10 Chain Restaurants That Vanished Across America

who makes the world's greatest hamburgers  bud records let's look back at some of   the most popular chain restaurants that have  vanished across america kenny rogers roasters   check it out wow kenny rogers roasters finally  open like another restaurant chain on our list   kenny rogers roasters was made into a pop culture  icon after being mentioned in a tv episode   this time it was the ever popular sitcom  seinfeld not fast food good food quickly the   episode revolved around a neon sign from a kenny  rogers location being so bright that it prevented   one of the characters from sleeping in real life  though the restaurant chain needed no help with   marketing and was expanding quickly throughout the  united states and even into the rest of the world   kenny rogers roasters was unique in that the  menu focused on whole roasted chickens but   eventually expanded to include ribs turkey  as well as other various sides and dishes   by 1998 the once thriving restaurant chain was  struggling and entered chapter 11 bankruptcy   before being sold to nathan's famous inc for  a measly one and a quarter million dollars   shut up and take my money due to problems  encountered during the restructuring of   the company kenny rogers roasters was forced to  close many of their locations around the globe   and by 1999 had just 40 locations remaining  in the united states finally in late 2011   the last us-based kenny rogers had closed with  some of the menu items continuing to live on at   some nathan's hot dog restaurants despite the  restaurant chain losing all of their locations   in the u.s the brand still continues to operate  in asia after being sold to the burjaia group   even though the kenny rogers roasters may be gone  from the u.s market you can always get a taste of   the restaurant by re-watching the classic episode  of seinfeld or even visiting a handful of nathan's   locations that still offer some kenny rogers  menu items white tower nobody likes a copycat   the name is not only a poor copy of an already  existing restaurant chain but being founded   just four years after white castle white tower  hamburgers copied everything from their competitor   the buildings had the same fortress looking design  the menu was extremely similar and their sliders   even looked just like those of white castle they  chose an all-white interior for their buildings   to display the cleanliness of their restaurant  and even had some of their waitresses dressed as   nurses for some odd reason the chain became  extremely successful and expanded operations   to many states across the eastern u.s however  just three years after their initial opening   white tower was facing a lawsuit from none  other than white castle the lawsuit ended   with white tower being forced to change its use  of these similar style buildings slogans and   even their name change everything after changing  hands names and investment companies the group   that owned white tower burgers has completely  removed themselves from the restaurant business   and now operates in a completely different sector  fuddruckers your mom says hey troy you're ruining   fuddruckers for everyone one of the most confusing  and oddest names ever given to a chain restaurant   has to be fuddruckers the name just like their  delicious burgers can be a mouthful for some   curious diners overall though fuddruckers was  a great family-oriented restaurant chain that   was famous for their burgers and the ability to  customize said burgers they claim to have the   world's greatest hamburger and pride themselves  on the fact that they use fresh beef that has no   fillers or additives many people would consider  fuddruckers to be a truly classic american   restaurant chain and people have flocked to  their neighborhood location for many years   the kids do love fuddruckers you're  getting the design any burger you want   unfortunately for fuddruckers they've had some  issues regarding their parent company looby's inc   who seem to be steadily running out of money while  there are a handful of fuddruckers that have been   franchised out to local owners the majority  of the locations have been closed sold off   or are in the process of closing it's always sad  to see one of your favorite restaurants clothes   fortunately for some lucky diners it is still  possible to get your fuddruckers fix if you   live near a franchised location in the south and  southwestern united states consider yourself lucky   sweet tomatoes you say tomato tomato i say tomato  tomato it really is surprising to hear that sweet   tomatoes has gone out of business who doesn't love  a good all-you-can-eat buffet sweet tomatoes even   positioned themselves as a healthy alternative to  the other various buffet style restaurants with a   truly massive salad bar although they did offer  other not so healthy entrees like fried chicken   pasta and pizza the real focus was always on  their salad bar which offered a wide variety   of vegetables and fixings to create a truly  unique and nutrient packed dish salad trying to   eat healthy while it should come as no surprise to  anyone that the pandemic dealt a hard hit to the   restaurant industry it is still very surprising to  see it take out such a well-known and established   chain like sweet tomatoes while other restaurants  had the luxury of switching to takeout style   dining this proved to be a lot more difficult for  a restaurant chain whose whole identity was based   on providing a buffet style experience what was  supposed to be a temporary shutdown unfortunately   turned into a permanent one after the chain  started to lose over one million dollars per week   due to their restaurants having to close their  doors we will all have fond memories of sweet   tomatoes skipping over the enormous salad bar  and heading directly to the pizzas and junk food   only to heavily regret this decision by the end of  our meals burger chef another burger dad here you   go burger chef was truly an innovative restaurant  chain although many people today may not recognize   the name burger chef was a direct competitor to  mcdonald's and once had thousands of restaurants   across the united states at one point the most  amazing thing about burger chef is that they were   the true creator of the happy meal something  that is synonymous with mcdonald's nowadays   so what happened to burger chef did something good  happen in the end they grew too quickly even with   all their success expanding to thousands of  locations in a short amount of time can be   a very dangerous move eventually burger chef was  bought out by the hardy's group and no longer has   any brick and mortar locations it's interesting to  imagine a world where the rolls between mcdonald's   and burger chef were reversed if mcdonald's had  expanded too fast way back when would burger chef   have taken its place as one of the most famous  fast food chains across the world lubies i will   take a free breakfast buffet anytime any place to  follow up the loss of our beloved fuddruckers we   must look a bit deeper into the parent company  looby's inc their flagship restaurant chain lubies   was another buffet style american classic luby's  was a very popular restaurant among all ages but   it was especially a huge hit with the older  crowd their cafeteria-style approach to dining   was extremely affordable had a variety of culinary  options and offered a warm and inviting atmosphere   you're always welcome here looby's locations  would commonly be found throughout various   shopping malls across the country where  hungry shoppers would stop in for a home-style   meal after a long day of shopping like many of the  other cafeteria and buffet style restaurant chains   across the nation luby's was hit hard by the  effects of the pandemic luby's inc announced late   in 2020 that they would be liquidating and selling  off all of their lubies restaurants this would   come as a huge surprise to some loyal customers  as the chain had a large and almost cult-like   following across the u.s meatheads burger and  fries i'll bring him a burger and some regular   fries although it's a newer restaurant chain  compared to many others on this list the demand   for meathead's burgers was strong and the lines  were consistently out the door offering delicious   burgers fries shakes and other sandwiches  meatheads was a favorite among many of the   chicago suburbs that surrounded the city what made  meatheads stand out amongst the other countless   burger chains was the ability to customize your  burgers in a mind-blowing amount of ways offering   a handful of signature sauces seasonings and a  wide variety of both free and premium toppings   meatheads allowed its customers to make some  truly unique creations this is a tasty burger   meatheads was also one of the restaurant chains  to offer access to coca-cola freestyle machines   these soft drink dispensers allow you to choose  from an extremely large variety of beverages and   open up the option for users to create their own  unique mixes like so many other restaurant chains   meatheads was heavily affected by the pandemic  unlike many other restaurants though meatheads   also struggled with mismanagement during their  rather short life span paired with a steep   drop in sales meet head's parent company crave  brands is facing bankruptcy proceedings benefits   have you ever been to ben against mister made  into a pop culture classic due to its appearance   in an episode of south park bennigan's has been  struggling for years and has been sold multiple   times during the course of their existence  bennigan's is a restaurant that is similar in a   lot of ways to the likes of tgi fridays chili's  and applebee's unfortunately for bennigan's   the chain never seemed to acquire the same level  of success that the others achieved you have   failed after constantly changing hands through  various companies over the years bennigan's   finally filed for bankruptcy in 2008. even though  the chain has almost completely disappeared we can   always look back on the episode of south park  that revolved around one of the characters love   and excitement for a trip to bennigan's chi cheese  we went to chi-chi's and danced the night away the   room completely disappeared chi chi's is a very  interesting restaurant chain in that it still has   locations in belgium kuwait and the united arab  emirates but exited the us and canadian markets   in 2004. chi chi's is a mexican restaurant chain  that was co-founded by a former green bay packers   player max mcgee starting in 1975 chi chi's grew  to over 200 locations and seemed to have a bright   future ahead of its constant expansion however  due to increased competition from other hispanic   fast food chains chi chi started to struggle  and they were forced to start closing some of   their locations in 2002 there were less than 150  chi chi's locations remaining and they would be   forced to file for bankruptcy just a year later  bankrupt following their bankruptcy filing tragedy   struck at one of their pittsburgh locations where  a hepatitis a outbreak that was traced to a batch   of onions killed four people and sickened over 650  others even with the double whammy of a bankruptcy   and the horrific hepatitis a outbreak chi-chi's  still continues to live on outside of north   america unfortunately more like a shadow of their  former tex-mex glory with just a few locations in   a select few countries throughout north africa  europe and the middle east if chi chi's were   still operating in the united states how  do you think they would stack up to the   seemingly untouchable mexican fast food giants  like taco bell and chipotle crumbs bake shop   cupcakes up everyone crumbs bake shop started  off from very humble beginnings once a small   mom-and-pop bake shop on the upper west side of  manhattan they soon became much more than just   a unique bakery offering 50 different types of  diverse and mouth-watering cupcakes crumbs bake   shop was able to expand to over 75 locations and  became the largest cupcake chain in north america   with candy coated cupcakes and unique flavors  such as peanut butter cup and cosmopolitan   crumbs was able to achieve huge success and lead  the cupcake food craze that it hit the u.s at the   time what happened next for crumbs was unfortunate  and may have even been avoidable had the business   been handled differently aggressive expansion of  the brand when profits from existing stores were   already stagnant caused a huge problem for the  crumbs group are we in trouble coppicer after much   struggle crumbs bake shop closed all locations  in 2014 and filed for bankruptcy eventually   the brand was sold off to tv personality marcus  lemonis marcus did his best to bring the shuttered   company back to life but even the addition of  a celebrity to the mix wasn't enough to revive   crumbs bake shop they finally closed down all  locations in 2017 and this time they would not   get another chance to come back from the dead  got a favorite you've seen disappear let us know   and tap or click another great video hit that  subscribe button and ring that notification bell

Channel: BabbleTop

Views: 732,995

Keywords: 10 chain restaurants that vanished across america, restaurants that vanished, restaurants that are going out of business, failing restaurant chains, failing restaurants, restaurant chains, restaurants, chain restaurants, restaurant chains that we might lose in 2022, restaurant chains that we might lose, famous restaurant chains that might be closeing, restaurants that we might lose in 2022, famous restaurant chains that might be closing, restaurant, babbletop, babble top, top 10, list

Id: qgRnTKSm_-s

Length: 14min 6sec (846 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 18 2022