# 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:** 7
### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/121 "2006-12-06T18:16:37Z")
I remember a chain in Wisconsin (and elsewhere, maybe), in the 70s, that sold pies. And coffee.
It was like Dunkin Donuts, but for pie.
This was real.
BTW–I ain’t goin’ & you can bring your own. 😛
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### Author:  [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/122 "2006-12-06T18:18:45Z")
[QUOTE=tanstaafl]
We had another chain of “southern” style restaurants around here called “Black-Eyed Peas” that seem to have gone away. Does anyone remember them or know if there are any still around somewhere? As I recall they weren’t great but were at least a step up from Folks.
[/QUOTE]
I remember them. There was one near where we lived when I went to high school (in Maryland), and my parents loved it. I’m not so crazy about southern-style food, though. No idea if it’s still there.
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### Author:  [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/123 "2006-12-06T18:20:46Z")
[QUOTE=stanger]
Back in the late 70’s to early 80’s was a hamburger place called **GW Jr’s**
[/QUOTE]
That explains what he was doing when he should have been in the Texas National Guard…
(I know political jokes are frowned upon in serious discussions. But seriously, with a name like that, it’s hard not to resist.)
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### Author:  [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/124 "2006-12-06T18:21:17Z")
I can find no trace of it on the web, but I could have sworn there was definitely a late 1970’s burger chain called Judy’s that was a direct ripoff of Wendy’s back when Wendy’s first got huge- they had the same interior design, same square burgers, same plastic beaded curtains, everything except I think the main color was light blue.
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### Author:  [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/125 "2006-12-06T18:27:14Z")
Spread out in Ontario (Canada) in the 1970s and the 1980s was a chain called Mother’s Pizza Parlour. Mother’s Pizza was _the_ place to go for birthday parties. They were about on par with restaurants like Ponderosa Steakhouse. Nicer than a Big Boy, but not as nice as Olive Garden.
I think they got bought out by Pizza Hut. And I vaguely recall some kind of trademark fight between Mother’s Pizza Parlour and Mama’s Pizza.
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### Author:  [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/126 "2006-12-06T18:27:56Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor]
I remember a chain in Wisconsin (and elsewhere, maybe), in the 70s, that sold pies. And coffee.
[/QUOTE]
**Poppin’ Fresh** , probably.
[QUOTE=acsenray]
There was a food contamination scare about two or three years ago – I think it was contaminated green onions – that resulted in a few deaths. That effectively killed Chi-Chis, even though it was a supplier problem.
[/QUOTE]
Ironically, Taco Bell is having e. coli problems related to green onions right now.
There’s a defunct Victoria Station north of here that got converted into an antique mall. Trying to remember their ad jingle - was it “Victoria Station - It’s a cut above” or “Victoria Station - Just a cut above”?
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### Author:  [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/127 "2006-12-06T18:39:43Z")
[QUOTE=ColonelDax]
[Gino’s](http://members.aol.com/jsf0864/page1.html), home of the Heroburger.
[/QUOTE]
Gino’s!
Had one of those bad boys in Cinnaminson (Sin-City), NJ.
But, the Heroburger, fuggedaboudit…Gino Giant, fries and a Black & White Shake all the way!
We had a darn good Sambos there too.
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### Author:  [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/128 "2006-12-06T18:47:47Z")
[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]
Never eaten there, but there’s a Straw Hat 1/2 mile from where I work in Visalia, CA.
Joe
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### Author:  [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/129 "2006-12-06T18:56:39Z")
[QUOTE=gotpasswords]
**Poppin’ Fresh** , probably.
[/QUOTE]
Yep. Poppin’ Fresh morphed into Bakers Square which can still be found in the Upper Midwest and California. I guess they stilll concentrate on pies, as they’ve registered “The Best Pie in America” as their trademark.
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### Author:  [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/130 "2006-12-06T19:05:57Z")
There’s both an Arthur Treacher’s and a Roy Roger’s in one of the rest stops along I-95 between Baltimore and Philly. There’s two large rest stops; I can’t remember which one they’re in.
I remember Farrell’s. It was _the_ place to have your birthday party when I was in elementary school.
Popeye’s Chicken is still around here, as are a couple of Friendly’s.
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### Author:  [@Cemetery\_Savior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cemetery_Savior)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/131 "2006-12-06T19:21:00Z")
I used to beg my parents to take me to \*\*Dog -n- Suds \*\* in Fox Lake, IL. Miss that place…kinda like an A&W, drive-up only.
We have a Houlihan’s here in Schaumburg, IL…sucky.
I think the Bennigan’s off-brand \*\*Steak and Ale \*\* is dead around here, not sure about other areas.
Just want to confirm that Popeye’s, A&W, and Baker’s Square still exist around Chicagoland!
-Cem
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### Author:  [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/132 "2006-12-06T19:26:02Z")
[QUOTE=Cemetery Savior]
I think the Bennigan’s off-brand \*\*Steak and Ale \*\* is dead around here, not sure about other areas.
[/QUOTE]
There’s a Steak & Ale still here in Baltimore.
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### Author:  [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/133 "2006-12-06T19:33:49Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun]
Heh-heh. I did. My son was conceived at the Howard Johnson’s in Elgin, IL.
[/QUOTE]
I stayed in one in Lawrenceville, NJ on my interview trip out of grad school.
As for the restaurants, they were the toast of the highways - hamburger with smothered onions - yum. Pierre Franey, the famous chef, developed dishes for them for quite some time, working out of New York.
Popeyes is still growing - they opened a new one near me recently.
Is Friendly’s still around in the East?
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### Author:  [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/134 "2006-12-06T19:46:53Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager]
Is Friendly’s still around in the East?
[/QUOTE]
There’s a couple in Maryland.
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### Author:  [@Grossbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grossbottom)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/135 "2006-12-06T19:52:33Z")
Lum’s is alive and well in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We used to lunch there a few years back: flat soda but decent stick to your ribs grub.
I particularly miss Bojangles, which was thriving down here when I was a kid. It was a chicken and biscuits chain with amazing sausage biscuits! And there was Wuv’s, a burger and fries chain that’s long extinct. And how come I can’t find a Steak n’ Shake east of Sawgrass? I love SnS.
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### Author:  [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/136 "2006-12-06T19:58:18Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham]
Are there any **Ground Round** s left? All the ones I knew of in the Northeast (which all seemed to be built on the sites of vanished Howard Johnasons – I’m pretty sure they were owned by the same folks) have dried up and blown away.
[/QUOTE]
Post #56. According to Wikipedia, there’s about 30 left. The one in my old neighborhood is gone, though.
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### Author:  [@Hogwash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hogwash)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/137 "2006-12-06T20:01:39Z")
This won’t mean much to the American dopers, but I have fond memories of the [Happy Eater](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Eater) chain. I spent many a pre-pubescent birthday party eating junk and playing in the numerous playground attractions there.
It was a simpler time. We didn’t expect much. The round, red, faux-Pacman logo (in all its eighties artistic glory) was enough to ease our minds with thoughts of hamburgers and big metal slides.
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### Author:  [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/138 "2006-12-06T20:06:28Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager]
Is Friendly’s still around in the East?
[/QUOTE]
I ate at one several years ago in Sandusky, OH.
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### Author:  [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/139 "2006-12-06T20:15:08Z")
[QUOTE=BiblioCat]
There’s a Steak & Ale still here in Baltimore.
[/QUOTE]
There’s a Steak & Ale here in Fort Myers, about 1/2 a mile from my apartment. I hate it.
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### Author:  [@Sassy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sassy)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2006, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/140 "2006-12-06T20:23:58Z")
[Doggie Diner!](http://doggiediner.com/)
(Tangent that only a few - if any - will get: oddly, there are no good pictures of the batwing hamberger snatcher on line. Closest I can get is the featured items link [here](http://www.danoneillcomics.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.pl). Maybe I should drop a line to O’Neill.)
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