Sometimes the places we like to eat
aren't meant to be around forever for
many of us the restaurants we love can
do no wrong the connections we have
aren't always based on quality sometimes
they're based on novelty and nostalgia
but for these 10 restaurant chains the
coming year might just mean the bitter
and inevitable end here 10 restaurant
chains that may not survive 2020 Howard
Johnson's better Howard Johnson's first
opened is a restaurant in 1925 in Quincy
Massachusetts founder Howard Johnson
specialized in medicine and his original
location was primarily a drug store he
quickly noticed that his soda fountain
was the biggest source of revenue and he
got to thinking he decided to expand a
soda fountain offerings and had it ice
cream to go along with his range of
fountain drinks he began serving ice
cream made using a family recipe and
everyone who tried it welcome to
creamier smoother mix to get together
lit maybe go out with some ice cream or
something I don't know after this
initial success he went on to open
beachfront concession stands catering to
vacationing tourists Johnson then
decided to offer a full menu of his
original location turning his drug store
into a full-blown restaurant from there
the sky was the limit Howard Johnson's
grew to have a whopping 400 locations by
the time 1954 rolled around and for a
restaurant chain back then that was
pretty huge it was in that year that the
company expanded once again getting into
the Motor Lodge business and once again
the business grew considerably by the
turn of the century Howard Johnson's
distinct orange roof became a beacon for
those looking for a place to eat or for
travelers looking to rest their weary
heads for the night
by the 1970s Howard Johnsons had over a
thousand locations across North America
their specialty the ice cream of course
and their famous fried clams but as is
the case for many of the businesses that
were once so successful they were hit
hard when the new millennium rolled
around and the years since have only
progressed to be worse and worse hard to
say what it was exactly that led to the
decline in business but the hotel and
restaurant landscape has changed over
the last 20 years it could also be
partly due to a
of interest in such places as Howard
Johnsons still looks like something out
of a Norman Rockwell painting but if
there's one near you go ahead and try
their food and experience the novelty
before they go away for good
look for the orange roof you can't miss
a Boston Market but above all I'm from
Boston Boston Market is still quite
young compared to many of the restaurant
chain Giants but it's been around long
enough that it shouldn't be experiencing
problems like this opening in 1984
Boston Market eventually expanded but
today are suffering from low sales and
low traffic to their restaurant
locations Boston Market specialty has
always been chicken the original
restaurant name was actually Boston
chicken before being changed in the 90s
here the chicken is slowly roasted
rotisserie ovens and although there
might be a slightly high sodium content
in the seasonings used it's still
healthier than safe cheeseburgers
drenched in grease you know what they
call catch chicken of the railyard
no of course KFC is still v change when
talking about chicken in the states but
then again that's fried chicken Popeyes
and chick-fil-a are also gaining steam
but the rotisserie market has never been
quite as popular in the States
that's not because slow roasted chicken
like that isn't a big seller just ask
the folks at Costco perhaps it lies in
the marketing of the restaurant itself
who knows all we can report are the
facts and the facts are this place is
struggling in Canada specifically Quebec
this sort of restaurant is one that does
quite well rotisserie chicken is quite
the favoured trend there and there are
plenty of restaurants serving rotisserie
chicken you can see delivery cars with
chickens on top whipping by the crowded
downtown streets quite often in 2004
rock group Metallica shot the video for
their single frantic in Montreal in the
video the main character is none other
than ill-fated delivery driver for a
rather famous local rotisserie
restaurant in the province just goes to
show you how popular rotisserie chicken
is in Quebec perhaps Boston Market
should try expanding a little further
north like say to Quebec maybe this
could be the life preserver and
necessary to save this sinking ship on V
Tuesday I'll have what she's having it
was in 1972 in Knoxville Tennessee when
a Berube Tuesday opened its doors for
the first time they have enjoyed a rich
history of food service and of course
expansion but like so many other
chains on this list they have suffered
over time the products being served at
Ruby Tuesday and their quality of
service taking considerable hits over
the years enough to have attracted some
negative attention and when that
negative attention becomes overwhelming
so comes the necessity for
representatives of the chain to either
make excuses apologies or even promises
about an uncertain future
and our D capital the company that owns
Ruby Tuesday were essentially forced to
make a statement basically saying that
they have a very strong belief that the
brand's love and devotion is strong
enough that if they can deliver on the
basics like making sure that the hot
food is hot cold food is cold bathrooms
are clean and that service comes with a
smile then they can get patrons to love
Ruby Tuesday again had the chef's take
extra special care for you it isn't the
hot food hot or the cold food cold that
worries us the most about the company
statement what worries us in particular
is wondering what kind of complaints
they must have received to feel the
necessity and/or urgency to mention that
in the future that they would have clean
bathrooms yikes well it seems that
lovers of this chain may very well soon
be singing goodbye Ruby Tuesday before
years at Tad's steaks oh you're not a
mistake sometimes location really isn't
everything despite the fact that
location location location is the War
Room call for restaurants everywhere
what better location for a restaurant
can there be than New York's Times
Square there was a very famous Tad's
steaks Outlet right in the heart of it
and since 1960 customers flocked to the
famous broiler to munch on succulent
steak and other goodies the founder
Donald Townsend passed on in 2000 but
the place lived on and at one time had
almost 30 locations nationwide
well the Times Square location closed as
the ball dropped on 2020 and today
there's only one location left and
that's on the west coast but many feel
it's just a matter of time before this
Tad's
also turns its lights out for good these
changing times are a little scary for
those in the restaurant business
especially when even some heavyweight
chains are struggling for a restaurant
that have breakfast lunch and dinner
covered it's puzzling that Tad's steaks
couldn't maintain a consistent clientele
especially in Times Square Baja Fresh
you're hungry t you want to send the kid
for budget fresh Mexican cuisine
definitely has its place when it comes
to
americana what would the world be like
without tacos and burritos it would
probably be a little boring and
definitely a lot less tasty of a world
to live in when it comes to Baja Fresh
the question becomes our North Americans
looking for truly authentic cuisine
because authentic Mexican cuisine is
quite different from what we're used to
getting it's a Taco Bell now Taco Bell
doesn't seem to be slowing down any and
thank goodness for that
but Baja Fresh seems to be suffering as
of late it was stinky and we may not be
seeing this place around for much longer
they first opened in 1990 and then
interestingly enough the chain was
purchased by Wendy's in 2002 at that
time Baja Fresh had many locations
around the States and were seemingly
doing quite well the places were known
as a Mexican Grill primarily and they
had what was known as a self-serve salsa
bar which sounds interesting and kind of
delicious but only two years after
Wendy's investment they started to do
quite badly overall apparently these
days many locations closed often and
without warning so it may not be long
before Baja Fresh is gone and forgotten
Red Robin Believe It or Not the Red
Robin burger actually won several Zagat
awards at one time speaking in culinary
terms that's pretty impressive a Zagat
is a popular restaurant review site this
is why it's so surprising that this
place has suffered so many losses in
recent years with locations dropping
like flies Red Robin was officially
founded in 1969 in Seattle Washington
and it grew in scope over the fifty
years or so since its inception a Zagat
award can often be the pinnacle of
success for a place like this and to
have won more than a few is quite an
accomplishment as of 2019 there were
still 562 locations open and operating
but the rumor mill is running rather
powerfully and the noise being heard is
that this chain is suffering greatly the
last decade hasn't been all that easy on
many restaurant chains but apparently
Red Robin has suffered more than others
Friendly's right yes perhaps this one is
the most shocking restaurant to find on
a list like this as in the 90s you
couldn't watch American TV without
seeing a commercial for this family
place and it's
and food friendlies came into being 85
years ago and they currently have a
hundred fifty seven locations
that's quite small considering some of
the franchise numbers we see from other
restaurant chains in North America but
still friendlies grew to prominence
marketing their homestyle food to many
loyal fans
but today the fear at Friendly's is that
those fans are slowly dwindling and not
at all because of bad service or a bad
product
he's the word you've probably never
heard no of course there's always that
possibility - the main concern is that a
large portion of Friendly's clientele is
aging things change with age and seniors
tend to eat out less it seems hard for
friendlies to attract a younger
clientele this is speculation as nothing
has been announced but if you can't grow
your clientele restaurants will start to
fall by the wayside
it was back in 2011 that friendlies went
bankrupt and although that came back
from that several locations closed up
shop will have to keep an eye on whether
friendlies keep smiling or not checkers
drive-in and rallies oh we had a good
thing going shake and bake
checkers drive-in had been around for 34
years before merging with rallies in
1999 these are essentially the same
restaurant but have kept the original
branding dependent on location much like
Carl's jr. and Hardee's but that doesn't
mean that these guys aren't experiencing
some perilous days in today's restaurant
landscape rumblings that this franchise
is going the way of bell-bottom jeans
have started a surface and the claims
seem to be serious enough checkers and
rallies were the true definition of the
term fast food as they served the
essentials burgers fries milkshakes and
hotdogs what more could you ask for
well apparently serving up delicious
fast-food fare isn't enough so what's
the cause of all this recent peril
apparently there have been multiple
health code violations over the years
and it has become increasingly difficult
to continue serving the food they were
always famous for at a cheap price this
is understandable as the price of the
overhead labor and ingredients continues
to rise as revenues seem to decline
so maybe checkers and rallies will be
another restaurant change that may not
survive 2020 Hometown Buffet
she was horrified you should have seen
them the all-you-can-eat buffet has been
a conundrum for the restaurant industry
since its inception the common question
is always how can you serve so much food
and for so cheap for years chefs of more
reputable restaurants have wondered the
same thing about buffets and for good
reason
a lot of food gets consumed in places
like these so much in fact that buffet
owners have been spicing their food with
msg in order to make clients feel that
much fuller that much faster
this of course is a myth but many
believe it to be true
and you've got to admit you do seem to
get a bit fuller when eating out at a
buffet than say McDonald's we're
purchasing that extra burger is
encouraged msg or not people can still
put away lots of food at an
all-you-can-eat buffet often preparing
for their outing by eating very little
beforehand so yeah while these places
are quite popular the all-you-can-eat
buffet no longer seems to be in its
heyday the Golden Corral isn't doing as
great as it once did but they're still
doing all right regardless the same
cannot be said for the Hometown Buffet
this is one chain of all-you-can-eat
buffets that took some serious hits over
the years Hometown Buffet is owned by
ovation brands a company that owns many
different restaurant chains including a
few other all-you-can-eat restos like
Ryan's buffet and Old Country Buffet
apparently these chains aren't doing all
that well either Hometown Buffet
locations are dwindling at a pretty fast
pace even though there were a whopping
113 locations as of 2017 the umbrella
corporation ovations brands is losing
quite a few dimes in the process so it
won't be long before something has to
give they may choose to focus on only
one brand to keep up and going or we'll
lose all of them in one fell swoop time
of course will tell Tim Hortons
seem Hortens was founded in Canada back
in 1964 although they started out simply
as a donut and coffee shop either
evolved into something of a fast-food
commodity over the past decades their
menu now goes way beyond the expected
doughnuts and muffins they now serve
chicken burgers and and breakfast bagels
they even have fries sandwiches and of
course their famous soup the chain has
certainly grown and provides stiff
competition to the other heavyweight
fast-food chains in Canada their
breakfast prices are unbeatable and
their coffee products are quite popular
in Canada even in the wintertime they
still serve their famed iced cappuccino
drink and believe it or not it still
sells pretty well watch this
that's called cup having a nice iced cap
on a freezing cold day is nothing out of
the ordinary for these Canucks but it
isn't in Canada that Tim Hortons is
suffering hardly it's in the United
States that this restaurant can't seem
to make any headway and they aren't
getting any favors from the other
fast-food giants out there it seems that
while their prices are competitive their
products may not be original enough to
go head-to-head with what's already out
there in the coffee game alone they've
got to go head to head with American
favorites Starbucks and Dunkin there's
no definite plan yet for the chain to
close up shop in the States but they are
definitely getting dangerously close so
you may want to get your ice caps while
you still can
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