Pop Culture Retrospective # 38 - Extinct and disappearing restaurant chains of the 80s and 90s Pt. II

On the last episode of the Pop Culture Retrospective Podcast, we took a look back at some of the extinct and disappearing restaurant chains of the 1980s and 1990s.  We discussed places like Showbiz Pizza, Bennigans, the Hard Rock Cafe and Ho Jo’s.  We also learned which chains had to file for bankruptcy and which defunct chain was responsible for one of the largest hepatitis outbreaks in history!  I got a nice message from a listener on Instagram, his name on the platform is Puro Maduro and he said it was really cool and he appreciated the puns.  Thank you very much for your kind thoughts! 

Because there was so much information to share, we will continue our look back at dining establishments of yesterday today, thank you for tuning in!  So grab your red and white striped shirt, your suspenders and don’t bend under the sneeze guard at the buffet, here we go!

Hello and thank you so very much for tuning in to the Pop Culture Retrospective Podcast, a show inspired by, and in memory of, my big sister Rebecca and her love for all things pop-culture, especially the people, places and things of the 80s, 90s and early 00s.  My name is Amy Lewis and I am your captain aboard this pop culture time machine. You are tuning in to episode #38 Extinct and Disappearing Restaurant Chains of the 80s and 90s, Part 2.  Just like we did on the last episode, we will just sort of do a run-down of some well-known restaurants that perhaps you dined at in decades past.  So put your napkin in your lap and keep your elbows off the table, let’s do this!

Fuddruckers:  is a chain of restaurants, still in operation today, that claims to have “the world’s greatest hamburgers.”  According to their website, under the section “Our Story” the company says:  “some people are driven to create the world’s fastest cars or the world’s tallest buildings.  Our calling is only slightly less glamorous but a whole lot tastier.  We were born to create the world’s greatest hamburger.” You would think that the “our story” section of a company’s website would be an area with which you could find a company’s history, but instead, I found useless marketing information.  Anyhoo, according to sources other than the company themselves, Fuddruckers was founded in 1979 as Feddie Fuddruckers by a man named Philip J. Romano in Texas.  The company’s claim to fame was that the meat for the burgers was ground on site and the buns were also made on site.  By 1988, there were over 150 Fuddrucker’s locations.  In the early days, most locations had utilized a lot of black, white, yellow and red colors on the restaurant interiors and exteriors.  For example, the flooring was black and white linoleum tile and the exterior awnings were always yellow.  Also, inside Fuddruckers you could find several “stations” if you will where you could order your food and drinks.  For example, there was a hamburger station, an ice cream station and a pickup station.  Fuddruckers was definitely an SOTW restaurant in the early days.  One location even had a Beatle’s booth with all kinds of memorabilia spread out all over.  However, by 2008 and the great recession, the company was hit pretty hard and they filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.  Today, there are about 100 Fuddrucker’s locations- if you go to their website you can go to the section called “Find my Fudds” and you can see where the nearest location is.  The locations that do remain are no longer SOTW restaurants, instead the assorted (and unrelated) memorabilia has been replaced with hardwood floors, matte black chairs and stools as well as brick walls.  

The Ground Round:  was an off-shoot of the Howard Johnson’s or Ho Jo’s Brand.  While the Ho Jo’s were geared toward groups of travelers - remember the orange roofs we talked about, those helped road trippers know they were approaching good food at good prices.  Ground Rounds were aimed towards neighborhoods.  The first restaurant opened in 1969 and was dubbed a “neighborhood pub.”  There were only 12 items on the original menu including Burgers and Beer.  Patrons were often given peanuts and they were encouraged to actually throw them on the ground.  Could you imagine that happening today?  Between peanut allergies and germs, that would never happen now.  However, in the 70s you could munch on some peanuts while watching silent movies and cartoons on a big screen inside the restaurant.  In the 1980s, the chain started to shift more toward attracting families so their menu became a bit more diverse.  The company encouraged children to hold their birthday parties at their restaurants and perhaps your child would be visited by “Bingo” the Clown, who was the company’s mascot at one point. Like so many restaurants in the 1980s, the interiors featured red and white checkered tablecloths and lighting was provided by stained glass light fixtures, often with the coca-cola logo inscribed.  Why did EVERY restaurant have stained glass light fixtures?  By the mid-1990s there were about 211 locations, including one in my hometown.  For many years, GR hosted trivia nights and winners would receive free drinks.  However, after a tragic accident those nights ceased forever.  On one trivia night, a woman had too much to drink and ended up sitting on the hood of a car.  The car started to move and she fell beneath the chassis while the car was still in motion and didn’t survive.  In 2004, the company filed for bankruptcy and a lot of the company owned locations closed their doors.  Currently, there are about 16 locations in the United States, located in the midwest and some one the east coast.  The one in my hometown closed a long time ago and I have contacted the company recently to ask where exactly that location was and I have yet to hear back.  My Dad inquired on my hometown’s Facebook page and there continues to be some debate as to where exactly it was.  If my sister was here, I know she could tell me exactly where it was located.  The name of the street.  What it was next to.  When it closed and a list of items on the menu.  I’m not kidding.  That is how impressive her memory was.  

TCBY:  was started in 1981 in Arkansas, it was dubbed the country’s first frozen yogurt shop.  At first the initials stood for “This Can’t Be Yogurt” but after a lawsuit the initials stood for “The Country’s Best Yogurt.”  After just one year in operation the franchising of TCBY began and by 1984, there were over 100 locations. In 2000, the chain was purchased by Mrs. Field’s holdings.  The thought was through a combination of the two desert venues, they could diversify. TCBY was already pretty successful because at the time of the acquisition, there were about 1800 locations. Unfortunately, this plan didn’t quite work out and between 2001-2011, the company shut down 1300 stores.  

On a better note though, in 2012, the company launched the first ever Greek Frozen Yogurt to be served at a frozen yogurt chain and they offer an extensive line up of dairy free frozen yogurts.  Apparently, college students are HUGE fans of frozen yogurt and according to one study they are 162% more likely to order frozen yogurt to be delivered than non-college students.  Despite the popularity of frozen yogurt with young adults, there remains just over 360 TCBY locations.  I definitely could have seen my sister ordering frozen yogurt to be delivered, she lovingly referred to one of her favorite treats as:  FRO-YO.  

Shoneys:  Was started by a football player named Schoenbaum in 1947 who was inspired to open a restaurant because his father was a businessman. At first it was a drive-in restaurant, the first location was in Charlestown, WV.  In 1977 they started being affiliated with Big Boy restaurants and even created their own mascot named “Shoney Bear.” In the 1980s and 1990s, the company saw huge growth.  They expanded their menu and offered salads, burgers and became well-known for their breakfast bars.  By 1994, there were 1800 restaurants in 36 states. The restaurants were known for their bright red lettering as well as their pink and green colored booth cushions as well as sun-room seating (which I feel like could be found in many 80s restaurants).  They also diversified their restaurants by creating “Captain D’s” which was sort of fast food with a seafood twist, it competed with Long John Silvers.  Further, the company learned that Shoney’s restaurants that were located near or next to hotels performed better so they opened their own line of hotels called “Shoney’s Inn” in 1975. The hotel was often paired with a specialty restaurant called “Fifth Quarter Steakhouses.” This model only lasted until about 1991 but on the plus side, Andy Griffith, star of the Andy Griffith Show, was the face of many a Shoney’s restaurant commercial.  At the same time that the company was expanding, they also faced a lawsuit.  Apparently the company discriminated against workers who were African American.These individuals not only faced discrimination, lack of promotions, etc. they were also harassed. The court sided with the workers and all black employees who worked at a Shoney’s restaurant between 1985-1992 were awarded money for the challenges they faced.  At the time it was the largest discrimination lawsuit payout in history.    Schoenbaum passed in 1996 which led to the start of some more hard times for the company. In 2000 the company filed for bankruptcy and were bought out by an investment group 2 years later. Today, Shoney’s restaurants can be found in 17 states, they are located primarily in states like Ohio, TN, North and South Carolina, Alabama, etc.   

Every time I hear the name Shoney’s I just think of a terrible commercial jingle that could have come to fruition in the 1980s with the help of one of the band Cure’s most popular song, Just Like Heaven, but with some different lyrics. In the original version, the song goes:  

"Show me, show me, show me how you do that trick

The one that makes me scream" she said

"The one that makes me laugh" she said

And threw her arms around my neck”

If their marketing department was even as remotely creative as I am, they could have easily changed it to:

Shoneys, Shoneys, Shoneys how you cook that food?

The kind that makes me smile she said

The kind that makes me full she said

And threw her arms around the buffet 

What a missed opportunity.  That would have drawn huge crowds to Shoney’s in the late 1980s, I’m just saying.   

Sizzler:  was started in 1958 with a dream and $50 by Del and Helen Johnson, it was called the Sizzler Family Steakhouse.  The name “Sizzler” comes from the sound a steak makes as it sizzles on a hot plate.  The creators of Sizzler wanted to create a restaurant where people could enjoy a steak for a reasonable price all while being complimented by a salad bar. Inside the restaurants you could find classic maroon colored booth seating, complete with stained glass surrounds, as well as buffet areas with half domed, glass sneeze guards. At it’s peak in the 1980s, Sizzler competed with Ponderosa and Bonanza and had 270 locations.  Along with their success, Sizzler is known for giving back to the community.  They partner with “No Kid Hungry” which helps provide healthy food to kids in need.  Let’s just hope that healthy food is not steak.  In September of 2020 the company filed for bankruptcy and now just over 100 locations remain.  Most of them are located in California, New Mexico and Utah. Many locations have also had to temporarily close due to Covid-19.  There are also international locations.  

TGI Fridays:  was the brain child of Alan Stillman who opened the very first TGI Fridays in 1965 in New York.  His motivation for opening the restaurant was not because he had a passion for the food business, but rather because he was hoping to meet single women.  I am not making this up.  He had not prior restaurant experience prior to TGI Fridays.  He was apparently surrounded by single women and he wanted a place where he could meet up with them as women at this time generally avoided traditional “bars” which were often seedy and unwelcoming.  Stilman was quoted as once saying:  “there was no public place for people between, say, 23-37 years old to meet.”  With that motivation in mind, he borrowed some money from his mom and used some of his own money to purchase his first restaurant.  He bought a restaurant near his home that was already established and re-named it TGIFridays which stood for Thank God It’s Friday.  TGIFridays was one of the first restaurants to institute ladie’s night.  At one point it was so popular that they had to set up ropes so that people could wait in line. Further, the restaurant became known for their cocktails...in the 1960s, the only real place to drink cocktails was at parties, but TGI Fridays was really one of the original innovators of creating unique cocktails at an actual restaurant, further attracting a more diverse customer base.  

Between the popularity of the restaurant itself, as well as ladie’s night, franchising of TGIFridays began in the late 1960s. The 2nd ever TGI Fridays location opened in Memphis, TN which was also incredibly busy like the NYC location.   There was a stage inside where musical performances were held and Ellen Degeneres was once a server there.  Another claim to fame was in 1974, TGI Fridays reportedly invented the potato skins.  By the late 1980s and early 1990s, TGIFridays shifted it’s focus away from just drinking and single ladies, but instead started to focus on families.  During this time they become well-known for gathering all of the waiters and waitresses to sing happy birthday to customers.  Servers at TGI Fridays were stereotypically on the younger side and overly enthusiastic about their drink and food offerings.  If you want to see a good parody of restaurants and waitstaff from restaurants like TGI Fridays or Benningans like we talked about on the previous episode of the PCRP check out the film Office Space, you won’t regret it.  In the movie, some of the main characters frequent a TGI Friday’s esque restaurant called Chotchkies...I too frequented TGI Fridays, often after I got out of work late at night. I think they were generally open until maybe 11pm or midnight so it was perfect for people working evening shifts. There was one down the street from the hotel I worked at in high school and college.  The Onion also wrote a hilarious article from the perspective of an overly excited waitress.  I’ll read that here in a moment but please be aware that there is some adult humor in it.  If you ate at a TGI Fridays in the 80s or 90s then you will know how surprisingly accurate (and hilarious I might add) this article is.  This article first ran on July 26, 2000 and the title is: “Welcome to TGI Fridays!  May I annoy the living shit out of you?” READ ARTICLE NOW.   TGIFridays was most definitely a SOTW restaurant, I remember the location near my house growing up had a telephone booth inside.  Can’t remember if it was functional or not.    You could also find the casual movie poster or a triangle with que balls inside for pool glued to the wall. In the 1980s and 1990s, waiters were often found dressed in red and white striped polo shirts, with fashionable buttons flanking said shirts and those were often complimented by suspenders.  At it’s peak there were at least 900 TGI Fridays locations between the US and abroad.  TGI Fridays has faced some controversy over the years like in 2013 when a dozen restaurants were raided and it was discovered that they were serving cheap alcohol disguised as higher end and selling for the top shelf prices. More recently, the popularity of casual family restaurants had significantly decreased and TGI Fridays closed 34 locations in 2019.  According to their website, there are currently 318 locations in the United States.  Despite the flagship TGI Fridays closing in 1994, New York state holds the title of having the most TGI Fridays locations, with a total of 34.  Those lucky ducks!I hope you have enjoyed this look back at some additional extinct and disappearing restaurant chains of the 80s and 90s. I had such a blast researching and recording these 2 episodes.  I would like to hear from you all, which restaurants did I leave off of the list?  Were there any chains that you frequented as a child and what are your memories of those dining establishments?  Let me know, you can send me an email at popcultureretrospective@gmail.com or send me a message on instagram, I’m @popcultureretrospective or tweet me I’m @popcultureretro 

I hope you will join me for my next show where we will take a look at America’s cartoon sweetheart of the 1980s, Strawberry Shortcake. Until then, BKBSAHOTYM.