Why would anyone with decades of brand recognition throw it all away? Uncle Ben’s Rice, Aunt Jemima’s Syrup, Land O’Lakes butter and a host of others blew it. I no longer buy those brands not because they’re bad products, but because they were stupid enough to go woke like a bunch of lemmings. Idiots...
| Restaurant / Chain | Year(s) Closed | Reason for Closure / Decline | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sweet Tomatoes / Souplantation | 2020 (all 97 locations) | Ultimate unlimited salad-bar buffet chain; self-serve model already felt dated pre-COVID, then became impossible during the pandemic. Liquidated, never reopened. | |
| Ruby Tuesday | 2017–2025 (~75% of locations gone) | Once-famous for its endless Garden Bar; traffic collapsed as fast-casual salad chains took over and the rest of the menu felt stuck in the 2000s. | |
| Old Country Buffet / Ryan’s / HomeTown Buffet | 2016–2023 | King of the ’90s all-you-can-eat buffet; sneeze-guard empire crumbled as tastes shifted and hygiene concerns grew. Almost all locations gone. | |
| Fresh Choice | 2012 | West-Coast salad-bar buffet chain; lost to Sweetgreen-style fast-casual and never recovered from 2008 recession damage. All locations gone. | |
| Sizzler | 1990s–2025 (over 625 U.S. stores) | ’80s–’90s steak-and-buffet icon; multiple bankruptcies and pandemic fallout left ~74 locations. | |
| Hooters | 2024–2025 (40+ U.S. stores) | Dated “breastaurant” gimmick; Chapter 11 in 2025 with $376M debt. Multiple locations shuttered. | |
| Cracker Barrel | 2023–2025 | Rustic country-kitsch losing younger diners; traffic plunge after 2025 logo refresh. | > |
| Wendy's | 2024 (140+ stores) | Company called them “outdated” with poor sales. | |
| Chi-Chi's | 2003 | Kitschy Tex-Mex + hepatitis outbreak. All U.S. locations closed. | |
| Kenny Rogers Roasters | 2011 | ’90s country-chicken nostalgia faded. |
They are trying to recover from the damage the rebranding did. Uncle Ben will be replaced by George Floyd, Aunt Jemima will be replaced by Jasmine Crockett and a new injun on Land O'Lakes butter will be a certain Senator.
That was the funniest one: keep the land, keep the lake, even keep the butter but chase off the Indian. Just like real life.
I was a regular customer of Gillette, but I haven’t used a Gillette product since 2019, when they ran that “toxic male” ad.