National Chains -- What's Good
National Chains -- What's Good
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Post #91 - February 27th, 2023, 8:49 amIn my opinion, the food and especially the bread was never as good at Corner Bakery.
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Post #92 - February 27th, 2023, 9:36 amlougord99 wrote:In my opinion, the food and especially the bread was never as good at Corner Bakery.
30 years ago when it was a one-off location it was fine. Might have been due to the lack of competition generally.
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Post #93 - February 27th, 2023, 4:56 pmspinynorman99 wrote:lougord99 wrote:In my opinion, the food and especially the bread was never as good at Corner Bakery.
30 years ago when it was a one-off location it was fine. Might have been due to the lack of competition generally.
Norman Brinker bought this chain in 1998, and sold it in 2005 to Rohan Group. ( Pizza Hut, Rally’s and Checkers)If you aren't tasting, you aren't cooking.
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Post #94 - February 27th, 2023, 6:33 pmCrain's Chicago Business has a somewhat different ownership timeline although private equity participation may have different entities involved.Corner Bakery is owned by Pandya Restaurant Growth Brands, which is based in Pennsylvania and also owns Boston Market.
Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises founded Corner Bakery in 1991 in River North. It later sold off the chain — along with another of its concepts, Maggiano's Little Italy — to Dallas-based Brinker International. Since then, Corner Bakery has changed hands several times, and private equity has been heavily involved.
In 2005, Brinker sold the chain to CBC Restaurant, which was affiliated with Italian restaurant company Il Fornaio and a New York private-equity firm.
Atlanta-based private-equity firm Roark Capital, which owned Arby's at the time, bought Il Fornaio in 2011 for an undisclosed amount. Corner Bakery was part of that deal. Roark sold it off again in late 2020, as the chain struggled amid pandemic office closures.
Pandya was the buyer, and terms were not disclosed. At the time, Corner Bakery operated in 23 states, plus Washington, D.C.
IIRC LEYE started Corner Bakery partly to supply bread for their other restaurants and had Jean Joho in charge. The first location was on Clark Street in what was Gordon's original location before they moved to a new building down the block. They did have good bread even after a few other locations were started and the actual baking was moved to another location. Things went downhill pretty fast after Brinker took over. Owners were mostly fast food to fast casual operators who had no interest in selling bread. Note that the number of stores had been shrinking even before the pandemic.
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Post #95 - June 30th, 2024, 11:19 amDid anyone else notice Pizza Hut's full page ad in Wednesday's Tribune? Here's the text - I think quoting it is a fair use:Sorry, Chicago.
The jig is up.
You told us deep dish was the official pizza of the Windy City. But you've been feeding us a deep dish of lies for years.
You hid your true contribution to the worldwide pizza party: a thinner, crispier pie covered in delicious toppings all the way to the edge, and cut into shareable squares.
It was always Chicago Tavern-Style Pizza that had your hearts. And you wanted to keep the delicacy to yourselves. Look, we can't blame you. But something this special deserves to be shared with the world.
Introducing the Chicago Tavern-Style Pizza from Pizza Hut. Try our four new recipes, starting at just $12 for a large at Pizza Hut locations nationwide.*
So thank you for the inspiration.
And again...
Sorry, Chicago.
The 4 recipes are Double Pepperoni, Ultimate, Spicy Chicken Sausage, Pesto Margherita. That's somewhat irrelevant because Tavern is an option for build-your-own. A one-topping Tavern with Italian sausage is $10 at the Kenosha location for example.
Can't decide whether this is tongue-in-cheek or PH actually fell for the "Deep Dish is for Tourists," or the sorta Mad Men-ish idea that a region of almost 10 million people would have a unified take on pizza?
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Post #96 - July 1st, 2024, 6:42 pm
All the chains are scuffling for deals.tjr wrote:Did anyone else notice Pizza Hut's full page ad in Wednesday's Tribune?
[text snipped to avoid litigation]
[edit II]
Can't decide whether this is tongue-in-cheek or PH actually fell for the "Deep Dish is for Tourists," or the sorta Mad Men-ish idea that a region of almost 10 million people would have a unified take on pizza?
Not-quite-P.S.: Potato cakes are back at Arby's. Just where are the metropolitan Chicago Arby's?Valuable links for survival, without the monetization attempt: https://pqrs-ltd.xyz/bookmark4.html
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Post #97 - July 1st, 2024, 9:05 pmpudgym29 wrote:Not-quite-P.S.: Potato cakes are back at Arby's. Just where are the metropolitan Chicago Arby's? [/color]
Well then I know where I'm going for lunch tomorrow. There's still an Arby's on Dempster in Morton Grove between Shermer and Waukegan, one in Des Plaines on Lee just north of Oakton, and in Arlington Heights on Rand a bit NW of Arlington Heights Road. Not sure which one I'll end up at, but there will be Horsey Sauce involved.
(Ball is in your court, Popeye's: bring back the dirty rice and onion rings)What is patriotism, but the love of good things we ate in our childhood?
-- Lin Yutang
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Post #98 - July 2nd, 2024, 12:11 amAnd at 5 N Wells in the loop, where it appears that prices are higher than elsewhere...maybe. 20¢ for a pack of Horsey Sauce?!
Here's a list of IL Arbys: https://www.arbys.com/locations/us/il/
You can decide for yourself what the Chicago Metro Area entails. By the official definition, it includes some Arbys listed in https://www.arbys.com/locations/us/wi/ and https://www.arbys.com/locations/us/in/
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Post #99 - July 12th, 2024, 12:21 pmtjr wrote:And at 5 N Wells in the loop, where it appears that prices are higher than elsewhere...maybe. 20¢ for a pack of Horsey Sauce?!
About a block away from my office (where I've been for over a decade, including every day during COVID); have yet to step inside. Go to Cafecito a lot, though.
