Chi-Chi’s Mexican Restaurant Returns After Two Decades
Chi-Chi’s Mexican Restaurant is officially returning and opened its doors on October 6, 2024 at 1602 West End Blvd. in St Louis Park, Minneapolis, Minnesota. As of September 30, the restaurant permits have been filed, and construction of the first location is already underway. The revival comes courtesy of Michael McDermott, grandson of Chi-Chi’s co-founder, who struck a deal with Hormel Foods to bring back the beloved chain.
Nearly fifty years after the first Chi-Chi’s started service near Minneapolis in 1975, McDermott opened a new Chi-Chi’s nearby in 2024. A second Chi-Chi’s in Maple Grove, Minnesota, is set to debut in fall 2025. The timing couldn’t be better, with Mexican restaurant revenue forecast to reach nearly one hundred billion dollars by this year. This comeback is particularly sweet considering the chain’s troubled past, which included a major health crisis that shut down all locations in the early 2000s.
Golden Corral Dominates the Buffet Revival
In 2025, Golden Corral operates around 400 locations in 40 states and has bounced back from 2020 COVID as strong as ever. The company says its locations recently earned $102,000 in average weekly sales, a new record for the restaurant chain. The buffet giant’s remarkable recovery story includes strategic improvements to sanitary policies and employee relations while maintaining affordable prices for customers.
That effort was not in vain, as it was named Newsweek’s number one buffet chain in America in 2025 and recognized as one of Yelp’s 50 Most Loved Brands of 2023. The chain’s success stems from reducing competition during the 2020 pandemic and positioning itself perfectly for the post-COVID dining environment. Their determination to innovate while staying true to their buffet roots has created what many consider a classic American comeback story.
Sweet Tomatoes Sprouts Back to Life
The buffet salad-bar chain – known as Souplantation in California – that once boasted close to 100 units, was one of the more comprehensive casualties of the 2020 Covid shutdown. Then-parent Garden Fresh Restaurants filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy and the dual-named chain was shuttered entirely in 2020, much to the dismay of many who loved the brand’s array of food and variety, particularly families with picky children. But now, it’s back.
Last week, on April 1, Souplantation sister-concept Sweet Tomatoes reopened a 7,000 square-foot, once-popular location in Tucson, AZ, with hungry diners lining around the building to get a taste of the familiar buffet restaurant. The Arizona branch, located at 6202 East Broadway Boulevard in Tuscon, initially opened its doors in 1996. The emotional response from customers has been overwhelming, with social media posts celebrating the return and long lines forming at the reopened location. The company is now considering expansion to additional markets across the country.
Ground Round Makes Its Return
The reimagined and reinvented Ground Round successfully honors its legacy while catering to a modern dining experience. It’s a place where you can relive fond childhood memories while savoring a thoughtfully prepared, high-quality meal. It’s not just a comeback; it’s a revival, a testament to the enduring appeal of good food, good company, and the comforting embrace of nostalgia, now served with an elevated twist.
In the ’80s and ’90s, Ground Round was a place where kids wanted to have their birthday parties. The chain offered peanuts on the table, and you could throw your shells on the floor. In later years, peanuts became popcorn, but throughout its history, Ground Round also served ice cream sundaes in plastic baseball hats. The new ownership has carefully balanced nostalgia with modern dining expectations. While maintaining the casual family atmosphere that made the original special, they’ve upgraded the food quality and dining experience to meet today’s standards.
Cicis Pizza Stabilizes and Expands
In 2021, Cicis had shrunk by about half, and the parent company of the chain of around 300 stores filed for bankruptcy. It couldn’t manage the operational and financial challenges of the 2020 pandemic, when shutdown orders forced regular customers out of restaurants’ dining rooms. Buffets were particularly affected, as that’s not a format that translates well to the takeout model. Cicis had amassed as much as $100 million in debt, and needed to restructure.
By 2025, the restaurant count had stabilized at 270 stores, and the environment was stable enough for Cicis – which is one of the pizza chains that never use frozen dough – to expand its menu with innovative choices like an Oreo Brownie Pizza, a chicken and waffle pizza, and a Nashville-style chicken pizza. In tandem with its 40th anniversary, The company is aggressively pursuing new franchisees to continue to slowly but steadily open up new spots around the country. The menu innovations show how traditional chains can evolve while maintaining their core appeal to families and budget-conscious diners.
Quiznos Quietly Rebuilds
With a large investment by High Bluff Capital Partners and the recommendations of revamp consultant Prophet, Rego set out to save Quiznos. Many stores were remodeled to make them look more up-to-date and to function in line with consumer trends. That meant the adoption of drive-through systems and Quiznos accepting Bitcoin as payment, and using its food in low-cost ghost kitchens.
While it remains to be seen if Quiznos will rise again, those moves may have at least stabilized the company. It hasn’t closed any stores in the last few years, and as of 2025, oversees 150 stores with plans to open a handful of new ones. The sandwich chain’s approach demonstrates how struggling restaurants can embrace technology and alternative service models. Accepting cryptocurrency payments and utilizing ghost kitchens represent forward-thinking strategies that could appeal to younger demographics while maintaining cost efficiency.
Chili’s Experiences Remarkable Growth
And Chili’s, which was declining for many years, is also experiencing a comeback. According to recent stats, the sit-down restaurant experienced nearly a 15 percent growth in 2024. Jefferies analyst Andy Barish called the chain “the most extreme example of being able to hit a value promotion at exactly the right time and then be able to support it with an incredible amount of social media spending and influencers.”
One successful move was adding a $10.99 meal deal with an appetizer, entree, and beverage. “We’re leading the industry on value,” he told Yahoo Finance’s Market Domination after Chili’s experienced a 14% year-over-year same-store sales jump last quarter with Brinker’s stock soaring by 280% in the last 12 months. The chain’s success demonstrates how value pricing combined with social media savvy can revitalize even established brands that seemed to be fading.
Roy Rogers Rides Back East
Food chain Roy Rogers opened a new location in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, signaling the brand’s East Coast revival after being absent from the region since the 1990s. Roy Rogers Restaurants opened a new location in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, last week as it looks to revamp the fast-food brand in the East Coast region. The Maryland-based chain, originally founded in 1968, has been methodically working its way back into markets where it once thrived.
Peter Plamondon Sr., a former Marriott executive who became a franchisee of Roy Rogers Restaurants, sold his franchise to his sons, Pete Jr. and Jim, in the late 1990s. By 2002, the brothers purchased the Roy Rogers brand from Hardee’s parent company CKE Restaurants. The duo have been credited with helping open and operate multiple Roy Rogers restaurants. This family-driven revival shows how passionate ownership can breathe new life into forgotten brands. The brothers’ long-term commitment to rebuilding Roy Rogers demonstrates that successful comebacks often require patient, strategic expansion rather than rapid growth.
Friendly’s Fights for Survival
The famed restaurant was sold in 2021 to Amici Partners Group, LLC, with the intent of triggering a massive comeback. The famed restaurant was sold in 2021 to Amici Partners Group, LLC, with the intent of triggering a massive comeback. Sherif Mityas, CEO of Friendly’s Restaurants, said the closures are deliberate and that, “Sometimes to grow you have to shrink.” From its height to about 850 restaurants nationwide to now 104 locations on the East Coast, Friendly’s has long battled against the grim reaper of good grub.
Brix is now working to revive and revitalize the brand. While it’s unclear if any of Central New York’s surviving locations will live through the comeback phase, Mityas said the chain is about to undergo some serious revival work. The ice cream and comfort food chain faces the challenge of modernizing its appeal while maintaining the folksy charm that made it beloved by generations. The strategic downsizing approach suggests management understands that sustainable growth sometimes requires difficult decisions about underperforming locations.
Pizza Hut’s Delivery-Focused Revival
Culminating in bankruptcy and the closure of 300 U.S. restaurants in 2020, franchisee Flynn Restaurant Group acquired ⅕ of the pizza behemoth’s locations in 2021 to revive the struggling brand. By 2023, same-store sales in the U.S. had increased by 8% –– the biggest leap in 13 years –– and system sales had grown roughly 5% in 15 years. Flynn achieved Pizza Hut’s slow-burning comeback by slashing underperforming locations and shifting focus to where the real money is in the world of pizza: delivery.
The pizza giant’s transformation highlights how traditional dine-in concepts can successfully pivot to delivery-focused models. By recognizing that consumers increasingly prefer convenience over the traditional red-roof dining experience, Pizza Hut has managed to stabilize and grow its business. The strategic closure of underperforming dine-in locations while strengthening delivery operations shows how established brands can adapt to changing consumer preferences.
These comeback stories represent more than just business success – they’re proof that beloved brands can evolve and thrive when they balance nostalgia with innovation. Each chain has found its own path to revival, whether through value pricing, menu innovation, strategic downsizing, or embracing new service models. The common thread connecting all these comebacks is their ability to tap into genuine consumer affection while adapting to modern dining habits and expectations. What do you think about these restaurant revivals? Tell us in the comments.
