I hear the reason they went out was two fold: 1) Their only productive CEO (name escapes me) left to start Chili's 2) They went from a bar that had food to a restaurant that served drinks
And their customer base is bleeding out the ying yang from gas, housing, etc. Soccer moms driving Ford Expeditions with their house underwater and credit cards max'ed out can't afford Bennigan's.
You guys are missing the big picture.. Everyday i run down to my local pizzeria/watering hole and have a couple beverages and some lunch...The owner is starting to get worried...He has 4 stores and standing room only on the weekends but lately im the only patron for lunch...the reason??? he was telling me that two years ago he paid about $17.00 for a 50lb bag of flour for pizza...today he is paying $45.00!! Eggs he bot in bulk for about 50 cents a dozen...today its about 1..75 a dozen the bottom line is that he is now struggling after 15 years in business becuase as he put it" there is only so much a person will pay for a pizza"!...profits shrink and when you throw in 4.00 per gallon for gas...people start eating in and travel less.... There is only so much someone will pay for chicken wings!!! rip Bennigans ....you will be joined shortly by many more
Just too many of these type of establishments, everywhere. My little town of 12,000 has opened two casual chains like this in the last year. A local independent sunk a lot into opening a similar establishment, just a year earlier, and they got killed after the corporate chains came in. The chains were going great to start, but now that everyone has been there a few times, it's not looking so good. There's no way both can survive. Looks like we'll have plenty of empty buildings.
make a whole freaking pie at home WITH toppings for about $4 to $5. The crap they sell at the pizza stores aint worth $1 a slice , no less $2+. Let 'em all go out of biz.