Marie Callender's Files Bankruptcy, Closes Stores + End of the Line for Mediocre Restaurant Chains?

By Celia Soudry Wed., Jun. 15 2011 at 11:30 AM

C. Soudry

Last year Koo Koo Roo closed several of its California locations and filed bankruptcy, chalking it up to a bad economy. This year Islands restaurants are showing signs of decline, closing their Beverly Hills and Laguna Hills locations. In more recent restaurant chain news, Marie Callender's filed bankruptcy, citing a "slump in sales due to weak economic environment in its primary markets," according to Reuters.

"I'll miss their pies that come out on special in February and October," said Sonia Martinez, a longtime Marie Callender's customer. And soon enough Andy Dick will have to venture elsewhere for a slice of banana cream pie before his trip to the slammer.

On Sunday, June 12, the restaurant posted a sign on its front door in the Howard Hughes Center informing customers they were closed, and to visit their other L.A. location. Parent company, Perkins & Marie Callender's Inc. is reported to have closed 58 company-owned restaurant locations thus far, sometimes so abruptly that they'd ask diners to leave while still eating... hopefully before paying the bill. Onlookers passing the now closed Howard Hughes location are trucking on to nearby Islands. For now.

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Marie Callender's Bakery and Cafe

6081 Center Drive, Los Angeles, CA

Category: Restaurant

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Andy Dick, Celia Soudry, Islands, Koo Koo Roo, Marie Callender's

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sdbatboy

It's our reality in CA these days. We elect incompetent people to run the state and they take our money and give us +12% unemployment. At that level retail has less business and has to make cuts. In the case of a restaurant it's either food or labor and potentially the business itself. I hope the economy in CA improves but have no confidence in our current government.

I have NO SYMPATHY whatsoever for Callenders' predicament. I went to the Toluca Lake, CA branch for lunch and waited over 30 mins. for a glass of water and a menu. Finally, a waitress noticed me sitting there and asked her co-worker if she was going to wait on me. The co-worker replied, "I don't wait on people like her." I took my African American self to the manager and related what was said. He simply gave me a ticket for a free meal. What! That girl should have been fired on the spot. I never went back to that branch again. This is why they are going down the tubes.

Honey Trinh

Celia, are the people losing their jobs at "mediocre restaurant chains" also mediocre and not deserving of our sympathy and concern, or is that question above your pay grade?

sinosoul

Celia shows no sympathy for the food, but that doesn't mean she's not sympathetic towards others. There has never been a causal/direct relationship between the 2.

This failure to separate disdain for junk food vs disdain for human beings is rather naive.

And really, if the restaurants were suffering with nary a diner, do you actually think the workers were making a decent living?

Honey Trinh

I take it that you're not Celia, because each of the previous two or three times I've reminded a blogger or commenter on this site or elsewhere about the human costs of business failure, the writer has rushed back to agree wholeheartedly. We should all advocate for the hardworking restaurant employees who have made our lives so much more enjoyable, even those at what you call "junk food" joints like Marie Callenders (where I've never eaten, by the way). I suspect that the workers and their families at the 87 MC locations would more likely agree with my original observation than with your uncomprehending response.

Celia

Honey, this blog post is not a commentary on "hardworking restaurant employees." It is a post about the downfall of mediocre-type restaurant chains. If you've never been to Marie Callender's, you might not understand what I'm talking about.