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It was an article describing restaurant chains in America that are fading away, closing restaurants and experiencing a loss in brand preference/recognition. Perhaps it was poor management.
Truthfully, most of these don't mean anything to me, but the waning of Bob's Big Boy is sort of tear jerker - not quite, but it was the most frequented eatery by me and my friends in HS and college. I couldn't believe this because it was so much better than Denny's.
It was an article describing restaurant chains in America that are fading away, closing restaurants and experiencing a loss in brand preference/recognition. Perhaps it was poor management.
A lot of it is changing tastes. Chains get associated with certain kinds of food, and then when those tastes go out of style, so do the chains.
There's a list online of more than 100 national chains that have flourished for a while and then closed, and I recognized many of them... without really missing any. That's just the nature of changing tastes.
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Truthfully, most of these don't mean anything to me, but the waning of Bob's Big Boy is sort of tear jerker - not quite, but it was the most frequented eatery by me and my friends in HS and college. I couldn't believe this because it was so much better than Denny's.
To be accurate, it may have been Bob's Big Boy where you were, but it was Azar's Big Boy where I was, Frisch's Big Boy in another location, and many others... Big Boy was unique in the way they handled regional franchises, allowing local branding with the restrauteur's name.
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Do any of them mean anything to you?
I did not recognize Don Pablo's or Ground Round. The rest, yes, but honestly, no big loss to me in the bunch, because I have not been in a single one in the last 10 years. <shrug>
The market is saturated with corporate food chains. It's no wonder so many are going to the wayside. Perhaps it will give those who want to open a small business in those neighborhoods a chance? One can only hope. It would be so great see a resurgence of mom & pop restaurants again.
To be accurate, it may have been Bob's Big Boy where you were, but it was Azar's Big Boy where I was, Frisch's Big Boy in another location, and many others... Big Boy was unique in the way they handled regional franchises, allowing local branding with the restrauteur's name.
Correct. Bob's in California. Frisch's in Michigan. JB's in the Intermountain West. And Azar's where?
Seriously? Nothing better than the double decker burger + fries + salad with their branded bleu cheese.
The only ones on the list that I've seen around my area is Bob's Big Boy, TCBY, Tony Roma's and Bennigans. Of the four, I've only seen BBB and Bennigan's recently. I will miss BBB, but it's more sentimental to me as well. As a kid it was a favorite family place. I will miss Bennigans, the one by me had great salads. Haven't been there in a long time though. I never ate at TCBY and I can't stand Tony Roma's and gave up on them years ago.
That is interesting. There are still a fair amount of Blimpies here in Wyoming. Tony Roma is one I wasn't overly impressed with and the only one I have ever been to was in Great Falls, Montana. I'm really sorry to see Bennigan's go. That was one of my favorite places to eat in college. I do remember that place going downhill before it closed though. I had almost forgotten about TCBY. I haven't seen one of those in a while.
I thought a bunch of those were closed already, like Bennigans and Ground Round. I hope they don't close all the Big Boys, because they just remodeled the Frisch's near my parents' house and where else would I get a patty melt and a vanilla coke when I go home?
I don't understand Damons. The one near me was always packed, yet it went out of business, along with five others in the region. There had to be some serious mismanagement somewhere.
It's not on there, but I recall when Boston Market had to button it up in the PacNW, but remained open in CA and in NV.
The same is true of the Daphne's Greek Cafe, a Western chain. They got into the PacNW, but backed out, remaining open in CA.
I REALLY like Boston Market and Daphne's makes a good chain option for Greek food.
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