Morrison's Cafeterias was a chain of cafeteria-style restaurants, located in the

Southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also known as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical List of regions in the United States, region of the United States located in the eastern portion of the Southern United States and t ...

with a concentration of locations in

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and

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. Generally found in

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, Morrison's primary competition was Piccadilly Cafeterias. It was especially popular in Florida, with its high proportion of retirees. At its peak, the company was a symbol of good

Southern cooking The cuisine of the Southern United States encompasses diverse food traditions of several subregions, including cuisine of Southeastern Native American tribes, Tidewater, Appalachian, Ozarks, Lowcountry, Cajun, Creole, African American cuisi ...

and operated 151 restaurants under the Morrison's name in 13 states. The company began as a single cafeteria opened in 1920 in

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. After a successful vote to annex areas west of the city limits in July 2023, Mobil ...

by J. A. Morrison. Morrison helped develop the cafeteria dining concept, which was unique at the time and would later become characteristic of the Southern United States. More than 100 food items were prepared "homemade" daily. By 1950, the company had 17 locations in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, Tennessee, and Florida, with the majority of them in Florida.Morrison's company history
from ''International Directory of Company Histories,'' Vol. 11., St. James Press, 1995; posted by FundingUniverse.com; accessed 13 January 2017 Morrison's steadily expanded throughout the Southeast over the next two decades, eventually becoming the nation's largest cafeteria chain. After winning a contract to cater to the cast and crew of the film '' The Greatest Show on Earth,'' Morrison's branched out into catering contracts for schools, including state universities such as

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

in Tallahassee,

Stetson University Stetson University is a private university in DeLand, Florida, United States. Established in 1883 as DeLand Academy, it was later renamed John B. Stetson University in honor of John B. Stetson. The university's main campus in DeLand spans 175 ...

in DeLand, corporate dining facilities, and

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s. Its effort to diversify into non-dining businesses in the 1960s was less successful, and those enterprises were sold off in the early 1980s by new management. In 1982, Morrison's acquired the 15-unit Ruby Tuesday chain. It used this acquisition to launch other casual dining concepts, such as L&N Seafood Grill, Silver Spoon Café, Mozzarella's, and Tia's Tex-Mex. It also acquired three other food-contract firms. By the mid-1990s, the new restaurant concepts — particularly Ruby Tuesday — were doing far better than the original cafeteria chain, as customers' expectations and tastes had changed. Because of this, Morrison's decided to split the company into three new firms: Morrison's Fresh Cooking, the cafeteria chain; Ruby Tuesday, Inc., which also included the other casual dining concepts; and Morrison Health Care, which took over the food contracts for hospitals (the educational and business contracts had been previously sold to a competitor). Morrison Health Care is now part of

Compass Group Compass Group plc is a British multinational contract foodservice company headquartered in Chertsey, England. It is the largest contract foodservice company in Europe, ahead of Sodexo, employing over 500,000 people. It serves meals in location ...

. In 1998, Morrison's Fresh Cooking — unable to withstand the loss in popularity of cafeterias in general — sold out to Piccadilly Cafeterias. Piccadilly has since closed numerous former Morrison's locations outside of Florida and Georgia. Piccadilly — went through

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

proceedings in 2012. As of April 2024, the company operates one location in

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. However, several locations still remain in Georgia (Metropolitan Atlanta area).

External links

Morrison's company history
from ''International Directory of Company Histories,'' Vol. 11., St. James Press, 1995; posted at FundingUniverse.com

References

{{reflist Companies based in Mobile, Alabama Restaurants established in 1920 Defunct restaurant chains in the United States Cafeteria-style restaurants Restaurants disestablished in 1998 1920 establishments in Alabama 1998 disestablishments in Georgia (U.S. state)