11 Mall Food Court Restaurants That Quietly Disappeared

The indoor shopping mall has been a staple of America's commercial landscape since the first modern one opened in 1956. Interestingly, though, it wasn't a new idea. The ancient Romans actually pioneered it with Trajan's Forum, a 25-acre shopping center that was the site of numerous merchant stalls. Today, it's impossible to imagine a mall without a plethora of places to grab a quick bite, but food courts didn't really come along until New Jersey's Paramus Park mall opened one in 1974. The idea proved to be a genius one. 

It's often said malls are rapidly on the decline thanks to online shopping and, more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic. But fast-forward to a few years post-contagion, and they're seeing a revitalization. Experts say that one of the things that's crucial to that new life is turnover, and mall food courts have certainly seen their fair share. 

There's a good chance that you're very familiar with some steadfast staples. Panda Express has long been celebrated for honoring its American-Chinese heritage, Subway is always a reliable option for a quick meal on-the-go, and no trip to the mall is ever complete without a stop at Cinnabon or Mrs. Fields. At the same time, though, you may be surprised to learn that some of your longtime favorites have disappeared not only from your mall, but from buildings across the country. Let's take a walk down memory lane and revisit some old favorites.

Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour pre-dated the mall food court by about 10 years, first opening in 1963 and — buoyed by some serious old-timey charm — spread fairly quickly. Here's a fun fact for '80s film buffs: In "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure," Napoleon Bonaparte is introduced to the wonder that is modern ice cream. The scene was originally supposed to be set at Farrell's, which had an ice cream challenge similar to the one in the film. 

Farrell's was a mall staple, and there was even a location in what's regularly cited as the first food court — the one in New Jersey's Paramus Park. When one opened in Wichita's Towne East Square in  1975, the chain had been purchased by Mariott a few years prior, and it was a huge deal. Farrell's had a reputation for being the sort of place that kids dreamed of having their birthday parties, and signature dishes included The Trough. That inspired that scene in "Bill & Ted," and consisted of a whopping 8.5 pounds of ice cream.

It's not entirely clear what happened to the chain, but various sources suggest that many closed throughout the 1980s, and it struggled on into the 1990s. In 2001, the shop's original location (which had become The Original Portland Ice Cream Parlor) was closed and sold off to developers. It wasn't until 2019 that the last two locations closed In California — one in Buena Park, California and the final shop in Brea.

Netflix's hit show "Stranger Things" is packed full of Gen X and Xennial nostalgia, particularly when it came to the show's Starcourt Mall. There are a number of stores and restaurants seen in the background, and while it's only recently that fans can sample some of the ice cream flavors from the show's Scoops Ahoy, other restaurants were very real. That includes Hot Sam, a chain of pretzel joints that was so popular in Detroit that "Hot Sam" became a slang term for a soft pretzel.

The chain was founded in 1967, and by the mid-80s, there were stores scattered across the country in what had grown to be a multi-million dollar empire. Hot Sam was known for a little more than pretzels, too: The chain also had a variety of toppings, and in California, some of the most popular included not only cheese but also fudge, cream cheese, and strawberries. Most of the stores were food court favorites or small kiosks, and in 1985, they were selling around 18 million pretzels a year.

What, exactly, happened to Hot Sam is difficult to determine. By 2000, it was under the corporate umbrella of Mrs. Fields, and it seems as though the last handful of Hot Sam locations disappeared by 2006 ... sort of. Some seem to have been rebranded as Pretzel Times and then Pretzelmaker, two other brands that were also owned by Mrs. Fields. Sadly, Pretzel Times is also on our list of now-defunct shopping mall favorites.

Reddit is filled with threads lamenting the loss of mall favorite Pretzel Time. And according to many who remember being lured away from Sam Goody, Radio Shack, or Waldenbooks by the drifting aroma of deliciously fresh, hot pretzels, Auntie Anne's just doesn't hold a candle to Pretzel Time. Some Redditors say that they made special trips to the mall just for these pretzels, and it's no wonder. Others who reportedly worked there recalled making the pretzels right there in the mall, and if that's not brilliant marketing, we're not sure what is.

So, what happened? In 2007, Pretzel Time and fellow pretzel chain Pretzelmaker were purchased by NexCen Brands, Inc. The company paid Mrs. Fields $29.4 million for the two, and in a press release announcing the acquisition, the company promised that it was going to be opening more locations and offering more franchise opportunities.

That sounds great, but it appears that it was a short-lived plan. By 2010, the two had been merged. Pieces of the Pretzel Time logo were incorporated into a new, joint logo under the name Pretzelmaker, and the chain got a new look and new colors. The move seems to have worked. In 2023, the chain announced it was expanding into Canada, and the following year it opened its latest location in Iowa, bringing the total to more than 280.

Wyatt's Cafeteria is another once-popular mall hangout spot that makes a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance in "Stranger Things." At the time that the show was set, the cafeteria would have been around for about five decades. Based on the fond memories shared by numerous Redditors, Wyatt's was the source of fun times with families — the thing you looked forward to on Friday nights. The food was described in terms of being endless, glorious, and full of the sort of possibilities that included doubling or tripling up on the desserts.

Just what happened to lead to the downfall of this mall favorite is unclear, but in 1995, the corporation filed for bankruptcy. Along with the announcement was a statement from the CEO of Triangle Food Service, who said (via the Austin American-Statesman), "What made this 65-year-old company a once great cafeteria chain had been lost forever by the time we took control of the board last June."

If those words seem to be particularly dire, well, that's precisely what they ended up being. Wyatt's was purchased by Luby's, a similar cafeteria chain, but it wasn't the savior that Wyatt's needed. When the last remaining Wyatt's was shuttered in 2003, industry experts noted that it wasn't entirely surprising, as cafeteria-style restaurants had been struggling for some time.

Sure, you can make your own chocolate chunk cookies at home, but there's something about the shopping mall experience and soft, fresh-from-the-oven cookies that just works. As of this writing, there are more than 300 Mrs. Fields stores that are still bringing delicious cookies to shoppers from America to Australia, but at one time, there was a competing cookie company in town. There are, however, surprisingly few details about the history of The Original Cookie Company, which seemed to be languishing away in near-obscurity until it was bought in 1977. 

The buyer was Joseph Cole, who founded his fortune on a World War II-era key shop that was so successful he was able to buy out rivals and purchase other businesses, including The Original Cookie Company and another mall staple, Things Remembered. Cole expanded the chain pretty quickly, targeting shopping malls and opening stores by the dozens.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, there was only room for so many cookie companies in shopping malls, and in 1996, Mrs. Fields and The Original Cookie Company were bought by the same corporation. It merged the two and rebranded them as Mrs. Fields Original Cookie Company Inc. Unfortunately, only a handful of the locations with the original name survived into the new millennium.

Morrison's Cafeteria has a pretty incredible history. Founded in 1920, the company grew to include food distribution and food service equipment divisions. And in addition to pioneering the idea of the cafeteria-style restaurant, Morrison's also pushed into catering everywhere from movie sets to hospitals. Making the jump into shopping malls was a logical step, and in addition to owning the Morrison's Cafeteria locations, it also acquired another mall staple: Ruby Tuesday. 

Like many of the now-defunct mall food court favorites, Morrison's started to struggle as diners' preferences shifted away from the cafeteria-style setup. The company was split in 1996, and the section that owned the cafeterias was ultimately sold the same year. Many of the remaining stores were rebranded as Piccadilly Cafeterias, and as of this writing, there's only a single Morrison's left. Appropriately, it's at the Springdale Plaza in Mobile, Alabama — the very city that the chain was founded in. That Morrison's location is also operating under the Piccadilly umbrella, and while there are a number of them left, some have raised questions about how viable they will continue to be.

The music industry has overlapped with the food industry in some weird ways. (Did you know that Starbucks won a Grammy? We live in a strange world.) And in 1991, music and food collided in a huge way when Kenny Rogers opened the first Kenny Rogers Roasters. The idea was solid, because while we all love rotisserie chickens, we also know that they're hard to make at home. Kenny Rogers Roasters was the opportunity to get not KFC-style fried chicken but wood-fired rotisserie chicken. Sounds amazing, right? So, what happened?

In short, the chain couldn't stand up to pressure from others like Boston Market. Hitting a high point of around 350 locations, Rogers sold all but a small stake in his namesake business in 1996. Two years later, the restaurant filed for bankruptcy. It changed hands two more times, and although it continues to thrive overseas, the last American location closed in 2011.

As for Rogers, he seemed to have mixed feelings about the chain. Although there was a time when he tried to get it to remove his name, when he spoke to the BBC in 2017, the sting of seeing the restaurant declare bankruptcy seemed to have lessened. "It's a good product," he said. "They are still using my name, God bless 'em, you know."

If you don't remember Chicken George, you're seriously missing out. The Baltimore-based chain first opened in 1979 and grew quickly throughout the 1980s, opening locations in five states on either coast of the country. It reached Los Angeles in 1985, and according to those sharing fond memories on social media platforms, they were serving up some seriously delicious chicken and biscuits. The dirty rice was also a massive favorite, and those in-the-know say that no modern chicken chain comes close.

About the same time that the company opened locations in Atlanta, Philadelphia, and New Jersey, they started running into financial difficulties and ultimately filed for bankruptcy. Once the country's largest Black-owned fast food company, the chain changed hands in 1989, and the new owners announced that they had every intention in revitalizing the company and getting it back on its feet. However, it proved to be too little, too late, and in 1991, it was announced that Chicken George was going to be officially dissolving the business.

When it comes to nostalgia on Reddit, few mall food court stores get the same kind of love that Orange Julius does. There are plenty of Redditors who reminisce about stopping to get one of those creamy orange treats on their way to KB Toys, crossing over to Hickory Farms on the way, and then hitting the computer store of choice to check out the newest Nintendo games. Good times! By the time mall-goers were hitting up Orange Julius after doing their back-to-school shopping at Sears, the company had already been around for a surprisingly long time. 

The first one opened way back in the 1920s, and it wasn't until 1967 that the original Julius — founder Julius Freed — sold the company to International Industries and retired. The concept was the perfect fit for small mall-based locations, and the Orange Julius empire grew to hundreds of stores. The company changed hands again in 1985, when the more than 700 shops were purchased by Custom Creamery. At the time, it was announced that it was going to be business as usual, but things changed in a big way just a few years later.

In 1987, the company was bought by Dairy Queen. That chain is still selling Orange Julius drinks, but there's a major catch. According to the DQ website, they're only available at participating locations. And according to Redditors who remember the old ones and have tried the new, it's just not the same.

Here's a bit of bizarre trivia for history buffs, and it involves ice cream and one of the country's most notorious serial killers. In one of the most famous pictures of John Wayne Gacy, he's dressed as a clown and holding a few balloons. The logo on one is for Bressler's 33 Flavors. There — that's a thing you know now. Also? When Gacy was convicted, it was for 33 murders.

Bresler's was around long before Gacy started killing, and the chain actually dated back to the ice cream cart of two brothers who started selling their desserts back in 1929. Although they branched out into other fast food ventures, it was the ice cream that was the biggest hit, with over 300 locations at its largest. In addition to the standard ice cream varieties, Bresler's also sold flavors like root beer, licorice, marshmallow mint, banana berry, and strawberry marshmallow. 

Founder William Bresler died in 1985, and the company went on to change hands several times throughout the 1980s and 90s. Although there were promises of growth and more franchise opportunities, that wasn't destined to happen. Details on exactly what happened are scarce, but it does seem that the last Bresler's 33 Flavors location closed in 2007.

When reporters from The Virginian-Pilot decided to review China Coast back in 1994, they noted that there were 44 locations at the time, and they weren't incredibly generous with their critique. They found the food — including egg rolls and General Tso's Chicken — just sort of acceptable. "The ambience is antiseptic chain-restaurant ... Even desserts are all-American," they wrote. China Coast was, at the time, a part of Darden Restaurants, which intended for the chain to become a flagship brand alongside Red Lobster and Olive Garden. After opening a carefully-placed, Disney World-adjacent restaurant in 1990, the business found itself fighting mixed reviews and conflicting attitudes about what Chinese cuisine was, should be, and could be. 

Over the next five years, China Coast did expand and Darden sank around $100 million into the chain. After opening 51 locations, the powers that be announced that they were cutting their losses and closing all locations. Stock prices immediately rose after the announcement, and it seemed to be the right move for Darden. At the time, The New York Times reported that China Coast brought in just 2% of the company's sales.