The Ground Round was founded on October 25, 1969, in Massachusetts by Howard Johnson’s, and by 1985 it had 215 restaurants. As of July 2026, Wikipedia lists the chain at three locations. That drop, from hundreds of dining rooms to a handful, is shared by four chains that once filled American casual-dining rows.
The other three are Steak and Ale, Chi-Chi’s and Bennigan’s. None of the four is entirely gone, since each has a small revival or a few remaining locations, but all are rare sights compared with their peak years.
Steak and Ale, the Tudor-Style Steakhouse
Norman Brinker opened Steak and Ale in Dallas on February 26, 1966, according to Wikipedia’s entry on the chain. The dimly lit Tudor-style dining rooms billed an upscale steak experience at lower prices, and the chain grew to a height of 280 locations in the late 1980s.
The chain’s own site says it was inspired by the warmth of an English inn and introduced several innovations to American dining, including the salad bar. Menu favorites included herb-roasted prime rib, the Kensington club, New York strip and filet mignon, plus an unlimited salad bar, free drink refills and honey wheat bread. The chain closed its remaining 58 locations on July 29, 2008, then saw a first new restaurant open on July 8, 2024, in Burnsville, Minnesota. The revival, according to the chain’s website, brings back the Kensington Club, Hawaiian Chicken, the salad bar and honey wheat bread, with a prime-rib carving station and tableside service added. Frenz Hub has a post titled 15 Foods From the ’60s Most Boomers Loved With a Passion.
Ground Round and the Peanut Shells
Ground Round started as a chain of pubs with a simple menu, and it was meant to convert weaker Howard Johnson’s locations. After the 1973 oil crisis it became the company’s main growth focus, with 64 units by 1975. In the 1970s and 1980s it was known for children’s parties, silent movies and cartoons on a big screen, a mascot named Bingo the Clown, and free peanuts, whose shells customers could drop on the floor.
The menu later grew to more than 200 items, and ownership changed four times in 22 years, which left less money for remodels, Wikipedia says. Corporate-owned restaurants closed abruptly on February 13, 2004, and a franchisee cooperative bought the chain out of bankruptcy with 71 locations. Three remain, in Massachusetts, North Dakota and Ohio. The chain’s website lists a Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, restaurant at 271 Grafton St. and describes a reinvented Ground Round that honors its legacy. Frenz Hub has a post titled 31 Forgotten Household Items from the Past.
Chi-Chi’s and the Salsa Slogan
Chi-Chi’s opened in 1975 in Richfield, Minnesota, a Minneapolis suburb, founded by Marno McDermott and former Green Bay Packers player Max McGee, Wikipedia reports. The chain’s name came from the nickname of McDermott’s wife. By March 1995 it had grown to 210 locations, and its slogans included “A celebration of food” and, later, “Life always needs a little salsa.”
The American restaurant chain closed on September 18, 2004, after a bankruptcy filing, and Outback Steakhouse bought its remaining locations. The name lives on in grocery items, and a European franchise used it until its last location, in Austria, closed in 2024. In 2025, McDermott’s son, Michael, opened a new restaurant in Minnesota with plans to revive the American chain. The revived restaurant’s site lists a West End Boulevard address in St. Louis Park and describes family dining in a Mexican garden atmosphere in the original concept. A sister site has a post titled 10 Kitchen Appliances That Changed How American Families Cooked.
Bennigan’s and the Monte Cristo
Bennigan’s, an Irish pub-themed restaurant, began in 1976 in Atlanta as a division of Pillsbury, according to Wikipedia. It was one of America’s original casual dining concepts and became known for its Monte Cristo sandwich, which had several meats batter-dipped, fried and coated with powdered sugar.
The Monte Cristo has older roots than the chain. Wikipedia’s entry describes it as a ham and cheese sandwich dipped in egg and pan-fried, a variation of the French croque monsieur, and traces the first documented reference to a restaurant industry publication in 1923. Sweeter versions, it says, are often covered in powdered sugar and served with maple syrup or preserves, which is the style the Bennigan’s version leaned toward.
At its peak the chain had over 300 restaurants. It filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in July 2008, closing all 150 corporate locations in the U.S. Today it operates 21 brick-and-mortar locations and 21 delivery-only concepts called Bennigan’s On The Fly. The chain’s website says the Turkey O’Toole and the World Famous Monte Cristo are still on the menu. A sister site has a post titled Families in the 60s & 70s Had 8 Saturday Morning Habits That Today’s Generation Is Missing.
What the Four Have in Common
Wikipedia’s accounts of the four chains point to similar reasons for the decline across the group: outdated decor, oversized menus, repeated ownership changes and competition from newer casual-dining brands such as Chili’s and Applebee’s. Bennigan’s entry cites failure to update, grow and differentiate the brand, along with shifting consumer preferences.
There is a family tree too. Wikipedia’s profile of Norman Brinker says he founded Steak and Ale, helped establish Bennigan’s and Chili’s, and later founded Brinker International. After the 2008 bankruptcy, the brand, recipes and other intellectual property of Steak and Ale were bought by Legendary Restaurant Brands, the parent company of Bennigan’s. Frenz Hub has a post titled 8 Little Rituals From the ’80s and ’90s That Disappeared Without Much Notice.
A Light Reality Check
None of these chains has vanished entirely, and “rarely seen” depends on where a diner lives. The figures come from Wikipedia, which can change as locations open or close, and the counts above are as Wikipedia and the chains’ own sites list them.
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Image: Daniel X. O’Neil – CC BY 2.0/Wikimedia Commons
