Groceteria.com

Here is a question that could be of interest to those on this website. Which grocery chains founded free standing cafeterias and restaraunt chains ?(not combined with their stores) Here are a few....

Alpha Beta - Alphy's Restaraunts/Coffee Shops

Furr's - Furr's Cafeterias

Wyatt Food Stores (Dallas-based chain bought by Kroger in the 60s) - Wyatt's Cafeterias

Any others?

I remember Alphy's. There was one in Rosemead, CA next to the Alpha Beta. It closed in the late 80's and reopened as several other coffee shops, before eventually becoming a chinese restaurant (with the Alpha Beta a Ralphs, now a chinese market)

Its still there, and last time I remember, still looked untouched.

Alphy's on Nogales in Rowland Heights CA and in the City of Industry on Valley are both now Denny's. Also, location on BEACH BLVD in Buena Park is MILLIE'S.

There was also an Alphy's in Alhambra on Main St at the end of the center.

Even though it wasn't a grocer, Walgreens had Wag's Restaurants.

jamcool wrote:Here is a question that could be of interest to those on this website. Which grocery chains founded free standing cafeterias and restaraunt chains ?(not combined with their stores) Here are a few....

Alpha Beta - Alphy's Restaraunts/Coffee Shops

Furr's - Furr's Cafeterias

Wyatt Food Stores (Dallas-based chain bought by Kroger in the 60s) - Wyatt's Cafeterias

Any others?

Big Bear Markets in San Diego had a chain of family restaurants. If I remember correctly the name was 'Buffies' or something like that.

Publix acquired all of this Florida restaraunt chain:

http://www.crispers.com

Unlike their grocery stores which span several states, Crispers is only in Florida.

Montgomery Ward had Wards Buffeteria.

Woolworth's had Harvest House.

Brookshire Grocery Company had a couple of cafeterias in the late 70's/early 80's. One I know for sure was in Shreveport, LA, as the end of Shreve City Shopping Center. I think the other one was in Tyler, TX, but I'm not sure.

Also: In the 1980's and 1990's some Harvest House restaurants next to Woolworth stores were converted into Burger King restaurants.

Fred Meyer, decades pre-Kroger, operated Eve's Buffets. Most were part of Fred Meyer stores, but there were definitely a few freestanding locations. I believe Eve was Fred's mother.

VibeGuy

Jeff,

Alphys adjacent to Alpha Beta (now Ralphs) in Covina (Citrus/Puente) was a Millie's Country Kitchen, now Millies Restaurant and Bakery (same company - Millie's).

Walmart (considered the nation's largest grocer besides Kroger) operates VIPS Restaurants in Mexico. They bought those rather than founding them.

Grocers today aren't into freestanding cafes now. They put their focus on Gas stations or drug stores after learning lessons from Alpha Beta and Lucky. Some may integrate in-store dining such as Starbucks in Vons and Albertsons or their own "restaurants" like Wegmans in Williamsport PA and Bristol Farms in South Pasadena CA. Asian chains like 99 are into Food Courts of different types of food or multiple vendors as in mall-style cafeterias.

socalgrocer

VibeGuy wrote:Fred Meyer, decades pre-Kroger, operated Eve's Buffets. Most were part of Fred Meyer stores, but there were definitely a few freestanding locations. I believe Eve was Fred's mother.

I remember that. The Burien store had one in it. I think they even used the Eve's name (with the same logo) on some of their bakery products.

In the 1970's, Fisher Foods once franchised Arthur Treacher's Fish & Chips restaurants in the Cleveland, OH area. A Pick-N-Pay that was once at the Southgate Shopping Center in Maple Heights (in the former Topps discount store) had a coffee shop in the front, in a room off the main floor. The coffee shop lasted pretty much during the entire life of this location, until Finast moved to Meadowbrook Market Square in Bedford in the early 1990's. In the 1980's, Marc's took over several failing Chuck E. Cheese's locations in the Cleveland area and reopened them as "Marc's Fun Time Pizza Palace". Marc's took over the locations shortly after Chuck E. Cheese's filed for bankruptcy in the mid-1980's. Marc's Fun Time Pizza Palace lasted until the early 1990's, when Marc's went out of the restaurant business, and Chuck E. Cheese's, under new ownership, started opening new locations in NE OH.

Interestingly enough, there's still an Arthur Treacher's in Parma, on an outlot of the Old Time Pottery plaza, which was once an Uncle Bill's/Pick N Pay combo.

I can't believe Marc's had pizza places. That's scary.