Yankee Doodle Dandy first opened in 1966 and was founded by business brothers Chris and Bill Proyce. After 10 years, their restaurant started to explode in the Chicago area.
The chain reached 27 locations in its prime and most of them were franchised. Yankee Doodle Dandy was well known for its red, white, and blue motifs. As the name suggests, it depicts the perfect American burger.
Pup ‘N’ Taco
Pup ‘N’ Taco started in Southern California and specialized in tacos, hot dogs, and pastrami sandwiches. In 1965, their first branch opened in Pasadena. In 1973, just a few years after, they blossomed to a total of 62 chains state-wide.
Pup ‘N’ Taco was known for having spots in prime locations, which helped bring in customers. Unfortunately, this also became their undoing.
Pup ‘N’ Taco
The high real estate prices overwhelmed the company, which eventually sold out to Taco Bell in 1984.
Some of the last remaining franchise locations flipped their name slightly to “Pop ‘N’ Taco.”
Yankee Doodle Dandy
After a while, the brothers wanted to get out of the fast food business and decided to pursue another restaurant idea.
Slowly, the chains started dying until the last one finally closed. In 1988, the brothers opened four of their own casual dining restaurants called Bailey’s Restaurant & Bar.
Doggie Diner
Doggie Diner was iconic for its trademark mascot, the Dachshund, who also happens to be dressed in a chef’s hat and cute bow tie.
It originally started out as a small chain of restaurants in San Francisco and Oakland. As you may have assumed, they specialized in hamburgers and hot dogs (pun totally intended!)