Roy Rogers
During the late ‘60s, Roy “king of the Cowboys” Rogers licensed his name to open a burger restaurant chain. When 1991 rolled in, there were over 600 locations. Most of these were located in the mid-Atlantic and the northeastern U.S. However, things changed when the company was sold. The joints were turned into Hardee’s burger joints, much to the despair of its original fans. The customer outrage had been so strong that Hardee’s attempted to return its name! Sadly, the damage was already done. The Roy Rogers chain started going downhill, although it has been working hard to make a comeback in the past few years. There are now 50 places you can get a Double R Bar Burger in the country.
Roy Rogers
Kenny Rogers Roasters
Country musician Kenny Rogers is best known as the person who sang, “You’ve got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em”. If you don’t know him for his music, perhaps you recognize his name from the rotisserie chicken restaurant chain founded in 1991. He did this with the help of John Y. Brown, a former KFC investor. The restaurants have a special place in American pop culture. In 1996, there was an episode of Seinfeld where Kramer declared war on a KRR store across his apartment! If you only watched the reruns, you might have no idea what Kenny Rogers Roasters is. This is because it no longer lives on in North America. However, it is doing well in Southeast Asia because a Malaysian company operates it now.
Kenny Rogers Roasters
