Culture

Once-Beloved Restaurant Chains That Are No Longer America's Favorite By Jay Wilson Aug. 4, 2025 9:19 am EST

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Chain restaurants are, in many ways, the backbone of American food culture. There are hundreds upon hundreds of chains in the United States, with all of them offering up a familiar atmosphere to their customers, regardless of where they may be in the country. Chain restaurants took off in earnest with the opening of White Castle in 1921, and since then, countless businesses have come and gone. While many of these chains never quite took off, others made it seriously big, before retreating into the shadows of culture or losing their shine somehow.

Some of these chains might surprise you, too. We're not talking about long-lost restaura

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