Bennigan’s all around the nation have abruptly closed today, after the chain’s parent company filed for bankruptcy. The Chicago Tribune dropped by the Bennigan’s at 255 N. Michigan Ave., and found a sign on the door of the restaurant that said “Closed for Business as of Tuesday, July 29.”
NBC5 in Dallas called a local restaurant and was told, “We won’t be opening anymore,” and a manager added, “This sucks. I’m out of a job.”
Details are hard to come by, but CBS 2 Chicago is reporting that the closure applies only to corporate-owned stores nationwide, and that independent franchise locations will remain open. Unfortunately for Bennigan’s fans, CBS 2 says the company has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which means that the restaurants are being liquidated and will not be staying in business. The station’s legal analyst says that Chapter 7 bankruptcy means that it is unlikely that employees will get their last paycheck.
Bennigan’s Restaurants Shut Down Nationwide [CBS 2] (Thanks, Joel!)
(Photo: zesmerelda )
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@Ilikenumbers: Interesting to note how many Gawker commenters are in the area. I thought it had been longer since they closed, but I’ll go with your numbers.
The more that I think about it, it is interesting that of all of the places in this niche, Bennigan’s filed Chapter 7, rather than 13. How telling is it that rather than reorganize, the powers that be said, “aw, fuck it”?
Friday’s did the whole reinvention thing in mid-2003 if I recall, and by reinventing the brand, they managed to get out ahead of some of the backlash that clearly Bennigan’s couldn’t.
Isn’t Bennigan’s the restaurant chain that served up a grilled turkey and cheese sandwich, battered and deep-fried, and then topped with powdered sugar and raspberry jam?
I can’t imagine why they were having difficulty.
“Bennigans will not be open today” <— sign on door in Melbourne FL location
@TracyHamandEggs9 is the bitchiest banana: unrelated to the article, but wanted to let you know that I’m a follower now based on your “bitchiest banana” handle. Shawn Spencer for the comedy win. That is all.
Oh, and yes, I want to get my Monte Cristo on, regardless that it always makes me feel like I’m about to die when i finish one.
If I were a manager there on the last day and told ‘no job no check’ I’d leave the building wide open, throw the keys into a swamp somewhere, walk out and call it even
Basically a fast food restaurant with table service and a bar. I’m content to have lunch at Friday’s because they actually have some variety and change the menu often. But to pay for a frozen meal and have to tip on top of that-man, no thanks, I’ll take Burger King or save for a nicer place.
I’ve never eaten at Bennigan’s. We don’t have one here. We do have Chili’s, TGI Fridays, Garfield’s (used to), Macaroni Grill (recently added), and supposedly getting a Houlihan’s in the giant hotel four blocks from me.
There’s a SpongeBob episode that is a spoof of these restaurants. A chain called “Crabby O’Mondays” takes over the Krusty Krab and serves Krabby Patties made out of some extruded gray reconstituted cardboard stuff. They put crap all over the walls and Squidward had to smile and sing to the customers. I laughed myself sick.
Score one for the Vegans !!!
@MyPetFly: Nope, they’ve gotta fulfill the prophecy laid down in Idiocracy.
Their poor employees.
I’m not surprised, though. Two times my husband and I have gone there in the last, oh, 3 or 4 years and both times service was atrocious. After the second time we swore never to enter a Bennigan’s again unless it was the only thing open for 50 miles.
@joellevand: Yeah, tried that and decided it was just easier to use the Google. Already plotting my raid of the CT locations…
@SwatLax: @Ilikenumbers:
I haven’t lived in Columbia for 8 years (my gawd has it really been 8 years???) and I left the area completely 5 years ago. So it’s been probably a decade since I ate there. The Columbia I knew wasn’t quite so built up on the Snowden corrider and the little Waterfront area was just…um…a little Waterfront area.
Still, I miss the town.
@backbroken: In related news, I just made myself feel really old. Thanks a lot Bennigans!!!!
Loved the Turkey O’Toole and Monte Cristo. Loved the Wheelhouse back when they still had it. Even the Guinness stuff was pretty decent (although not as good as Friday’s Jack Daniels items). But service was usually AWFUL. Bennigan’s is the only restaurant I’ve ever walked out of without paying (and the manager was well aware we were doing it). If the restaurant is empty and the wait staff are all putzing around chatting with the bartender, it shouldn’t take 30 minutes to get drinks, an hour to get (the wrong) food, etc.
Maybe I’ll have to try out a Monte Cristo at a diner around here, see if it’s any good.
TGI Fridays, Owned by Carlson (37 Billion in revenue last year): Probably safe
Applebees, Owned by IHOP(!), made 101 million in net income in ’05: Probably safe
Chili’s, Owned by Brinker International(which also owns On the Border, Maggiano’s and Macaroni Grill with net income of 230 million in ’05): probably safe
First IndyMac, now this?
What a world.
@Bloggy
Great finds…just checked Darden (OG, Red Lobster, Bahama Breeze) and they’re trading up at 32+ a share…they’re probably safe too…
I guess the Star Wars historians will have to find someplace else to debate.
Bennigan’s lost is appeal a LONG time ago. The quality of their food has been on the decline, and they were not keeping up with changing consumer trends.
I echo the comments from other posters who are saying we have too many of these casual restaurants. The market is oversaturated with them and there is no clear point of difference between them.
I expect to see more chains to implode.
Darwinism at its finest!
@Back
Think things have changed? Just wait until the NEW development comes. An “improved” MPP, but new high-rise apartments.
@AaronZ: True, but then you find out they decide not to honor them because there’s no corporate piggy bank to reimburse them from.
This is a shame, especially for the workers. The Bennigan’s near me is a local franchise and will remain open. I’ve been there a few times and enjoyed it. It’s pretty decent as far as chains go.
Might as well contact your credit card company and contest the charges for any meals that you had at Bennigan’s during the past 60 days. Their won’t be anyone at Bennigan’s to respond to the credit card companies, so it’s free meal time!
The last meal I had there came, after ordering 1 hour earlier, ice cold and looked like someone stepped on it. I called the manager over and he gave me no love at all, just “Oops, sorry”. I told him to shove the food up his *bleep* and left, left in front of a bunch of people. Never went there again, it closed for good about a month later. I heard they were having some kind of employee revolt.
Kind of sucks. They had batter-dipped deep-fried Monte Cristos… I’m sure they lead to heart attacks and cancer, but they were SO good. I’ll miss Bennigan’s… this should’ve been Applebees.
I first read this as “Bennington’s.”
Oh well ….Ron and Fez, noon to 3 XM202
Hm. And here I thought that was just a fake restaurant in South Park. Honestly never heard of it before.
There’s a Hooligan’s near that 255 N. Michigan Ave Bennigan’s they mention on the article. I always had trouble figuring out which franchise was which.
I’ll miss the Turkey O’Toole, but good riddance. The one by my house (Bolingbrook, IL) had THE worst service of any restaurant I’ve been to, by far. They had kids running the place and no adult managers to be found. So, what that meant, is that you could have a half empty restaurant and it would still take you 30 minutes to an hour to get a seat.
Of course, knowing my luck that Bolingbrook location is independently owned.
Although, I have to say, I don’t like how serious Friday’s has gotten. Its time they brought back the striped shirts, suspenders, and pieces of flair. I had lunch there the other day, and to my chagrin I found that only a small section of the wall was covered in tchotchkes/memoribilia, etc. Wtf. They’re becoming way too serious with their image
Ooops. I meant Houlihan’s. Sorry. I’m still confused.
The two bennigans near me in Jax have been closed for months. They were shitholes too, always crappy service. The one in Orlando was great, ok service, but great food.
I seriously thought the company went out of business years ago. I’ve not come across an open Bennigan’s in at least the last 9 years… in fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one that hadn’t gone out of business already… huh…
@allnitecp: A little piece of me died inside.
I’ll miss Steak-n-Ale. Of all the similarly-priced steak places, that one was quiet. I could at least have a pleasant conversation with my dinner guest there. The rest of the steak places (Outback, Lonestar, etc) are just way too loud.
For what it’s worth, Bennigan’s ads are still running on South Korean television. Probably a long way for most of you to travel for a Monte Cristo, but come on over if you like.
There’s a Bennigan’s a few doors down from the hotel I’m staying in now. I just stopped there on my way back from dinner (at a local joint called The 621 Diner, which I’ll recommend to anybody looking for a greasy spoon in Lombard, IL). Closed without even a note on the front door. It’s like their manager didn’t even bother coming in.
And the 621 Diner has a Monte Cristo on the menu, by the way.
Meanwhile, in related news…
Stomachs Across America Rejoice!
@Ilikenumbers: Yeah, seems like they are getting farther and farther away from the original Columbia vision.
@quagmire0: I’m in Bolingbrook too. : )
From the Sun-Times: A sign at the Bennigan’s at 145 S. Weber Road in the Country Aire Plaza in Bolingbrook read, “I regret to inform you that Benningan’s is no longer part of your community,” one Sun-Times reader reported.” Another note on the door said:
“To all our employees: I must say this is the hardest thing we have ever had to do. It’s not only a job we are losing but a family we have here is not replaceable. Thank you for all the hard work, total dedication and commitment to making this place amazing. Love, Jen, Ronda and Jonathon.”
I did read that one Bennigans manager let his employees in to take whatever they wanted: tchotchkes, food, liquor, etc. I’m sure that wasn’t the only one who did.
Years ago we went to a bennigans after the Chicago south side irish parade. Guinness was on the menu with a price of ‘market price’. That was odd since there isnt really a market on beer prices but whatever, but how bad could it be I thought. 2 pints cost me about 20 bucks. Last time I went back and Im not sad to see them go.
Oh and looking back I can see how lame it was going to a fake irish joint like this after the parade…i dont need to be reminded
This actually makes me sad…of all the serving jobs I had through college with a number of the chains…Benny’s was definitely the best. It was the ONLY job I ever had in college that I didn’t DREAD going to after the first few weeks and the only serving job I ever had where I’d actually be willing to skip class to go to work if any of my coworkers ever called me to cover a shift.
Maybe it was my coworkers…maybe it was the fact that in my particular location (Latham, NY…suburb of Albany) every manager I had at the time had worked their way up from Host/Server and had worked virtually every position in the restaurant before becoming a manager, thus they REALLY AND TRULY understood our jobs and were conscious of our needs as employees…thus allowed us to eat our free shift meals on the clock, provided our sections were empty or that the server in a neighboring section was able to cover ours without neglecting their own and we even had our own back booth to sit in during our down time…even though that hardly happened because we were ALWAYS packed…it wasn’t like the managers I had at Applebee’s with the “if you have time to lean you have time to clean” mentality…our restaurant was always clean and they understood that we’d spend upwards of 12 hours on our feet each day and sometimes we just needed to SIT.
Also…I made pretty good money at Benny’s, there were some weeks I’d bring home more there than I make now at my full time career …not always, but still. For a chain I’d say we did well.
*RIP BENNYS*
I work at a Bennigan’s – a franchise that is supposedly not closing. Will probably start looking for another job soon!
The thing that sucks most is hearing about how horrible all the other Bennigan’s are – mine is less than two years old, most of the employees give a crap, and we clean the hell out of the place. Sorry to hear that some other locations have ruined it for everyone else.
I went to one about 10 years ago. Bad food, crappy service, and it took forever. It closed 6 months later. IMHO, Ruby Tuesday is next.
Now I’ll have to check the bennigans by my house. Too bad though, I liked the burgers they served in the pita bread.
I feel bad for their employees and wish them the best of luck.
I’ve had mixed experiences at Bennigans. The one in Champaign, IL which was open a little over a year was consistently understaffed, but the staff seemed enthusiastic there. I ate at the one on Michigan Ave across from the Art Institute fairly frequently during visits to Chicago and thought the food was better there than at some of their other locations.
The last time I was in was on St. Patrick’s Day weekend. The special menu was overpriced and limited. I know it’s a chain, but the beer selection was worse than usual. After waiting in line for 30+ minutes, we went to a local place with a better menu and beer selection.
@napalmlove:
From what I’m reading here, it seems the best Bennigan’s are the franchised ones. Perhaps the chain could live on as a franchise-only restaurant.
It will be interesting to see if there is a follow-up to this news. Maybe the surviving franchised restaurants will all band together and figure a way to share the costs of nationwide advertising and supply deliveries.
That’s a shame. I used to go to Bennigan’s quite frequently in college, for it was a good place to meet up with friends, grab a bite, and if you happen to go there during happy hour, the beer was cheap. But I went to a Bennigan’s two years ago and the food was nasty, full of salt and grease. The decor didn’t change from what they had back in the early 90′s.
I hated this restaurant. I’m sure the one near my place is closed. Can anyone confirm? Springfield, VA location