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
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