Americas Cafeteria Chains Vanished Tray by Tray

Guess which of the South's great cafeteria chains still steams a tray line today: Morrison's, Piccadilly, or Luby's. I'll settle it before the last chapter, and the answer comes with a dollar figure I'm not typing here. Mobile, Alabama opened the South's first Morrison's in 1920. Bob Luby set up his San Antonio line in 1947, and the LuAnn platter fed two generations of Texans after church on Sundays. You didn't order at these places; you slid a tray down the rails and pointed at what looked good. Then fast food beat the line on speed, the mall food court beat it on choice, and the three names started disappearing into each other. One of them ended with its own shareholders voting the company out of existence, and the price a century of Southern cooking finally sold for would fit on a meal ticket. Chapters: 0:00 A tray hits the brass rails 3:00 Morrison's opens in Mobile in 1920 5:30 Bob Luby's San Antonio line 8:00 Sunday after church in good clothes 10:30 Fast food beats the line 13:00 Two names become one 15:30 The shareholders take a vote 17:30 The last steam tables in the South What was on your tray every single time, no exceptions? Mine was the fried okra, and I defend that choice at the steam tables in the last chapter. #VanishedAmerica #AmericanNostalgia #Cafeteria ---------------------------------------------- Disclaimer : About this channel: Walter's Vanished America is an independent research production. Some narration is delivered with AI voice assistance and some illustrative imagery is AI-generated or creatively restored — all such material is disclosed via YouTube Studio's altered-or-synthetic-content checkbox. Historical figures, dates, and corporate timelines are researched from public records, trade journals, and viewer correspondence; dramatised passages are clearly framed as reconstructions, not interviews. Archival photographs are used under fair-use for historical commentary and education. This channel is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by any company referenced in its videos.