When I was a kid growing up, there were several local restaurant chains that are now no longer. The one old coots seem to look back on in fond reverence was Deco, which had about 50 locations in the City of Buffalo itself; they were mostly an eat-in short-order place. The chain’s heydays were during the 1940s and 1950s; the last one closed in 1979. A disproportionately large number of the chain’s locations were in neighborhoods that later evolved into Buffalo’s ghetto.
There was also Your Host, which slowly faded into oblivion through the 1980s. Most Your Host customers and employees were bluehairs, restaurant interiors were untouched from the 1950s and 1960s (even the old wall-mounted Seeberg jukeboxes had song selections that were trapped in 1972), and the food was passable. Still, they were open 24 hours, never crowded, and a good place to drink coffee for hours while you’re sobering up from a long night on the town. Your Host gave way to the bevy of independently owned greek diners that flooded Buffalo in the late 1980s and 1990s.
The Maryland Fried Chicken outlets in Orlando looked like remnants of what might have been a larger national chain. The outlets all have a “no capital improvements since 1962” look about them; even the logo is an intact 1950s style design.
What else was around in Buffalo when I was a kid … Henry’s Hamburgers (faded away in the 1970s), Lums, Sambos (national chain), Carrol’s (for some reason, the chain lives on in Finland, of all places), and Red Barn (“When the hungries hit, hit Red Barn!” - there were no bathrooms at most Red Barns, either!).
I have a memory from when I was very young growing up in Baltimore, that we had a chain of family-type restaurants called White Coffee Pot. I have no idea if they extended beyond the Baltimore area, but I do remember there was at least a handful around the 'burbs. I have very vague memories of eating there when I was very young, but I really don’t remember much beyond that. They’d disappeared by the time I was a teenager. I think they also had a fast-food version of the same restaurant, called White Coffee Pot Jr.. I can still kinda picture the logo (might have been the logo for the Jr. version): an enlongated smiley face making the ‘yummy’ gesture with his tongue. It kinda looked like a squished Ernie.
I don’t think we had any of the Maryland Fried Chicken’s actually in Maryland that elmwood remembers, at least that I knew of. We did have another fried-chicken/burger chain, Gino’s, owned by Gino Marchetti, a former Baltimore Colt. These also mostly disappeared by the time I was a teenager, but I do have some vivid memories of getting take-out with the family from Gino’s. Their fried chicken was my favorite when I was a kid.
Hamburgers by Gourmet started in Houston in the late '60s, and began franchising in the mid-70s and were soon all over east, central and southeast Texas. Great menu with 17 different burgers, and a chocolate mousse that had enough rum in it to give you a buzz.
They started shutting down in the early '80s, when oil nosedived and the Alternative Minimum Tax started killing a lot of business ventures. By ~1987 they were down to one, a couple of blocks from where I live, so I got to enjoy for about ten years longer than most Texans. Last one went down in about '97. sniff
There was a restaurant chain in NE Arkansas when I was growing up called Rax. It sold itself as sort of the new teen hangout. But their food was awful. It folded after a couple of years. Then there’s the Grecian Steak House, which has branches in Blytheville, Jonesboro, and even exotic Poplar Bluff.
Up here in Illinois, Lion’s Choice seems to be limited to this area.
Not sure how many of these are regional:
-Zantigo Mexican fast food, not bad
-Rax roast beef, not missed
-Victoria Station railroad theme, pretty good
-Burger Chef bought out by Hardees
-Sandy’s also bought by Hardees
-China Coast attempt by Red Lobster’s parent company to diversify
-Sambo’s some where taken over by Denny’s. Talk about your hard-headed idiots, even if the founder names were really Sam and Bo, listen to your customers and potential customers. :smack:
There’s a Maryland Fried Chicken in Beaufort, SC, of all places. I’ve been to Beaufort more times than I can count, but I’ve never been to that place. Just not the sort of place I frequent when I’m at the coast. It definitely has that, um, nostalgic feel to it.
I remember a restaurant chain called Grandy’s about 15 or so years ago. There logo was a Granny-ish face (along the same sort of lines as the WB “Granny,” but looking straight at you).
There was also a place called Mrs. Winners that was a chain, I think.
I also remember a buffet-only restaurant called Duffs, about 20 years ago. Don’t know how widespread they were.
In the northeast, there was Hot N’ Now as an attempt by Taco Bell to get into the burger business. Their locations are usually seen adjacent to TB, shuttered with leasing signage out front.
Don’t know if they’re still around, but I remember something like White Castle or White Tower, a chain that sold little bitty burgers by the dozen, I haven’t seen them for a while.
A place I saw in Tennessee called Starvin Marvin made me wonder which came first-South Park or the restaurant?
I’ve seen Rax, Maryland Fried Chicken, White Castle and Starvin Marvin in the Chicago area. White Castle is still around AFAIK, and isn’t Starvin Marvin a gas station?
Does anyone remember a little mall fast food joint called something like Orange Julius or Orange Bowl?
When I was very young, Dad took me to Horn & Hardart in Phila, which was the cat’s pants-the automat! Stick change in the wall, open the door, and get a sammitch! Same for pie.
At that time, they said personal computers in the future may weigh as little as 1.5 tons.
Starvin’ Marvin is a 7-11 type store, who either owns, is owned by, or has merged with Speedway gas stations. I think. (At least, I’ve never seen one without the other.) They’re a dime a dozen in Florida, but I don’t know about the rest of the SE.
I lived in California and the PNW and I remember the Red Barn, Victoria Station, Herfy’s, and Pizza Haven.
And you’re right 5 Time Champ about Sambo’s off-putting name. In retrospect, I’m actually surprised the franchise was as successful as it was. (Although they did try to distance themselves from the name’s negative connotations by making Sambo’s corporate symbol an Indian (Asian) boy.)
Rax was a roast-beef type place, like Hardees or Arby’s, right? We had one at home for a few years, and they made the tastiest milkshakes.
I think the Grandy’s at home is still open, or at least it was the last time I was out that way. I don’t have much reason to go to the mall when I go home these days.
There are still Mrs. Winner’s chicken places in North Carolina. In fact, there’s one a mile or so from the house, but I’ve yet to overcome my horrible experience with the other regional chicken chain and try it out.
