This is a list of defunct fast-food chains. A

restaurant chain A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...

is a set of related

restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

s with the same name in many different locations that are either under shared corporate ownership (e.g.,

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

in the U.S.) or

franchising Franchising is based on a marketing concept which can be adopted by an organization as a strategy for business expansion. Where implemented, a franchisor licenses some or all of its know-how, procedures, intellectual property, use of its busine ...

agreements. Typically, the restaurants within a chain are built to a standard format through architectural prototype development and offer a standard menu and/or services.

Defunct fast-food restaurant chains

Ameche's Drive-in Alan Ameche (; June 1, 1933 – August 8, 1988), nicknamed "The Iron Horse", or simply "The Horse", was an American football player who played six seasons with the Baltimore Colts in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football ...

Five suburban locations in metropolitan

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. *

Burger Chef Burger Chef was an American fast-food restaurant chain. It began operating in 1954 in Indianapolis, Indiana, expanded throughout the United States, and at its peak in 1973 had 1,050 locations, including some in Canada. The chain featured severa ...

Burger Queen Druther's is a restaurant, formerly a chain of fast food restaurants that began as Burger Queen restaurants started in Winter Haven, Florida in 1956, and then based in Louisville, Kentucky from 1963 until 1981. The name was a play on the word ...

* Carrols chain in western New York State and Pennsylvania with 150 stores at its peak in the 1960s; featured the Club Burger and sold popular Looney Tunes drinking glasses * Chicken George *

Chooks Fresh & Tasty Chooks Fresh & Tasty was a Western Australian fast food chain that specialized in barbecued and fried chicken. History Chooks was originally a well known regional fast food brand named River Rooster. Operations began in Busselton and Margaret ...

Clock A clock or a timepiece is a device used to measure and indicate time. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month and the ...

* D'Lites *

Dee's Drive-In Dee's Drive-In was a fast food hamburger drive-in restaurant chain based in Utah. The chain was founded by Dee Frederick Anderson, who got his start selling hamburgers operating the Ute Hamburger Shop near the University of Utah in the 1920s. An ...

* Doggie Diner *

Druther's Druther's is a restaurant, formerly a chain of fast food restaurants that began as Burger Queen restaurants started in Winter Haven, Florida in 1956, and then based in Louisville, Kentucky from 1963 until 1981. The name was a play on the word ...

chain based in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

, that became a regional Dairy Queen franchise in 1991; a lone franchised location in

Campbellsville, Kentucky Campbellsville is a city in central Kentucky founded in 1817 by Andrew Campbell. It is known for Campbellsville University, Taylor Regional Hospital health care system, its historic downtown, and the proximity to Green River Lake State Park. Ca ...

, is the only survivor *

Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour was an American ice cream parlor and sandwich chain that was founded in Portland, Oregon, in 1963. The chain became defunct following the closure of its last location in Brea, California, in 2019. History Farrell's ...

Forum Cafeterias The Forum Cafeteria was a chain of economical cafeteria-style restaurants which operated across the United States. The company was founded in 1918 and had restaurants in the downtown areas of several major cities. In the 1960s the company expanded ...

Geri's Hamburgers Geri's Hamburgers was a fast food restaurant chain in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin, United States. Geri's started sometime in 1962 and was modeled largely after the early McDonald's style restaurants at the time. One of the original ...

Gino's Hamburgers Gino's Hamburgers was a fast-food restaurant chain founded in Baltimore, Maryland by Baltimore Colts defensive end Gino Marchetti and running back Alan Ameche, along with their close friends Joe Campanella and Louis Fischer, in 1957. A new gr ...

Henry's Hamburgers Henry's Hamburgers is a former American fast-food restaurant chain of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Only one franchise store, in Michigan, remains. History In 1954 the Bresler's Ice Cream Company decided to expand into the growing fast-food driv ...

, with the only remaining location in Benton Harbor, Michigan. *

Horn & Hardart Horn & Hardart was a food services company in the United States noted for operating the first food service automats in Philadelphia, New York City, and Baltimore. Philadelphia's Joseph Horn (1861–1941) and German-born, New Orleans-raised Fran ...

Howard Johnson's Howard Johnson's, or Howard Johnson by Wyndham, is an American hotel chain and former restaurant chain. Founded by Howard Deering Johnson in 1925 as a restaurant, it was the largest restaurant chain in the U.S. throughout the 1960s and 1970s, ...

was the largest restaurant chain in the U.S. throughout the 1960s and 1970s, with more than 1,000 combined company-owned and franchised outlets. Today, the chain is defunct—after dwindling down to one location, the last Howard Johnson's restaurant (in Lake George, New York) closed during the 2021 COVID pandemic. *

Kenny Rogers Roasters Kenny Rogers Roasters is a chain of chicken-based restaurants founded in 1991 by country musician Kenny Rogers and former KFC CEO John Y. Brown Jr., who was a former governor of the U.S. state of Kentucky. Brown had been an early investor in Ken ...

still active outside the USA but no American franchisees exist today. * La Petite Boulangerie *

Little Tavern Little Tavern Shops was a chain of hamburger restaurants in Baltimore, Maryland; Arlington, Virginia; Washington, D.C.; and surrounding areas. The first Little Tavern opened March 24, 1927, in Louisville, Kentucky, by Harry F. Duncan. The first ...

Lum's Lum's was an American family restaurant chain based in Florida with additional locations in several states. It was founded in 1956 in Miami Beach, Florida, by Stuart and Clifford S. Perlman when they purchased Lum's hot dog stand for $10,000. ...

Mighty Casey's Mighty Casey's was a fast food restaurant that started in Atlanta, Georgia in 1980. It was popular in the Atlanta metropolitan area for serving quality fast-food, generous helpings, and creative menu offerings. It was bought out by Krystal in 1994 ...

Naugles Naugles was a Southern California fast-food Mexican restaurant chain that existed from 1970 to 1995. A revived Naugles chain was established in 2015 by entrepreneur Christian Ziebarth, after it was ruled that the trademarks had been abandoned by ...

acquired by Del Taco in 1988; all locations were closed or converted by 1995; fans and new investors attempted to revive the brand in 2015 * Noon Mediterranean *

Pioneer Chicken Pioneer Chicken (or Pioneer Take Out, as it is officially named) is an American fried chicken restaurant chain which was founded in Echo Park, Los Angeles in 1961 by H. R. Kaufman. When Kaufman sold the chain in 1987, there were 270 restaurants o ...

* Pizza Haven Australian pizza chain *

Pumper Nic Pumper Nic (shortened to Pumper after 1989) was a popular chain of fast-food restaurants in Argentina that existed in the 1970s and 1980s. It is currently considered by many Argentines to be a cult classic. Its name is derived from the German pu ...

chain in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

; founded in 1974 and closed in 1999 * Pup 'N' Taco * Red Barn * Royal Castle one franchise location survived after chain was liquidated in 1975 *

Sambo's Sambo's was an American restaurant chain, started in 1957 by Sam Battistone Sr. and Newell Bohnett in Santa Barbara, California. Though the name was taken from portions of the names of its founders, the chain soon found itself associated with '' ...

Sandy's Sandy's was a chain of American fast-food restaurants begun in 1956 by four entrepreneurs from Kewanee, Illinois: Gus "Brick" Lundberg, Robert C. Wenger, Paul White and W. K. Davidson. Sandy's was the ancestor of the midwestern franchises of t ...

ShowBiz Pizza Place ShowBiz Pizza Place, often shortened to ShowBiz Pizza or ShowBiz, was an American family entertainment center and restaurant pizza chain founded in 1980 by Robert L. Brock and Creative Engineering. It emerged after a separation between Brock an ...

Merged into

Chuck E. Cheese Chuck E. Cheese (formerly known as Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre, Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza and simply Chuck E. Cheese's) is an American family entertainment center and pizza restaurant chain founded in 1977 by Atari's co-founder Nolan Bu ...

* The Training Table was a regional

chain A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. A c ...

fast food restaurant A fast-food restaurant, also known as a quick-service restaurant (QSR) within the industry, is a specific type of restaurant that serves fast-food cuisine and has minimal table service. The food served in fast-food restaurants is typically ...

s in the U.S. State of

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. Founded in 1977, the chain focused on gourmet burgers. The chain had five locations in the

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

metropolitan area. * Steak and Ale * Two Pesos *

Wag's Wag's was a chain of casual dining (or "family") restaurants owned and operated by Walgreens in the 1970s and 1980s. They were modeled after restaurants like Denny's, Shoney's, and Big Boy in that they were mostly 24-hour establishments specializ ...

* Wetson's *

White Tower Hamburgers White Tower Hamburgers was a fast food restaurant chain that was founded in 1926 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. With its similar white fortress-like buildings and menu it is considered to be an imitator of White Castle chain that was founded in 1921. ...

one location remains in Toledo, Ohio * Wimpy Grills founded in Bloomington, Indiana, in 1934, it eventually grew to 25 locations within the United States and 1,500 outside of the US. The international locations were eventually sold to

J. Lyons and Co. J. Lyons & Co. was a British restaurant Chain store, chain, food manufacturing, and hotel conglomerate founded in 1884 by Joseph Lyons (caterer), Joseph Lyons and his brothers in law, Isidore Gluckstein, Isidore and Montague Gluckstein. Lyons’ ...

in the United Kingdom, which remains open, while all of the American locations eventually closed by 1978.Alternate Link
via

ProQuest ProQuest LLC is an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based global information-content and technology company, founded in 1938 as University Microfilms by Eugene B. Power. ProQuest is known for its applications and information services for libraries, provid ...

.Alternate Link
via

. *

Winky's Winky's Hamburgers was a chain of hamburger fast food restaurants in and near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded by two brothers, Harold and Bernard Erenstein in 1962. Their slogans were "Fast Food Cheap" and "Winky's Makes You Happy To be ...

a Pittsburgh institution in the 1960s and 1970s that filed for bankruptcy in 1982 *

Yankee Doodle Dandy ''Yankee Doodle Dandy'' is a 1942 American biographical musical film about George M. Cohan, known as "The Man Who Owned Broadway". It stars James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston, and Richard Whorf, and features Irene Manning, George Tobias, Ro ...

References

{{Companies by industry

Defunct fast-food chains Defunct (no longer in use or active) may refer to: * ''Defunct'' (video game), 2014 * Zombie process or defunct process, in Unix-like operating systems See also * * :Former entities * End-of-life product * Obsolescence Obsolescence is t ...

Restaurant chains A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...

Fast-food restaurant chains