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12 Iconic Restaurant Chains: Where Are They Now?

Some are gone but none are forgotten by nostalgic diners


spinner image workers repair power lines behind a red lobster restaurant sign
Red Lobster abruptly closed dozens of stores and announced it is filing for bankruptcy protection.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Restaurants come and go, but when an iconic chain closes its doors it can be bittersweet. That’s the case for Red Lobster fans. The famed seafood chain serving cost-conscious families since 1968 filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year and shuttered over a hundred restaurants over the summer. And the hits keep coming: the company confirmed it will be closing about two dozen additional locations in the coming days.

In January, its owner, Thai Union Group, announced plans to sell its stake, saying the pandemic, increased competition, higher interest rates, and rising material and labor costs have hurt profits.

That’s a blow to Red Lobster’s loyal customers, who have flocked to the chain to get their fill of fish and chips, shrimp and Cheddar Bay biscuits. Many seemingly invincible restaurant chains like Red Lobster that attracted legions of fans in their day and still conjure up nostalgic memories of meals past didn’t last, including these 12.​​

1. Howard Johnson’s

spinner image a historical photos of a howard johnsons
Chronicle / Alamy Stock Photo

Established: 1925

What happened: American road trips in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s were not complete without a stop at an orange-roofed Howard Johnson’s restaurant. It didn’t matter where you were coming from or going. With more than 1,000 locations at its peak, HoJo’s was bound to be somewhere on the way, ready to serve its signature fried clam strips, grilled hot dogs and 28 flavors of ice cream to weary wanderers. (The company also opened its first motor lodge in 1954.)

But it couldn't keep up with growing competition among roadside restaurants. Fast-food chains like McDonald’s could provide similarly limited menus quicker and cheaper. And fast-casual restaurants such as Applebee’s and Chili’s could offer a wider variety of food options and an upgraded dining experience.

Current status: The Lake George, New York, location is the last HoJo’s standing. It rates high for nostalgia, but food quality and service are up for debate. (More than 300 HoJo hotels remain scattered across the country and are now owned by Wyndham Hotels and Resorts.)

2. Bennigan’s

spinner image bennigans storefront
Alpha Stock / Alamy Stock Photo

Established: 1976

What happened: The Irish-themed bar and grill was a popular spot for both happy hours and family gatherings in the 1980s and ’90s. But it failed to distinguish itself from a growing field of casual dining chains that included T.G.I. Friday’s and Applebee’s, serving up similar menus of standard bar fare and ambiance. In 2008, with the Great Recession afoot, Bennigan’s buckled under the pressure of rising costs and falling consumer spending. Its parent company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection and immediately closed its 150 corporate-owned locations. (More than 100 franchisee-owned locations held on at the time.)

Current status: Attempting a comeback. As of May 2024, 10 locations remain in the U.S., and 15 more spots can be found internationally. Five more Bennigan’s locations are coming soon.

3. Hot Shoppes

spinner image a hot shoppes restaurant illustration
Pictures Now / Alamy Stock Photo

Established: 1927 

What happened: Marriott may be famous for its hotels, but the family actually got its start in the hospitality industry with a root beer stand that became the first Hot Shoppes in Washington, D.C. In the following year, the third location, also in the District, became the first drive-up restaurant on the East Coast, letting customers order curbside and eat food delivered by “curbers” or “running boys” off trays propped on car doors. By 1964, the chain had 73 locations across 13 states and D.C.

But in the following decades, people’s tastes and the Marriott Corp.’s focus both shifted. As its hotel business was growing, in the late ’70s, the company began winding down its restaurant holdings, which included, on top of Hot Shoppes, Roy Rogers and Bob’s Big Boy (more on the latter later). The last of the Hot Shoppes closed in 1999.

Current status: Anthem, a breakfast and lunch cafe at the Marriott Marquis in D.C., serves up nostalgia with the Classic Club, Mighty Mo, Orange Freeze, root beer float and milkshakes called out on its lunch menu as Hot Shoppe Classics. You can also try recreating your favorite Hot Shoppes dishes at home using the Marriott Hot Shoppes Cookbook.

4. Shakey’s Pizza

spinner image a shakeys pizza interior
ZUMA Press Inc / Alamy Stock Photo

Established: 1954

What happened: How can you go wrong with pizza and beer? The first Shakey’s Pizza Parlor opened in Sacramento, California, as Ye Public House for the two staples (except the pizza ovens weren’t actually ready on opening day, so it really just started with beer). Soon, the company became the first pizza chain to franchise in 1959 — a year before its rival Pizza Hut. By 1977, Shakey’s boasted more than 500 locations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Japan and the Philippines. But over the years, ownership changes and fighting between the company and its franchisees have added a sour note to the chain’s simple recipe for success.

Current status: About 50 Shakey’s still stand in the U.S., most of them in Southern California. The chain has found greater success abroad lately, with more than 200 locations in the Philippines, as of 2024.

5. Steak and Ale

spinner image steak and ale restaurant
Paul Sancya/AP Images

Established: 1966

What happened: Take the Bennigan’s story, subtract the Irish theme, and add a salad bar plus affordable prime rib, and you have the story of Steak and Ale. Restaurateur Norman Brinker is credited with founding both brands, along with Chili’s Grill and Bar, and helping to popularize the casual dining experience in the U.S. At its peak in the ’90s, Steak and Ale had more than 110 dimly lit restaurants worldwide, pushing itself as the low-price option for an upscale steakhouse.

In 2008, however, squeezed by rising operating costs and shrinking consumer spending (thanks to the Great Recession), corporate Steak and Ale locations shuttered (along with sister restaurant Bennigan’s) after its parent company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection.

Current status: In April 2024, construction kicked off for the first new Steak & Ale in 15 years, which will be located at the Wyndham hotel in Burnsville, Minnesota. It will encompass 6,000 square feet and sit roughly 200 to 250 customers. ​

6. Bob's Big Boy

spinner image a bobs big boy tray
Kilmer Media / Alamy Stock Photo

Established: 1936 

What happened: Predating McDonald’s, Bob’s Big Boy introduced the world to the double-decker burger, a virtual culinary emblem for the U.S. The Beatles even dined at the Burbank location while on tour in 1965 when they craved a taste of “a real American diner,” according to the L.A. Tourism and Convention Board. Like the East Coast’s Hot Shoppes — owned by the Marriott Corp., which bought the Big Boy chain in 1967 — it also operated as a drive-in with carhops delivering orders to parked customers.

In the ’80s, the number of Big Boys topped out at about 950 nationwide. But that proved to be too many, and overexpansion left the brand heavy with debt. By 2000, when the Elias Brothers Corp. (which bought the franchise from Marriott in 1987) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, only 455 Big Boy restaurants remained.

Current status: Big Boy still has a small — and, the new owners hope, growing — physical presence. The Burbank location, which opened in 1949 and was deemed a California point of historical interest in 1992, is the oldest remaining Big Boy. It continues to operate (complete with carhop service and weekly classic car shows), along with 55 other locations, mainly in Michigan with a few in California, North Dakota and Ohio.

7. The Magic Pan

spinner image the magic pan logo
914 collection / Alamy Stock Photo

Established: 1965 

What happened: Paulette and Laszlo Fono fled Soviet oppression in their native Hungary in 1956 and found refuge in the U.S. in 1957. Within just a few years, the immigrant couple opened the first Magic Pan in San Francisco and began feeding Americans’ craving for something different, a new taste of Old Europe. The sit-down restaurant's menu was all about crepes — and so was the U.S. in the ’70s and ’80s, delighting in the Magic Pan’s light fare of crepes, both savory (filled with things like creamed chicken or ratatouille) and sweet (with fillings such as strawberries and whipped cream), all for modest prices.

The Quaker Oats Co. acquired the Magic Pan in 1969 and spread the chain across the country, peaking at more than 100 locations, before selling off its restaurants in 1982. By then, sales had declined as tastes changed and Americans sought heartier meals. New owners tried to adapt the menu, adding fried appetizers, pasta dishes and meat dishes. Still, the last Magic Pan locations closed in the mid-’90s.

Current status: Closed. A revival attempt in the ’00s brought the Magic Pan name back to a smattering of shopping malls and airports in crepe-stand, rather than sit-down restaurant, form. But those are all closed now, too.

8. Kenny Rogers Roasters

spinner image a historic photo of a kenny rogers roasters location
Barry King / Alamy Stock Photo

Established: 1991

What happened: Country music legend Kenny Rogers partnered with former Kentucky Fried Chicken CEO and former Kentucky governor John Y. Brown Jr. to open his namesake restaurant in Coral Springs, Florida. The fast-casual chain centered its menu on rotisserie chicken, with several hot and cold side options, and quickly grew, up to a ’90s peak of more than 350 locations around the world. But it folded just as fast, unable to hold on against a flood of competition from KFC, Boston Market and Cluckers (which Rogers bought after it sued his restaurant). A Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing was made in 1998.

Current status: The last U.S. location closed in 2011, but Kenny Rogers Roasters is thriving in Malaysia and the Philippines. (And you can still revisit the chain’s heyday by watching reruns of its infamous turn on Seinfeld — which was based on a true story.) Kenny Rogers died in March 2020.

9. Lums

spinner image a lums hot dogs location
State Archives of Florida / Florida Memory / Alamy Stock Photo

Established: 1956

What happened: Famous for its beer-soaked hot dogs, Lum’s first appeared in Miami Beach and gained popularity through the ’70s, with nearly 400 locations across the country at its peak. The company was doing well enough to go public in 1969, but a couple of years later, the restaurant chain was sold to John Y. Brown Jr., who was head of Kentucky Fried Chicken at the time (and still 20 years from partnering with Kenny Rogers). While KFC flourished, Lum’s struggled. The chain was sold again in 1978 but still couldn’t turn things around and ultimately filed for bankruptcy in 1982.

Current status: Remembered fondly

10. Arthur Treacher’s Fish & Chips

spinner image arthur treachers banner
claudio zaccherini/Shutterstock

Established: 1969

What happened: Piggybacking on the British Invasion of the ’60s, Arthur Treacher’s Fish and Chips pushed the traditional English fare of fried cod and fries onto America’s fast-food scene — never mind that it was founded in Columbus, Ohio. (Helping provide an air of authenticity, the chain’s namesake and spokesperson was the British actor who played Constable Jones in the original Mary Poppins film.) At its peak, the chain had aggressively grown to around 800 locations around the country in just a few years.

But fast-food competition — including another fish-centric venture that opened in the same year, Long John Silver’s — coupled with rising cod prices (driven up by the Cod Wars between England and Iceland) forced the chain to reverse course. By the early ’80s, some trouble between franchisees and corporate and a couple of changes in ownership saw the chain file for bankruptcy protection twice.

Current status: Managing to stay afloat. Two locations remain in Ohio.

11. Chi-Chi’s

spinner image a chi chis restaurant interior
GENE J. PUSKAR/AP Photo

Established: 1975​

What happened: Give Chi-Chi’s credit for popularizing Tex-Mex food. Opening far from the U.S.-Mexican border, in a suburb of Minneapolis, the chain served up Americanized versions of supposedly Mexican cuisine, such as sizzling fajitas, burritos, chimichangas, fried ice cream and of course a margarita (or a pitcher of them) to wash it all down. In its first few years, Chi-Chi’s was a stunning success, with each restaurant pulling in an average $2 million to $3 million a year in revenue. It grew to 237 locations across the U.S. by 1986.

Its success also inspired a surge in competition: Other Tex-Mex chains like Chevy’s Fresh Mex (once owned by Taco Bell), El Torito, Casa Gallardo and On the Border ate into market share. Later, faster, cheaper options — including Chipotle (founded in 1993) and Moe’s Southwest Grill (2000) — also threw their sombreros in the ring. In 2003, Chi-Chi’s filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but it was tainted green onions that finally shut it down. At a Pittsburgh-area restaurant, the bad bulbs caused a hepatitis A outbreak that left 636 people sick and four dead. The remaining 65 U.S. locations closed soon after. 

Current status: You can still find a few franchises abroad, but in the U.S. you can get a taste of Chi-Chi's only at the grocery store: Hormel Foods now owns the Chi-Chi’s brand, used on products including salsas, tortillas, chips and seasonings.

12. Horn & Hardart Automats

spinner image a horn and hardart automat in times square
Dave Pickoff/AP Photo

Established: 1902

What happened: Automats somehow seem both old-timey and futuristic. Centering on big, oddly stocked vending machines, the dining style invites you to help yourself to menu items — no human interaction necessary. You just insert the appropriate change into a slot and wait for your food to appear in a designated case among a wall of chrome and glass.

And it wasn't just chips and candy or even fruit and wrapped sandwiches like you might be accustomed to finding in a vending machine. Horn & Hardart’s automats dished out fresh comfort foods like macaroni and cheese, baked beans and all kinds of pie, both savory and sweet. The chain was also the first in New York to offer fresh-brewed coffee, for just a nickel a cup. Over the next four decades, the automatic restaurants gained in popularity, growing to more than 50 Horn & Hardart locations in Philadelphia and more than 100 in New York City. The 1918-19 influenza pandemic didn't hurt, as it encouraged people to avoid interacting (i.e., social distance), and people tended to consider automats a clean and safe food-service strategy.

After World War II, however, fast-food chains started taking over, and people's tastes shifted to burgers and fries. Automats couldn’t compete, and Horn & Hardart converted many NYC locations into Burger Kings. The last NYC location closed in 1991.

Current status: Horn & Hardart's memory is preserved at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, but the automat lives on (still popular in parts of Europe) and is gaining some renewed interest in the U.S., due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic. A couple of modern takes on the automat (Bamn! Automat and Eatsa) folded within a couple of years of opening. ​

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