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marie callender's
Posted: September 19th, 2017, 6:49 pm
by reymann
marie callendar's at shaw/marty in fresno has closed. the bakery chain has been struggling, i wonder if perkins is on borrowed time at this point and letting stores close as leases expire.
Re: marie callender's
Posted: January 26th, 2018, 9:45 pm
by Super S
A longtime location in Boise, Idaho has also closed:
http://www.idahostatesman.com/entertain ... 25074.html
Seems like the chain lost its focus over the years, especially as ownership changed. The name has become more well known as frozen foods than for the restaurants themselves.
marie callender's
Posted: August 5th, 2019, 11:08 pm
by reymann
marie callender's closed 19 restaurants today and is in the process of being sold. there are now only 28 remaining marie callender's locations left. parent company perkins filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Re: marie callender's
Posted: August 6th, 2019, 7:17 pm
by storewanderer
Looks like their corporate operated locations were poorly run (as evidenced by the corporate going bankrupt in 2011 and again now) and a few franchisees hang on in SoCal who seem to be run better.
This used to be a really popular chain 25-30 years ago and seemed like a good concept (with restaurant, a little nicer and more expensive than a Denny's with a larger menu, plus the pie concession which I assume generated a lot of extra revenue, and some also had large bars). I am pretty surprised they have fallen so far. But even when I was a kid, I didn't particularly think the main meal food was great. It just seemed bland. Maybe it had its time. I used to always joke rather than go to the restaurant, wait for a table, sit around waiting for the bill, etc. we can just buy the frozen meals in their brand and they taste exactly the same... but I got dragged to this chain a ton as a kid.
Re: marie callender's
Posted: August 6th, 2019, 9:45 pm
by rwsandiego
storewanderer wrote: ↑August 6th, 2019, 7:17 pm
Looks like their corporate operated locations were poorly run (as evidenced by the corporate going bankrupt in 2011 and again now) and a few franchisees hang on in SoCal who seem to be run better.
This used to be a really popular chain 25-30 years ago and seemed like a good concept (with restaurant, a little nicer and more expensive than a Denny's with a larger menu, plus the pie concession which I assume generated a lot of extra revenue, and some also had large bars). I am pretty surprised they have fallen so far. But even when I was a kid, I didn't particularly think the main meal food was great. It just seemed bland. Maybe it had its time. I used to always joke rather than go to the restaurant, wait for a table, sit around waiting for the bill, etc. we can just buy the frozen meals in their brand and they taste exactly the same... but I got dragged to this chain a ton as a kid.
Funny, but I had no idea the chain existed until moving to San Diego in 2000. I like your joke-not-a-joke. It is true! The pies were good, though.
Re: marie callender's
Posted: August 7th, 2019, 8:42 am
by pseudo3d
They tried to expand nationally at one point, even opening restaurants as far as out as Texas in the late 1990s, but I think another ownership change reversed that.
Re: marie callender's
Posted: August 7th, 2019, 10:49 pm
by storewanderer
pseudo3d wrote: ↑August 7th, 2019, 8:42 am
They tried to expand nationally at one point, even opening restaurants as far as out as Texas in the late 1990s, but I think another ownership change reversed that.
Looks like the location in Austin was still present in 2016. It also looks like they were present in San Antonio in 2014.
Re: marie callender's
Posted: August 8th, 2019, 5:36 am
by pseudo3d
storewanderer wrote: ↑August 7th, 2019, 10:49 pm
pseudo3d wrote: ↑August 7th, 2019, 8:42 am
They tried to expand nationally at one point, even opening restaurants as far as out as Texas in the late 1990s, but I think another ownership change reversed that.
Looks like the location in Austin was still present in 2016. It also looks like they were present in San Antonio in 2014.
Wow, I had no idea they were open in Texas so recently. The Waco location closed several years before the lease ended (2005, whereas the lease was about 15 years from 1998) so I assumed they had all closed by that time.
Re: marie callender's
Posted: August 8th, 2019, 2:14 pm
by BreakingThrough
Marie Callender's seems like a great brand to do limited-time "pop-up" stores featuring nothing but pies. Easter thru Mother's Day, then Thanksgiving through Holiday. They don't even have to nurture the brand very much to keep it alive in the off-seasons, because it has a year-round presence via its frozen food. With a little traditional media and social media savvy, I bet they could do some great numbers in pies.
Re: marie callender's
Posted: August 8th, 2019, 7:04 pm
by storewanderer
BreakingThrough wrote: ↑August 8th, 2019, 2:14 pm
Marie Callender's seems like a great brand to do limited-time "pop-up" stores featuring nothing but pies. Easter thru Mother's Day, then Thanksgiving through Holiday. They don't even have to nurture the brand very much to keep it alive in the off-seasons, because it has a year-round presence via its frozen food. With a little traditional media and social media savvy, I bet they could do some great numbers in pies.
When the one here closed in 2011, a lot of people had no idea where to go to get pies. Most grocery stores have terrible bakery pies that are 100% baked and frozen then defrosted to sell with awful soggy crust. Some boutique type pie shops opened up selling pies for $15-$20 each and I don't think they lasted too long.
They did a booming pie business on holidays. I guess that wasn't enough to carry them.
You'd need a lot of ovens to do the holiday pop up stores but it is a really good idea. I believe some/many Marie Callender's were just baking off frozen raw pies though for the past 15-20 years as opposed to making from scratch.