12 Restaurant Chains That Stopped Being Worth the Money

The restaurant chains your family loved for thirty years are closing by the dozen. Bankruptcies, locked doors, whole chains shrunk to a handful, and it was not the economy. Twelve dying American restaurant chains, counted down from 12 to 1, each with its year of birth, its number for the fall, and the one moment it stopped being worth the money. Bennigan's closed about 150 locations almost overnight. Boston Market went from more than 1,000 restaurants to about 15. TGI Fridays filed for bankruptcy with more than $100 million in debt. Cracker Barrel erased the old man from its logo and watched its stock drop about 12% in days. Red Lobster made its endless shrimp deal permanent at about $20 and lost about $11 million in a single quarter. This is a piece of American business history about how these sit-down chains all broke the same simple promise: honest value for your money. If you like true stories about the rise and fall of once-great American names, subscribe to The Wreckage and stay for more.