by OSSIANA TEPFENHART
An in-depth look at the surprising stories behind restaurant chains that no longer exist.
McDonald's. Taco Bell. Applebee's. Chipotle.
Everyone knows these names as famous restaurant chains that can be found across the nation. To a point, restaurant chains almost seem like an institution as steady as banks, major clothing brands, and credit card issuers.
When you go to a certain restaurant chain, you know what you should expect. You know what dishes they'll serve, what you enjoy there, and the overall quality that you'll get. That's one major reason why franchise restaurants, fast food joints, and other similar chains have such staying power, after all.
To a point, it's almost comforting to see how many chain restaurants are out there seem to withstand the test of time. Going to them almost feels like going to an old friend because we've known them for so long.
It seems like restaurant chains always survive depressions, recessions, and major shifts in dining trends, doesn't it?
Not quite.
There are many restaurant chains that no longer exist — some of which used to be major competitors to the places you enjoy today. The stories behind them are often fascinating, awkward, or downright tragic at times.
Some of the stories of bygone restaurant chains are fairly well-known, like what happened to Chi-Chi's. Here are some of the stories "behind the scenes" of restaurant chains that no longer exist that you might not have known about.
Howard Johnson's
In the early 1920s, a business owner by the name of Howard Johnson started a restaurant chain featuring a soda fountain and fresh lunches for travelers along a major highway. His restaurant exploded in popularity, and it quickly became one of the largest restaurant chains in the country.
It didn't take too long for the restaurant's dedication to fresh ingredients, classic American food, and great service to pay off. Howard Johnson's rapidly expanded to over 400 different locations, including a number of hotels and outposts.
By the 1950s and 1960s, Howard Johnson's became virtually synonymous with family-friendly dining across the country, all-American restaurant fare, and being "the restaurant under the orange roof."
Howard Johnson's success as a restaurant chain can be attributed to its simple — but highly varied — menu. It was a restaurant chain that offered ice cream sundaes, steak, fried clams, burgers, and just a little bit of something for everyone.
The food was notoriously high quality, and it also happened to be one of the first sit-down restaurants that remained affordable for families of all sizes. By the 1970s, the restaurant's popularity had peaked.
However, it was the menu's variety and serving style that also led to its downfall.
During the 1970s, fast food restaurant chains like McDonald's exploded onto the scene. The cheap food and lightning-quick service ushered in a trend that quickly made Howard Johnson's seem overpriced and obsolete.
By the 1980s, restaurants also began to specialize in a particular type of food. Chi-Chi's, for example, specialized in Mexican fare, while Bennigan's was allegedly Irish cuisine. Howard Johnson's menu variety made it impossible to specialize, which ended up also hurting sales numbers.
Unfortunately, HoJo never quite was able to recover from its downfall in popularity, and restaurants began to shutter. As of 2013, only three restaurants bore the Howard Johnson's name.
In 2017, the last Howard Johnson's restaurant closed its doors and went up for sale, marking the end of an era. All that is left of the Howard Johnson's name is a series of hotels — all boasting the same orange roof as the diners once did.
As a result, one of the earliest restaurant chains also now is one of the latest restaurant chains that no longer exist.
Beefsteak Charlie's
With a name like Beefsteak Charlie's, it's clear that this chain restaurant was designed to be a very family-friendly franchise — and it was!
Named after a famous New York restaurant that was famous in the 1910s, the Beefsteak Charlie's franchise started in 1976 as a revival of the then-bankrupt Steak & Brew restaurant chain.
The principle of the Beefsteak Charlie's restaurant chain actually wasn't that different from T.G.I. Friday's today. To a point, what the chain offered may have been a better bargain than what you'd find in most any other restaurant franchise today.
The chain's most popular commercial catch phrase was, "You're gonna get spoiled," and spoil their clients, they did! You see, Beefsteak Charlie's was known for its unlimited salad bar, as well as its unlimited sangria, beer, and wine.
Unfortunately, Beefsteak Charlie's didn't last very long as a chain. The cost of sangria, wine, and beer often ate into the restaurant's ability to pull a profit. So, of the 60 locations that were open at its peak, many had difficulty actually making ends meet.
Even so, Beefsteak Charlie's had become a household name. In fact, even Saturday Night Live had a skit lampooning the restaurant's massive portions and crazy alcohol service.
When the franchise switched corporate owners, most of the restaurants bearing the Beefsteak Charlie's name were closed. By 1992, only two remaining locations were being advertised as a chain — both of them being in New York City.
After 2001, the last remainder of the Beefsteak Charlie's chain closed due to difficulties making ends meet. Now, it's one of the many restaurant chains that no longer exist anywhere in the world.
Sambo's
Sambo's is one of those restaurants that is truly a relic of the past — and a prime example of how far we've come in terms of tolerance, manners, and tact.
Awkwardly named after owners Sam Battistone, Sr. and Newell Bohnett, Sambo's was a pancake house that had over 1,100 different locations by the late 1970s.
As anyone today would most likely guess, Sambo's downfall could be seen in its awkward and derogatory name.
The chain itself started in 1957, and by 1959, the owners realized that their name coincidentally also was featured in a children's book called The Story of Little Black Sambo, which is just as filled with stereotypes as you'd expect.
Rather than consider the potential of being offensive, Battistone and Bohnett chose to capitalize on the coincidence. They printed menus featuring a dark-skinned boy, a tiger companion, and a light-skinned man called "The Treefriend."
One would think that alone would make most marketers give pause considering the dialogue about civil rights being broached throughout the country, but no. This was not the case.
To make matters even worse, dinners involved names like "Mama Mumbo" and "Papa Jumbo." (Is it really surprising that Sambo's is among many restaurant chains that no longer exist?)
By the early 1960s, it became clear that using a "coincidentally racist" name with intentionally racist pictures as advertising probably wasn't a good idea. As a result, they switched their mascot to a light-skinned boy in a turban.
Though protests began to boil during the 60s, Batt*tstone and Bohnett believed that they could gloss over the obvious racism in their marketing. By the 1970s, it became clear that they couldn't do this; multiple black communities opened lawsuits against the restaurant chain due to the obvious tie to the racial slur in the company's name.
Soon, many communities either refused to grant permits to Sambo's chains or refused to allow them to continue business in city limits. The pancake houses began to get rebranded as "The Jolly Tiger" wherever backlash was seen.
More backlash started to happen, which quickly spelled the beginning of the end. With every rename attempt and every attempt to "refresh company finances," more stores shuttered or were bought up by other chains. By 1982, all but one Sambo's restaurant was closed — thereby making the chain, no longer a chain.
With most chain restaurants that no longer exist, it's hard to determine what closed them down without research. With Sambo's, on the other hand, it's fairly obvious. Even so, it's shocking to think that this once had more locations than many other chain restaurants today.
All-Star Café
The All-Star Café was, in many ways, a product of the 80s and 90s world of franchise restaurants. The runaway success of chains like the Amazon Café and the ever-present Hard Rock Café made it seem like people really liked themed restaurants that featured cool celebrity kitsch or animatronic animals.
With the All-Star Café, a number of major sports stars ended up investing into the chain as a way of supplementing their income. It was the chain that tricked many kids into hoping that they'd see stars like Ken Griffey Jr. dining alongside them — and got many parents booking birthday parties for their hopeful baseball fans.
Their downfall was due to a number of factors, including the overwhelmingly greasy "stadium cuisine," the sky-high prices, as well as the fact that there were way fewer sports fans than there were fans of actual celebrities.
There were only a few of these restaurants in the United States, because they were meant to be "tourist" hotspots. That, too, ended up causing a problem since the price of the real estate needed for the chain to succeed was often far too high.
Since Planet Hollywood owned the chain, when the All-Star Café declared bankruptcy, all the remaining members of the chain ended up being converted into Planet Hollywood restaurants and concert venues.
As with many things involving a theme, the All-Star quickly saw itself become one of many restaurant chains that no longer exist.
An in-depth look at the surprising stories behind restaurant chains that no longer exist.
McDonald's. Taco Bell. Applebee's. Chipotle.
Everyone knows these names as famous restaurant chains that can be found across the nation. To a point, restaurant chains almost seem like an institution as steady as banks, major clothing brands, and credit card issuers.
When you go to a certain restaurant chain, you know what you should expect. You know what dishes they'll serve, what you enjoy there, and the overall quality that you'll get. That's one major reason why franchise restaurants, fast food joints, and other similar chains have such staying power, after all.
To a point, it's almost comforting to see how many chain restaurants are out there seem to withstand the test of time. Going to them almost feels like going to an old friend because we've known them for so long.
It seems like restaurant chains always survive depressions, recessions, and major shifts in dining trends, doesn't it?
Not quite.
There are many restaurant chains that no longer exist — some of which used to be major competitors to the places you enjoy today. The stories behind them are often fascinating, awkward, or downright tragic at times.
Some of the stories of bygone restaurant chains are fairly well-known, like what happened to Chi-Chi's. Here are some of the stories "behind the scenes" of restaurant chains that no longer exist that you might not have known about.
Howard Johnson's
In the early 1920s, a business owner by the name of Howard Johnson started a restaurant chain featuring a soda fountain and fresh lunches for travelers along a major highway. His restaurant exploded in popularity, and it quickly became one of the largest restaurant chains in the country.
It didn't take too long for the restaurant's dedication to fresh ingredients, classic American food, and great service to pay off. Howard Johnson's rapidly expanded to over 400 different locations, including a number of hotels and outposts.
By the 1950s and 1960s, Howard Johnson's became virtually synonymous with family-friendly dining across the country, all-American restaurant fare, and being "the restaurant under the orange roof."
Howard Johnson's success as a restaurant chain can be attributed to its simple — but highly varied — menu. It was a restaurant chain that offered ice cream sundaes, steak, fried clams, burgers, and just a little bit of something for everyone.
The food was notoriously high quality, and it also happened to be one of the first sit-down restaurants that remained affordable for families of all sizes. By the 1970s, the restaurant's popularity had peaked.
However, it was the menu's variety and serving style that also led to its downfall.
During the 1970s, fast food restaurant chains like McDonald's exploded onto the scene. The cheap food and lightning-quick service ushered in a trend that quickly made Howard Johnson's seem overpriced and obsolete.
By the 1980s, restaurants also began to specialize in a particular type of food. Chi-Chi's, for example, specialized in Mexican fare, while Bennigan's was allegedly Irish cuisine. Howard Johnson's menu variety made it impossible to specialize, which ended up also hurting sales numbers.
Unfortunately, HoJo never quite was able to recover from its downfall in popularity, and restaurants began to shutter. As of 2013, only three restaurants bore the Howard Johnson's name.
In 2017, the last Howard Johnson's restaurant closed its doors and went up for sale, marking the end of an era. All that is left of the Howard Johnson's name is a series of hotels — all boasting the same orange roof as the diners once did.
As a result, one of the earliest restaurant chains also now is one of the latest restaurant chains that no longer exist.
Beefsteak Charlie's
With a name like Beefsteak Charlie's, it's clear that this chain restaurant was designed to be a very family-friendly franchise — and it was!
Named after a famous New York restaurant that was famous in the 1910s, the Beefsteak Charlie's franchise started in 1976 as a revival of the then-bankrupt Steak & Brew restaurant chain.
The principle of the Beefsteak Charlie's restaurant chain actually wasn't that different from T.G.I. Friday's today. To a point, what the chain offered may have been a better bargain than what you'd find in most any other restaurant franchise today.
The chain's most popular commercial catch phrase was, "You're gonna get spoiled," and spoil their clients, they did! You see, Beefsteak Charlie's was known for its unlimited salad bar, as well as its unlimited sangria, beer, and wine.
Unfortunately, Beefsteak Charlie's didn't last very long as a chain. The cost of sangria, wine, and beer often ate into the restaurant's ability to pull a profit. So, of the 60 locations that were open at its peak, many had difficulty actually making ends meet.
Even so, Beefsteak Charlie's had become a household name. In fact, even Saturday Night Live had a skit lampooning the restaurant's massive portions and crazy alcohol service.
When the franchise switched corporate owners, most of the restaurants bearing the Beefsteak Charlie's name were closed. By 1992, only two remaining locations were being advertised as a chain — both of them being in New York City.
After 2001, the last remainder of the Beefsteak Charlie's chain closed due to difficulties making ends meet. Now, it's one of the many restaurant chains that no longer exist anywhere in the world.
Sambo's
Sambo's is one of those restaurants that is truly a relic of the past — and a prime example of how far we've come in terms of tolerance, manners, and tact.
Awkwardly named after owners Sam Battistone, Sr. and Newell Bohnett, Sambo's was a pancake house that had over 1,100 different locations by the late 1970s.
As anyone today would most likely guess, Sambo's downfall could be seen in its awkward and derogatory name.
The chain itself started in 1957, and by 1959, the owners realized that their name coincidentally also was featured in a children's book called The Story of Little Black Sambo, which is just as filled with stereotypes as you'd expect.
Rather than consider the potential of being offensive, Battistone and Bohnett chose to capitalize on the coincidence. They printed menus featuring a dark-skinned boy, a tiger companion, and a light-skinned man called "The Treefriend."
One would think that alone would make most marketers give pause considering the dialogue about civil rights being broached throughout the country, but no. This was not the case.
To make matters even worse, dinners involved names like "Mama Mumbo" and "Papa Jumbo." (Is it really surprising that Sambo's is among many restaurant chains that no longer exist?)
By the early 1960s, it became clear that using a "coincidentally racist" name with intentionally racist pictures as advertising probably wasn't a good idea. As a result, they switched their mascot to a light-skinned boy in a turban.
Though protests began to boil during the 60s, Batt*tstone and Bohnett believed that they could gloss over the obvious racism in their marketing. By the 1970s, it became clear that they couldn't do this; multiple black communities opened lawsuits against the restaurant chain due to the obvious tie to the racial slur in the company's name.
Soon, many communities either refused to grant permits to Sambo's chains or refused to allow them to continue business in city limits. The pancake houses began to get rebranded as "The Jolly Tiger" wherever backlash was seen.
More backlash started to happen, which quickly spelled the beginning of the end. With every rename attempt and every attempt to "refresh company finances," more stores shuttered or were bought up by other chains. By 1982, all but one Sambo's restaurant was closed — thereby making the chain, no longer a chain.
With most chain restaurants that no longer exist, it's hard to determine what closed them down without research. With Sambo's, on the other hand, it's fairly obvious. Even so, it's shocking to think that this once had more locations than many other chain restaurants today.
All-Star Café
The All-Star Café was, in many ways, a product of the 80s and 90s world of franchise restaurants. The runaway success of chains like the Amazon Café and the ever-present Hard Rock Café made it seem like people really liked themed restaurants that featured cool celebrity kitsch or animatronic animals.
With the All-Star Café, a number of major sports stars ended up investing into the chain as a way of supplementing their income. It was the chain that tricked many kids into hoping that they'd see stars like Ken Griffey Jr. dining alongside them — and got many parents booking birthday parties for their hopeful baseball fans.
Their downfall was due to a number of factors, including the overwhelmingly greasy "stadium cuisine," the sky-high prices, as well as the fact that there were way fewer sports fans than there were fans of actual celebrities.
There were only a few of these restaurants in the United States, because they were meant to be "tourist" hotspots. That, too, ended up causing a problem since the price of the real estate needed for the chain to succeed was often far too high.
Since Planet Hollywood owned the chain, when the All-Star Café declared bankruptcy, all the remaining members of the chain ended up being converted into Planet Hollywood restaurants and concert venues.
As with many things involving a theme, the All-Star quickly saw itself become one of many restaurant chains that no longer exist.
person to remember these chains.
