Lum's was an American

family restaurant Restaurants fall into several industry classifications, based upon menu style, preparation methods and pricing, as well as the means by which the food is served to the customer. This article mainly describes the situation in the US, while catego ...

chain based in

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with additional locations in several states. It was founded in 1956 in

Miami Beach, Florida Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. The municipality is located on natural and human-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean ...

, by Stuart and Clifford S. Perlman when they purchased Lum's hot dog stand for $10,000. Over the next few years, the Perlman brothers opened three additional Lum's restaurants, for a total of four by 1961. Clifford Perlman, in addition to owning Lum's, had been serving as the president of Southern Wood Industries, Inc., resigned that position to work full-time for Lum's. Under the brothers, Lum's began aggressively expanding and franchising; the signature item was

hot dogs A hot dog is a grilled, steamed, or boiled sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced bun. The term ''hot dog'' can also refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener ( Vienna sausage) or a frankfurter ( Frankfurter Würs ...

steamed in

beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...

. In 1969, Lum's, Inc., was admitted to the

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. Lum's, Inc., purchased

Caesars Palace Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The hotel is situated on the west side of the Las Vegas Strip between Bellagio and The Mirage. It is one of Las Vegas's largest and best known landmarks. Caesar ...

for $60 million in 1969. At that time, Caesars was a 500-room hotel-casino on the

Las Vegas strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of the Las Vegas city limits ...

. The food operations of Lum's, Inc., were sold in 1971 to John Y. Brown, then chairman of

Kentucky Fried Chicken KFC Corporation, doing business as KFC (an abbreviation of Kentucky Fried Chicken), is an American fast food restaurant chain specializing in fried chicken and chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, it is the world's s ...

, along with a group of investors. At the time of sale, the company owned and franchised 400 stores in the continental US, Hawaii,

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, and Europe. Brown sought to improve the menu, and searched America for "the perfect hamburger". In 1971, Brown bought Ollie Gleichenhaus's "Ollie Burger" recipe for $1 million (), along with stock in the new company and a ten-year contract for $50,000 a year to appear as the official spokesperson of the Ollieburger on behalf of Lum's. In 1978, Wienerwald Holdings, A.G., a Swiss holding company and parent of the Wienerwald restaurant chain, under the direction of Friedrich Jahn, purchased the 273

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 many retail markets, dining markets, and service categories in many pa ...

from Brown. Wienerwald had overextended itself and was forced to file for

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

in 1982. Two Jahn-controlled Lum's franchises were also forced to close all of their 70 Lum's locations and file for bankruptcy. The original Lum's location closed in 1983. For a time, there was only one Lum's operating, in Bellevue, Nebraska. In 2010 a Lum's opened in Seekonk, Massachusetts, but later closed, leaving the Nebraska restaurant as the sole location. The Bellevue location closed on May 28, 2017. The Lum's located in Davie, Florida claimed to be the last remaining store when it closed in the late 2000s. https://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/restaurants/article149485859.html The Miami Beach location was still open around 1998. For a time in the 1970s, the company's commercial spokesman was Milton Berle. Lum's makes a cameo appearance in Martin Scorsese's 2019 film '' The Irishman''.

References

External links

Lum's TV Commercial with Milton BerleThe Daily Meal
11 biggest failed restaurant chains: Lum's {{Coord, 25.8138, -80.1283, display=tithe Restaurant chains in the United States Restaurants in Miami Defunct restaurant chains in the United States Restaurants established in 1956 Companies that have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1982 1956 establishments in Florida Restaurants disestablished in 2017 2017 disestablishments in Nebraska

See also

References

External links