s I go to occasionally is still alive, if barely kicking. Ought to stop by for the lunch buffet sometime soon, just to see if it’s still as bad as it once was.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2010, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/407 "2010-07-10T16:02:51Z")
We had Shakey’s in West Texas too, and I thought it not bad pizza, although it seemed to garner a lot of disrespect.
As for Starbucks mentioned earlier, there are more than 100 in Thailand, and they are going strong.
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### Author:  [@In\_Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Winnipeg)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2010, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/408 "2010-07-10T16:58:02Z")
I remember when I was growing up in Vancouver in the early 70s, there was this chain of drive-ins called “The Texan”. I only remember eating there a couple of times, but one of the things they had on the drinks menu was “Swamp Water”, which was a mixture of everything they had.
It was a big deal to us kids then because it was something different.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/409 "2010-07-10T17:09:04Z")
> [@In\_Winnipeg](#):
>
> I remember when I was growing up in Vancouver in the early 70s, there was this chain of drive-ins called “The Texan”. I only remember eating there a couple of times, but one of the things they had on the drinks menu was “Swamp Water”, which was a mixture of everything they had.
>
> It was a big deal to us kids then because it was something different.
In Texas itself, that was called a “Suicide.” Really.
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### Author:  [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2010, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/410 "2010-07-10T22:31:17Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> **Sam** - The Shakey’s I go to occasionally is still alive, if barely kicking. Ought to stop by for the lunch buffet sometime soon, just to see if it’s still as bad as it once was.
[QUOTE=Siam Sam]
We had Shakey’s in West Texas too, and I thought it not bad pizza, although it seemed to garner a lot of disrespect.
[/QUOTE]
Where I live, Spokane, a new Shakey’s just opened thereby marking their return to the area after nearly 25 years. I haven’t been there yet but the radio ads Shakey’s has been running seem to emphasize their lunch buffet over their pizza.
One thing that seemed to hurt Shakey’s was the fact that, unlike their competitors, they didn’t deliver. I don’t know if they’ve changed their no-delivery policy in the last 20 years.
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### Author:  [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2010, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/411 "2010-07-11T05:45:19Z")
> [@Wolverine](#):
>
> I came to mention [Chi-Chi’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi_Chi's) which closed all its U.S. stores in 2004. Apparently they lasted longer than I knew (the one’s in the Detroit area closed in the mid-1990’s).
Maybe so, but their package seasonings still sell in our grocery stores and online. One of them is my favorite. They even revamped the package design in the last 6 months, and when I couldn’t find the original in the stores, bought a case of them online.
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### Author:  [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2010, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/412 "2010-07-13T19:27:41Z")
I was going to ask if anyone else remembered “Round the Corner”, a small chain in Colorado back in the 80’s… After a quick google, I found this: [Benjaman Kyle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjaman_Kyle). Holy shit.
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### Author:  [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2010, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/413 "2010-07-14T07:45:04Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#):
>
> But back to the OP: I have fond memories of Burger Chef from when I was a child. I would love to try it again.
Burger Chef Funmeals were what Happy Meals can only dream of being.
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### Author:  [@brad\_d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brad_d)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2010, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/414 "2010-07-14T16:06:15Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#):
>
> In Texas itself, that was called a “Suicide.” Really.
Yep; I grew up in Dallas/Fort Worth, and that’s what we called it, too.
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### Author:  [@howye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/howye)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2010, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/415 "2010-07-14T16:46:16Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#):
>
> In Texas itself, that was called a “Suicide.” Really.
Yep - Learned that at the roller skating rink in the 80’s.
> [@Darth\_Nader](#):
>
> I was going to ask if anyone else remembered “Round the Corner”, a small chain in Colorado back in the 80’s… After a quick google, I found this: [Benjaman Kyle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjaman_Kyle). Holy shit.
I remember going to the Round the Corner in the Cinderella City mall. You ordered through those tableside phones and it was my introduction to the french dip sandwich.
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### Author:  [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2010, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/416 "2010-07-14T17:56:38Z")
Was it not called a suicide everywhere? I was born just south of Fort Worth and always called it that. That was back in the days when different places felt different, before the internet and tv made everything uniform over the last 10 years.
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### Author:  [@jed67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jed67)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2010, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/417 "2010-07-14T21:47:50Z")
Does Marie Calendar’s still have restaurants? or does anyone remember Bergson’s; they were taken over by Newport Creamery.
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### Author:  [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2010, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/418 "2010-07-14T23:23:42Z")
Last time I checked Marie Calendar’s still had a restaurant here in Albuquerque. There are also several Village Inns.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2010, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/419 "2010-07-14T23:34:46Z")
All sorts of Maries around SoCal.
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### Author:  [@KimmyT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KimmyT)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2010, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/420 "2010-09-03T02:52:20Z")
Does anyone remember a restaurant from 70’s called Jacks R Better? There was one by Crestwood plaza in St. Louis County,Mo. It was kinda like Ground Round. Also in the same area was a Flaming Pit steak House. I believe it shut down in the early 80’s.
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