Cooker shut down operations a couple of years ago. Here’s a story from the Ohio State campus paper. I ate at a Cooker around Ann Arbor on my first “dinner date” with Long Time First Time, so I’ll always have fond memories of that restaurant.
The convoluted story of Chuck E. Cheese and Showbiz Pizza (cached because the site seems to have gone the way of Showbiz Pizza).
Yeah, we had about five of them here in Nashville. Not bad food, gigantic drinks. Cokes and such were in HUUUUGE glasses.
Now, if you know the Pentagon, you might also know Potomac Yards – there’s a Togo’s/Baskin-Robbins/Dunkin’ Donuts combo setup there. And there’s also one at Bailey’s Crossroads.
Taco Tico is still kicking here in Lexington (or at least I assume they are, since I see coupons in the Family Savings magazine every so often.) No idea where it is.
What a great Thread! OK, I’ve scanned all of the replies and don’t think I have seen:
JoJo’s
Magic Pan
Chicken Unlimited
I currently work in a restaurant that used to be a JoJo’s (complete with the circular windows). Magic Pan was that god-awful crepe place. My parents loved it! Chicken Unlimited existed in Chicago in the late 60’s-early 70’s. Competitor of Kentucky Fried Chicken
I noticed there are a few Illinoisans out here. Anyone remember a restaurant that used to exist called “Grouper’s?” It was in Arlington Heights and they had awesome soup (served in a crock!). I don’t think it was a chain, but I loved the place nonetheless and was wondering exactly where it was located.
This thread is so much fun and I am walking down memory lane!
Strange how we hate the chains while they’re open, but remember them nostalgically after they’ve been long gone.
There’s an ad at the bottom for Restaraunt POS systems. Yeah, I don’t want the good system, just give me the POS. 
I always get a giggle out of the Point Of Sale systems.
Of course, when I used to work in restaurants and retail as a teen, they were often very aptly named POS.
Yeah. Currently I wish for the quick exinction of places like T.G.I. Friday’s, Chili’s, Bennigan’s, etc. Will today’s kids similarly pine for the hackburgers of their youth?
Does anyone have any theories, yet, as to why some chains thrive and others fade away?
I know some open too many restaurants too quickly (e.g., the still-barely-hanging-on Boston Market) while others lose control of their quality after they either get too big or get bought out by a larger company. There are also those that have great initial success but are eventually overwhelmed by changes in the very field they pioneered (e.g., Shakey’s Pizza). Then, there are special cases like Wimpy’s where, when the founder died, all locations in the U.S. where closed pursuant to his will.
Near where I live there is a Church’s, an Arthur Treacher (great chips), a Rax, and there’s a Godfather’s Pizza in the Columbus airport.
There was a doughnut chain that made great crullers: Jolly Roger, that became Jolly Pirate, and now is, I think gone.
And another local chain was Sister’s Chicken and Biscuits. I think they were completely gone for a while, but they have been recently resurrected by Massey’s Pizza (though without the biscuits). But Massey’s doesn’t have that amazing rice.
Dang…I grew up in AH & Palatine, and I don’t remember Grouper’s at all! Where was it?
I heard that Magic Pan is coming back, by the way!
I must be lucky. I have seven near my location.
Not that local – there was one in Salt Lake City when I lived there. But I’ve never seen another one.
Did you ever have the rice? It was great.
Yep.
Sounds like the same place.
That’s funny. Speaking of Ground Round specifically, we had a brand new one (new building and everything) open around here (western Cheesehead-land) about two to three years ago. I haven’t bothered to go. The thing is, I was also going to mention that I knew there was one in Syracuse, NY too. People have also wondered about Friendly’s. Those were around Syracuse too.
Maybe my area is also a last refuge for old chains. The town where I went to high school still has an old school A&W drive up restaurant. It’s been in business for at least 30 years that I remember. A new one was attempted in a nearby, larger town, but failed after two to three years.
Our Chi-Chi’s was replaced by a chain called Carlos O’Kelly’s. I haven’t went there. It seems to me that someone is confusing some ethnicity there or something. 
Regarding the Ponderosa/Bonanza thing, we had both in the 80’s, operating at the same time. They seemed to be in competition. I remember it used to be great fun to take the whole pineapple (salad bar decoration) back to our table and start carving.
That reminded me of a donut shop from my old town, Mister Donut. Interesting that it has mostly disappeared from North America but still can be found in Japan and El Salvador, of all places. They were okay (they specialized in the airy cream-filled varieties), but the best donut shop in town was a little bakery on the main downtown street that didn’t survive the death of its owner. I can still remember its mouth-watering smell…