Roy Rogers Franchise Company, LLC is a chain of fast food restaurants primarily located in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States. The chain originated as the rebranding of the RoBee's House of Beef chain of Fort Wayne, Indiana, acquired by the Marriott Corporation in February 1968. However, Marriott first used the Roy Rogers Roast Beef name on conversions of the company's Junior Hot Shoppes in the Washington, D.C. area in April 1968, then the existing RoBee's stores. An aggressive nationwide franchising campaign was launched. At its peak, the chain included over 600 locations. The chain now has 37 locations in six states, either company owned or franchised.
Perkins LLC is an American casual dining restaurant chain that serves breakfast and other homestyle meals throughout the day in addition to bakery items such as pies, muffins and other sweets. As of April 2024, the company operates 265 locations in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
A cafeteria, sometimes called a canteen outside the U.S. and Canada, is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether in a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school; a school dining location is also referred to as a dining hall or lunchroom. Cafeterias are different from coffeehouses, although the English term came from the Spanish term cafetería, which carries the same meaning.
Hy-Vee, Inc. is an employee-owned chain of supermarkets in the Midwestern and Southern United States, with more than 280 locations in Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin, with stores planned in Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama. Hy-Vee was founded in 1930 by Charles Hyde and David Vredenburg in Beaconsfield, Iowa, in a small brick building known as the Beaconsfield Supply Store, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
White Castle is an American regional hamburger restaurant chain with 345 locations across 13 states, with its greatest presence in the Midwest and New York metropolitan area. Founded on September 13, 1921, in Wichita, Kansas, it has been generally credited as the world's first fast-food hamburger chain. It is known for its small, square hamburgers referred to as "sliders". The burgers were initially priced at five cents until 1929 and remained at 10 cents until 1949. In the 1940s, White Castle periodically ran promotional ads in local newspapers which contained coupons offering five burgers for ten cents, takeout only. In 2014, Time named the White Castle slider "The Most Influential Burger of All Time".
Parisian Inc. was an American chain of upmarket department stores founded and headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. Competing mainly through the 1980s against Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, and Gus Mayer, Parisian underwent a series of restructurings and mergers during its 130-year history, and was taken over by Proffitt’s, Inc. in 1996. In September 2006, Belk purchased Parisian from Saks for $285 million with twenty-four locations later becoming Belk by September 2007. Parisian was quickly sold once more in October 2006 to The Bon-Ton with stores operating in Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio. Parisian operated individually under its own separate division until 2013 when the exclusive rights to operate Parisian had expired, marking the end of this upmarket department store.
York Steak House was a national chain of steakhouse restaurants in the United States. It was among several chains owned at the time by cereal manufacturer General Mills. By 1982, there were nearly 200 restaurants in 27 states from Texas to Maine. Though popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the majority of its locations shut down in 1989.
Burger Chef was an American fast-food restaurant chain. It began operating in 1954 in Indianapolis, Indiana, expanded throughout the United States, and at its peak in 1973 had 1,050 locations, including some in Canada. The chain featured several signature items, such as the Big Shef and Super Shef hamburgers.
Bakers Square Restaurant & Bakery is a casual dining restaurant chain in the United States. Known for its pies, Bakers Square also offers full breakfast, lunch and dinner menus. The chain is owned by BBQ Holdings. As of April 2024, the company operates 9 locations in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, and Ohio.
L. S. Ayres and Company was a department store based in Indianapolis, Indiana, and founded in 1872 by Lyman S. Ayres. Over the years its Indianapolis flagship store, which opened in 1905 and was later enlarged, became known for its women's fashions, the Tea Room, holiday events and displays, and the basement budget store. As urban populations shifted to the suburbs, Ayres established branch stores in new shopping centers in several Indiana cities. Ayres also acquired retail subsidiaries in Springfield, Illinois; Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Louisville, Kentucky. Ayr-Way, the Ayres discount store subsidiary, became the first discount store launched by a full-line department store. By the end of the 1960s Ayres had become a diversified merchandising business with retail department stores, a chain of discount stores, specialty clothing stores, a home furnishings showroom, and a real estate holding company. A long-time Ayres slogan, "That Ayres Look", promoted the company as a fashion leader, and by 1972 it had become the oldest continuous retail slogan in the United States.
Rax Roast Beef is a regional U.S. fast food restaurant chain specializing in roast beef sandwiches. The company has been through many iterations, declaring bankruptcy more than once, rising to as many as 504 locations in 38 U.S. states in the 1980s and falling to fewer than 20 locations on more than one occasion. As of 2024, Rax is based in Ironton, Ohio, and has only six franchisee-owned restaurants still in operation.
Marsh Supermarkets was an American retail food chain headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, with a peak number of 86 stores in 2013 located throughout central Indiana and parts of western Ohio. Its eventual parent company was Sun Capital Partners, headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida.
Cheeseburger in Paradise was a casual dining theme restaurant chain in the United States that operated between 2002 and 2020. The chain started in 2002 as a partnership of American musician Jimmy Buffett's company, the Orlando, Florida-based Margaritaville Holdings LLC, and OSI Restaurant Partners, with Buffett licensing the name and Outback Steakhouse operating the franchising of restaurants. After a change of ownership in 2012, most of the restaurants were closed by 2014. The last location closed in September 2020.
Bill Knapp's was an American family restaurant chain. It was founded by Clinton B. Knapp, in Battle Creek, Michigan, in 1948. The chain operated in Michigan, Ohio, Florida, Illinois and Indiana, with more than 60 locations at its peak.
VPS Convenience Store Group was an American convenience store chain headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina that could trace its roots to the founding of the first Village Pantry convenience store in 1966. VPS was sold in two parts in 2013 and 2015 to GPM Investments.
Ted's Montana Grill is an American restaurant chain. The company was founded by media mogul and bison rancher Ted Turner, along with restaurateur George McKerrow Jr., with the help of corporate chef Chris Raucci, as a for-profit effort to stop the extinction of the American bison. The first Ted's Montana Grill opened in January 2002 in Columbus, Ohio. Today it has 39 restaurants in 16 states. Its first Montana location opened at the Baxter Hotel in Bozeman in June 2008. The company is based in Atlanta.
Danners, Inc was a company based in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, that operated retail and restaurant outlets. Its largest, and oldest, division was the Danners 5 & 10 chain of five and dime stores, which it sold off in 1985.
Laughner's Cafeteria was an Indianapolis, Indiana-based cafeteria-style restaurant chain.
