"America's Greatest Brands" seems mostly to be a scam. They publish that register and then approach corporations to purchase copies of the book at quite a markup to give to "clients." My company was chosen a few years ago and I certainly didn't find it worthy of a press release. They were a little unhappy that, while we're a national brand, we didn't have the vanity or budget to pay a few grand for copies to hand around.

I'm a software engineer. I was recently laid off from my full time job, and I am doing contract work from home.

When I worked at an office, my co-workers and I would go out to lunch every day - Souplantaion, Chili's, etc. $10-$15 each day for lunch.

Now that I'm working at home, even though my income is only slightly less, I'm eating at home. Lost $$ for the restaurant business.

Multiply this by the number of lost jobs, and there's a big chuck of the restaurant industry's woes right there.

On the plus side, I'm eating much healthier. :)

A person should intake no more than 1500 milligrams of sodium a day. Yet typical entrees at these chains, ONE MEAL ALONE, often provide 6000 or more milligrams of sodium, the equivalent of 12 to 15 MEALS WORTH!

Add in the pesticide laden foods, grown cheaply in countries where it is still legal to use banned pesticides. Add in the genetically modified foods that make their own pesticides, pesticides kill pests, which are ANIMALS. WE are animals. Ever wonder why sperm counts are down 50% in mere decades?? AND genetically modified foods destroy animals, releasing rogue proteins that gum our our works. Rats fed GMO foods became STERILE.

Add in all the chemicals, preservative, colorants, flavorers, that are nothing more than poisons themselves.

Throw in unhealthy oils, again often GMO themselves. Then provide about three meals worth of this useless, nutritionally bereft gruel and watch em eat.

I hope all these chains go under. I am sick of seeing skinny 20 year old girls with DOUBLE CHINS walking around Austin. I mean, WHAT THE FUCK?!? who ever heard of such a thing two decades ago???

Half of guys who came back dead from Vietnam already had hardened arteries in their twenties. How much WORSE are things now? How much are our bodies taking in and how bad is it for us?

These clown companies refuse to own up to the sickness and disease they are spreading.

Not very compelling reading, Brightstar.

Friday's was shuttered a few years ago in dowtown Minneapolis (not long after a nearby Cajun restaurant closed its doors). I highly doubt that the quality of the food really enters into the equation, despite the author's rather haughty assessment to the contrary. I agree with a previous poster that the lack of people working is a major factor. I'd expand on that and say that the lack of people working for wages that would sustain a Friday's or Applebees lifestyle is a key reason for the decline of casual dining.

Provided the economy turns around, I do believe the industry itself will pull through because people--on occasion--do want to enjoy meals without the hassle of cooking at home. Which restaurants will survive is a different story.

...there goes my plan to open a restaurant chain called WTF Monday's.

One of the major customer groups of chains like TGIF is the cowardly American tourist, who far from home, perhaps unwilling to risk a meal at an unknown, and potentially way overpriced local restaurant, knows exactly what they can get to eat at the franchise of their choice. Naturally as the economy has slowed, so has the American tourist industry I assume.

This was a really snappy, informative read. Well written, not laboriously long, but not too short either. Nicely done.

I worked at Friday's#3 while at college in Nashville, #1 of course, being the original singles bar in NYC. It was franchised from the original owner, as was #2 in Dallas, and Dallas bought out NYC and Nashville and incorporated. Then they went crazy with expansion, and I can tell you, the New York minute that started the original appeal of Fridays was lost.

The original Fridays was like Cheers, except with a racier bunch of regulars. It was very much party bar, oh yeah, the burgers are really good. There was always a lot of sex and drugs going on at Fridays, so it's appropriate that Minneapolis was shut down by a coke deal.

When they tried to appeal to everyone, and become safe and homogenous, they lost their edge. They became just another chain store, no better than McDonalds in terms of local flavor. I worked at Steak and Ale too (barely a memory) Both companies used to pride themselves on refusing to do advertising and depending on word of mouth. To me, it's sweet karma to see them begging.

with tigerwill. Very nicely done.

Only four? I was hoping they'd all go tits up. Craptacular food, cooked up by corporate nitwits, and served with all the care and ambiance of a high school cafeteria.

For the two or three remaining idiots still eating at these sinkholes, Google locally-owned greasy spoons in your area, find ones that get good reviews, and go there instead. You'll get better food and better service and do a lot more good for the economy and - most likely - your health.

Well, I've only been to one TGI Fridays -- stopped at one while on a trip to DC -- but it wasn't worth writing home about. Slow service, unexciting food, basically the experience described that has wrecked such chains. I don't know how much that has to do with the article, though; ALL of the chains I visited during various DC trips were subpar.

When I was in college in the mid-late 90s, the popular local chain was Applebee's. I didn't go for a few years, then when I visited again, it was a much blander, more family-oriented unappealing experience. I figured my sunny memories were just nostalgia, and didn't think much about the fact that my boomer mother suddenly seemed to enjoy it. After reading the article, now I see why; it wasn't just me, the restaurants really DID change.