Popeye’s is still going strong – 1800 stores in 40 states and 20 countries, according to Wikipedia.
I was convinced that Little Caesar’s was dead and gone – I hadn’t seen one of their commercials since probably the late '80s, and I don’t think I’d seen one of their stores since at least that long. So I was shocked when I went to Las Vegas to see one right on the Strip, and even more shocked when I looked it up online later and found out that they’re still the fourth largest pizza chain in the US!!
The Coon Chicken Inn was one of the many racist products which appeared in phony commercials in the mockumentary The Confederate States of America, which was a fictional history of a South which won the Civil War and never abolished slavery.
The original Sambo’s restaraunt is still in business today, and surprisingly still uses the Little Black Sambo character. The site explains the name is a play on the chain’s two founders, Sam and “Bo.”
Little Caesars mainly seems to operate inside Kmarts now.
Pittsburgh Dopers will remember this one-Isaly’s. Inventors of the Klondike Bar, they also popularized chip-chopped ham. When I was little, there was one just down the street from where we lived and my mom used to take me in to get ice cream sometimes-and we ALWAYS had chipped ham for sandwiches.
(And my great-uncle Joe’s first wife was Mr. Isaly’s secretary, back in the 1960s).
I opened this thread thinking about Lums. One hung on in Atlanta right into the 80s, might have made it to the 90s. Cheap beer, great hot dogs, nice ambience – dunno why they ever closed, they were the answer to every strapped college kid’s night out.
DeLites did great in Atlanta – crowded all the time, but they expanded too fast and went belly up for strictly financial reasons.
Used to be a nice chain called Olley’s Trolleys that served seasoned french fries and burgers and great soft serve ice cream for 35 cents long past the time when everybody was charging a lot more than 35 cents for an ice cream cone. They were made to look like tiny trolley cars, which is to say they were cramped places with no sitting room. Basically you walked into the trolley at one end, placed your order, walked down the line to the other end, paid and got your food, then went outside and ate. Great deal on a hot summer day. Dunno why they folded.
Also used to be a chain in the 90s called “China Gate.” The food was OK, but the decor was incredibly great – intimate enclosed seating with these great, carved wooden beams like Oriental temple gates.
I was just going to mention the one in Plattsburgh. When I lived near there (well, ok, I still do live bear there, but now I have to cross a lke to get there,) I always considered going there because I remember going there as a kid with my parents (it was either the one in P-burgh or there was one in Burlington that’s now gone. I can’t recall.)
I’ve seen Arthur Treecher’s and Church’s Fried Chickens in NYC.
I used to work for a small chain called Chi-Chi’s. I think they have all followed my advice and gone to hell.
Ha! Growing up in northern Wisconsin Chi-Chi’s was as authentic as Mexican food got! I ate at the one next to Appleton’s Fox River Mall many times. They were something of a big deal in Wisconsin because former Packer (and at the time, the color man on the Packers radio broadcasts) Max McGee was a major player in the chain.
Sadly, Outback ate the remains of Chi-Chi’s back in 2004.
I remember Wag’s from my childhood as well! They had a raccoon mascot/spokesman, children’s menus that came with crayons, and a sunken dining room (it was a few steps lower, so I can only imagine a lot of people tripped and a lot of servers spilled stuff). Yes, very Denny’s/IHOP-inspired, but I never knew the Walgreen’s connection.
Gods how I miss that restaurant T_T We used to travel an hour to go there when I was a kid in NC. I loved their hush puppies and moon pies. Good ol’ Southern cooking. I’d kill to be able to go again…yes…I would…kill most gleefully
One of my favorite fast food places growing up was Naugles. There was one pretty close to my house in St. Louis (Mccausland off of Clayton Rd). I recall fondly their mascot, “Señor Naugles.” I think they got bought out by Del Taco.
I also used to love The Ground Round (free popcorn and peanuts!) but Wikipedia says there’s still a few dozen of them around, so they (barely) don’t qualify.
:smack: I can’t believe I forgot Naugles! A childhood institution for me (they were out of business before I was 10 or so). Our old Naugles is now a BK :sigh:.
I have quite a history with defunct restaurants. My second “real” job, in 1979, was as a waitress at Sambo’s. A year later, I worked for Farrell’s. In between, I waitressed at a restaurant called Hobo Joe’s, which, based on its management practices, we employees always suspected was some kind of money-laundering scheme for organized crime (and we may have been right).
In my defense, I also worked at a Pizza Hut during the early 80’s, and they seem to be doing all right.
Where oh where shall I ever find good ol’ Southern dishes like hushpuppies and grits?