By Erika Wheless. Published on January 14, 2025.
Sometimes the memory of a good meal sticks with you.
“Chi-Chi’s was the first time I ever had chips and queso as a kid. I also remember the seafood enchiladas were off the chain,” reads a post on an r/nostalgia Reddit thread where customers have been reminiscing about visits to old restaurant chains.
Soon, the Mexican food chain will become more than just a memory. Two decades after Chi-Chi’s went out of business, it is being resurrected by Michael McDermott, the son of one of the original co-founders, who is planning two new locations in Minnesota.
He is among several restaurant operators attempting to breathe new life into dining chains that have been dead or in severe long-term decline, including Steak and Ale, Ground Round, Friendly’s and Roy Rogers. The operators want to fill what they see as a gap in the category between fast-casual and expensive sit-down restaurants. They are hoping to lure back old brand fans while winning over younger generations.
Paul Mangiamele, who last year opened a Steak and Ale in Burnsville, Minnesota, expects that excitement among the brand’s older fans will reach younger consumers by word of mouth, such as grandparents telling their kids about dining or working at Steak and Ale.
“It’s all about newstalgia—kids want to try things they never experienced,” said Mangiamele. “Word of mouth is so strong, younger generations give us a try. We are creating new emotional connections for a new generation to brands that pioneered casual dining.”
Mangiamele’s resuscitation of Steak and Ale has been over a decade in the making. He bought the rights and intellectual property of the brand in 2014. At its height in the 1980s, there were 280 restaurants, but Steak and Ale’s parent company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2008 and all remaining restaurants closed that summer.
To gauge interest in reviving the brand, Mangiamele created a “Steak and Ale’s Comeback” page on Facebook in 2013 which now has over 55,000 followers. In its heyday Steak and Ale was known for its salad bar, honey wheat bread and decor reminiscent of an old English tavern, which were highlighted in its TV commercials.
The new Steak and Ale still has the salad bar and bread and nods to its past on its menu by highlighting classic items such as the stuffed mushrooms, Kensington Club steak and chocolate cake using a small yellow shield icon.
Mangiamele, the founder, chairman and CEO of Steak and Ale parent company of Legendary Restaurant Brands, points to the restaurant’s Hawaiian chicken menu item—two chicken breasts, rice pilaf, broccoli, a loaf of bread with honey butter and access to the salad bar—for $17.
“Sure you could go to Chipotle and get a burrito with chips and guacamole and a soft drink for around $20, but you have to stand in line or pick it up and hope they did it right,” said Mangiamele. “But we give you atmosphere, tableside coffee, a desert menu.”
Mangiamele said that the brand’s franchise partner has committed to opening 14 additional restaurants in the Midwest, but did not give a timeline.
Clowns and fried ice cream
Ground Round—which is attempting to grow again after declaring bankruptcy 21 years ago—is also trying to provide an affordable sit-down dining option, according to its new owners, husband-and-wife team Joe and Nachi Shea. “There has been a separation in the restaurant space between where you get more affordable meals faster versus where you get quality meals with a good atmosphere,” Nachi Shea said. “But that is usually very expensive and makes it hard for families to go out to eat each week. We want you to have both—quality food and atmosphere for an affordable value.”
Pricing has been a major issue in the restaurant industry as casual dining chains seek to recover from the stubborn inflation of recent years that forced many operators to focus on value. In 2024, fast casual and limited service restaurants (i.e. fast food) saw upticks in consumer spending (5.2%) and traffic (1%), according to Technomic. Full-service restaurants (those with a waitstaff) saw spending increase 2.6%, but traffic was down 1.5%. There have been restaurant brands whose value messaging has paid off. Chili’s, for instance, has pushed its “3 For Me” value meal—a bottomless non-alcoholic beverage, bottomless chips and salsa and a burger and fries for $10.99—which helped the Brinker International chain’s comparable restaurant sales rise 14.1% in the fiscal first quarter ended on Sept. 25, 2024.
The Sheas bought the intellectual property rights to Ground Round in 2023. Joe Shea had previously tried to become a franchisee in Ground Round’s heyday, but could never get in touch with the franchisee group, he said.
Ground Round began in 1969 as a restaurant offshoot of the Howard Johnson’s hotel chain and became known for hosting kids’ birthday parties where mascot Bingo the Clown would make an appearance.
The brand had over 200 locations in the late 1980s. It abruptly shut down its corporate-owned locations on Valentine’s Day weekend in 2004 after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. A co-op of franchisees acquired the chain out of bankruptcy but were not able to turn the brand around. The chief financial officer reached out to Shea to let him know they were shutting down the restaurants and looking to sell the trademarks. The Sheas plan to open a new Ground Round in Shrewsberry, Massachusetts early this year. (There are four legacy Ground Rounds—three in North Dakota and one in Ohio—still operating today under a licensing agreement with the Sheas.)
While Chi-Chi’s has not operated a restaurant in nearly 20 years, the brand has stayed relevant with a line of packaged chips, salsa, tortillas and other items controlled by Hormel Foods. The brand—which once marketed itself as “America’s incredible Mexican restaurant”—will soon return to the dining scene under the leadership of Michael McDermott, who in early December finalized a deal with Hormel to use the trademark on restaurants opening this year.
Michael McDermott holding a framed Chi-Chi’s menu.
Credit: Chi-Chi’s Restaurants
McDermott, a restaurant industry veteran involved with brands such as Kona Grill and Rojo Mexican Grill, could not be reached for an interview. A December press release announcing the Hormel deal stated that he is “determined to honor his family’s legacy by combining the classic Chi-Chi’s restaurant experience with modern influences.”
That classic experience included bringing Tex-Mex casual dining to the masses with its large portions, fried ice cream and the tagline, “A celebration of food!,” while jovial advertising was filled with smiling faces devouring nachos and margaritas.
Chi-Chi’s, which was started in 1975 in Minneapolis by Marno McDermott and Max McGee, a former Green Bay Packers player, eventually reached 200 locations. The brand had different owners over the years and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2003 under then-owner Prandium Group. Around the same time, Chi-Chi’s was the source of a large hepatitis A outbreak in Pittsburgh, causing four deaths. It shut down all locations in 2004.
Roast beef and ice cream
Cowboy-themed Roy Rogers and ice-cream focused Friendly’s are further along in their revivals.
Roy Rogers is named after the actor and singer of the same name. The first location was opened by the Marriott Corporation (the hotelier) in 1968 but was later sold to Hardee’s, which sold off locations to other restaurant chains.
Peter Jr. and Jim Plamondon, sons of Pete Plamondon Sr., who helped launch Roy Rogers, bought the brand in the early 2000s. There were nearly 650 Roy Rogers locations at the chain’s peak—there are about 50 today. But more are on the way: A new Roy Rogers is slated to open in Cherry Hill, New Jersey this year and two more are planned for 2026, one in Maryland and another in Virginia.
“Over the past few years, we’ve revitalized our operations, improved our technology, and strengthened our marketing,” John Giffin, senior marketing manager at Roy Rogers, wrote in an email. “We now have a solid foundation in place, which allows us to confidently expand. Also the demand from loyal customers, many of whom fondly remember Roy Rogers from its earlier days, has played an important role in our decision to grow. We want to meet that demand and also reintroduce the brand to a new generation of diners who value quality, variety, and customization.”
Roy Rogers is known for its burgers, fried chicken and its signature Fixin’s Bar, which lets customers add however many sandwich toppings they want. Roy Rogers also serves roast beef sandwiches, making it a competitor for Arby’s. The chain focuses on roast beef being seasoned and cooked fresh each day.
“While both brands serve roast beef, we believe Roy Rogers offers a distinctive experience with our focus on quality, variety, and customization,” Giffin wrote.
Friendly’s currently has 99 locations, down from its peak of 850 locations in 1996. The chain has its sights set on expanding into Texas this year following the recent openings of stores in Orlando, Florida, with the goal of opening more in the Northeast and the Southeast.
“We are not going to grow for growth’s sake,” said Sherif Mityas, CEO of Brix Holdings, the parent company of Friendly’s. “That got the old Friendly’s in trouble. We want to open three to four stores a year with the right partners to build on our brand awareness.”
Part of Friendly’s location scouting is driven by data on transplants, especially Northeasterners who grew up with the brand but have moved to warmer climates in the South. Friendly’s also focuses on locations near family activities, such as schools or baseball fields.
Like other comeback brands, Friendly’s believes it brings value to the sit-down dining scene.
“The opportunity for guests, especially middle-class families, to have that [sit-down family] experience and not spend $100, we think that is a sustainable and needed value offering,” Mityas said.
The brand was started in the 1930s by the Blake brothers as a modest neighborhood ice cream shop in Springfield, Massachusetts. It later expanded its menu to include hamburgers. In 1979, the Blakes sold the brand to Hershey Co., kicking off years of being resold to new buyers until Friendly’s filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (for the second time) in November 2020. The next year, it was bought by Brix Holdings, which runs the company today. The chain still focuses on its ice cream sundaes with candy faces.
Menu upgrades
As they attempt comebacks the chains are operating in a vastly different environment—including the need to appeal to Gen Z consumers who often favor delivery over dining in.
“Some [Gen Zers] don’t want to talk to anyone,” said Kim Beechner, founder and CEO of Embark Marketing, which specializes in restaurants. “How do restaurants balance that when the point of the restaurant is coming in to eat?”
But others think that younger generations might welcome the chance to dine out on occasion.
“I have talked to my kids about going to Ground Round and Chi-Chi’s and while they won’t experience them the same way I did, they want the camaraderie so it’s not as lost on Gen Z as some people might think,” said Eric Lauer, managing consultant at Synergy Restaurant Consultants, which helps restaurants update their brands. He pointed to his Gen Z son’s hockey team going out to a sit-down dinner after a weeknight practice. “They might not have the money to do it often but they do it when they want.”
In a bid to bring in younger customers, the chains have updated their menus to be more inclusive of consumers’ dietary preferences. Ground Round is replacing the peanuts customers loved to shell and throw on the floor with popcorn due to allergy concerns. Steak and Ale has added mocktails to its drink menu.
Friendly’s updated its salads and does a monthly ice cream sundae to drive repeat visits. It also added a Doritos burger and a cheese skirt burger—a huge circle of fried cheese that spills far over the edges of a burger.
“It’s Instagrammable,” said Mityas.
Roy Rogers appealed to Gen Z’s love of heat by partnering with Mike’s Hot Honey for a chicken and waffles dish late last year. It also tested cold brew as a limited-time menu item, which did so well the chain plans to bring it back this year.
“Maybe some of our traditional core customers don’t know what cold brew is, but for millennials and Gen Z, coffee is a big part of their day,” said Giffin.
He has also been thinking about how to highlight how customizable the Roy Rogers’ menu can be through the chain’s Fixin’s bar.
Marketing newstalgia
Experts say a strong social media presence will be needed to bring in younger consumers, especially when many of them may have never heard of these restaurants.
“I think they’ll need to market on social media in these bite-sized pieces and tease younger consumers about who they are,” said Amanda Stokes, managing consultant at Synergy Restaurant Consultants.
That may be a challenge since many of these restaurants do not have large social media followings. At the time of writing, Steak and Ale does not have a TikTok account but is on Instagram, with 300 followers. Roy Rogers has only 41 followers on TikTok and just 6,000 on Instagram. Ground Round has yet to launch its social media accounts and has not done any paid marketing for the restaurant, save for a vinyl banner announcing the opening.
“We have not thought about marketing at all,” Nachi Shea said. “It’s all been people sharing photos of the banner on social media, and it’s been covered from there. We recently learned that The Daily Mail wrote about us after they messaged Joe on LinkedIn. We would love to ride the interest as long as we can and hope that the quality of our food will be our marketing effort.”
Meanwhile, fans, especially Gen X content creators, have been posting about the comebacks on social media.
Steak and Ale’s Mangiamele said the brand has eschewed TV ads, instead investing in social media, digital channels, local door hangers and coupons. The sole location also has a brand ambassador who gets out into the neighborhood to drive trial by finding catering or large group dining occasions, such as company luncheons or local conferences.
Roy Rogers has taken a similar approach, tapping into local radio and social media, according to Giffin. It has also focused on teachers and educators, encouraging store managers to visit local schools, cater staff lunches and even give out enamel pins to teachers so they could get 15% off their orders. (Roy Rogers’ usual educator discount is 10%.)
Along with digital and local TV and radio buys, Friendly’s has leaned into social media and influencers. Friendly’s has over 13,000 TikTok followers and 46,000 Instagram followers.
In 2023, Friendly’s partnered with the Jonas Brothers (who started their band in a Friendly’s) on three sundaes and provided free ice cream on National Ice Cream Day as part of a partnership with the Museum of Ice Cream in New York.
The chain’s moves are being noticed on the Reddit nostalgia thread, with one poster raving: “A Fribble, the kids Chicken Lickn’ platter and a cone head sundae. Perfection!”
