Restaurants
A restaurant chain is real estate, franchise contracts and a sign. When the first two go, the sign can linger for decades.
Post-mortems in Restaurants
Howard Johnson’s
1925 – 2022
Ghost
Strategy and management
1,040 to 0 restaurants, 1979 to 2022
Once the largest restaurant chain in America, with 28 flavors and an orange roof on every highway. It was sold twice in six years, split in two, and left to its franchisees.
Burger Chef
1958 – 1982
Dead
Overexpansion
$83M loss disclosed in 1972, on a $16M purchase
An Indianapolis equipment maker built the second-largest hamburger chain in America. General Foods bought it, doubled it in three years and wrote most of the investment off.
Sambo’s
1957 – 1984
Dead
Strategy and management
447 restaurants closed in under three weeks, November 1981
A Santa Barbara pancake house became 1,117 coffee shops by selling its managers a share of the profits. When regulators questioned how that was booked, the plan ended, the managers left and the losses began.