Horn & Hardart was known as the first automated fast food joint, or “Automats.” Here, you could purchase food already laid out and prepared for you from behind a glass window.
All you had to do was grab what you wanted and pay for it as you would with a vending machine. It was this unique experience that kept customers flocking back for more, which is why it became so famous.
Burger Chef
Burger Chef was founded in 1954 by General Electric in Indianapolis. The chain had over 1,200 locations nationwide during its prime and quickly became popular.
With all this success, you might be wondering just what happened to it? Perhaps if we tell you its biggest competitor was McDonald’s, you might be able to guess how it went down.
Horn & Hardart
Although this seemed like the easiest way to get food on the go, without having to line up behind a check-out counter.
Sadly the last Horn & Hardart location closed in 1991.
Minnie Pearl’s Chicken
Minnie Pearl’s was such a huge success, that at one point, there were over 500 restaurants around the country. Sadly, because of the lack of foresight in cohesive menus and recipes, the entire venture started crashing down.
The restaurant also started losing to its Kentucky Fried competitor, so they decided to close it.
Minnie Pearl’s Chicken
One of Minnie Pearl’s biggest competitors was none other than KFC. In fact, Minnie Pearl’s Chicken was one of the only fast food chains built to compete with KFC.
It was co-founded by entrepreneur John Jay Hooker and the famous country singer, Minnie Pearl, which is how they came up with the name.