A recent zombie thread on defunct restaurant chains reminded me of Kenny Rogers Roasters. The chain is apparently still going in Asia but there’s only one outlet left in North America - at the Ontario Mills Mall in California.
Does anyone know why this last outlet remained open? I’ve heard speculations it’s for reasons of maintaing the trademark.
Is that last outlet still open? Have any posters in the Ontario area eaten there?
Is it actually a full service restaurant or just a token front that stays legally open without actually serving customers?
Goddess, I was so confused here for a moment. ‘Wait, I didn’t know we even had Kenny Rogers restaurants, here, let alone the last one!’ Then I reread the post, and ‘oh, Ontario, CALIFORNIA’.
The interesting thing is that after they closed all the Kenny Rogers in New York, I would go to the ones that were still open when I visited Ontario, Canada.
Maybe we should do a thread on all-but-defunct restaurant chains. I believe there are only three Howard Johnson restaurants (not the hotel chain, but the restaurant) left, and there’s one lone Mister Donut left in the US, in Godfrey, Illinois.
Oddly enough, back on Long Island NY, specifically Old Country Road in Westbury, the Nathans there (more of a mini-food court, with a Burritoville & a Famous Rays Pizza), added Kenny Rogers Roasters food to its menu a year or two back - Kenny Rogers Roasters menu. However, I was there a few months ago, and I cannot recall if they ended up merging the menus and ditching the Kenny Rogers name or not…
I wish to add the Roy Rogers franchise to the ‘Not Quite Dead Yet’ list…
Mr. Donut! I recall patronizing the Mr. Donut in Rochester, Minnesota, when I lived there around 1990. I was enthralled by the idea of a donut shop, because growing up on a farm in Middle of Nowhere, Iowa, there was no such thing. I mean, I’d heard of places like Dunkin’ Donuts … even seen a couple on rare trips to Chicago … but to actually live in a town that had a real Mr. Donut … that was something.
Where I live now, of course, a Krispy Kreme outlet has already come and gone in the past four years or so. I just can’t keep pace with the 21st century.
The Kenny Rogers items are still under the Kenny Rogers name at the Nathan’s in Westbury and some other Nathan’s locations ( I know there are a couple on the NYS Thruway- I think at the Ramapo and Plattekill rest areas). When Nathan’s sold Kenny Rogers , it retained the rights to sell Kenny Rogers Items in some locations