Shakey's Pizza

According to that 1992 restaurant list:
3207 N Main St, Rockford, IL Now Cheers?
3579 E Washington Ave, Madison, WI Now China Buffet?
714 S Gammon Rd, Madison, WI Now The Learning Shop - see photograph:
http://www.learningshop.com/locations.cfm#madisonwest

I just find it amazing how this chain shrunk so much outside of California. They must have left behind a bunch of happy customers if people are willing to organize a Roadfood bus trip to another city.

quote:

Originally posted by David_NYC

Hi Detective,

Yes, if done properly, Shakey's is very good pizza. Objectively, I think a lot of people associate it with a happy time in their life. It also depends when and where they remember from it from, and how pizza was made at that location at that point in time. Former Shakey's kitchen help have posted over at pizzamaking.com how they made the pizzas. It seems that as time passed, more ingredients were shipped pre-mixed to the restuarants.

About Waukesha, adm22 got his list from one of those online directories. As we all know, those directories have errors in them. I did run some of those addresses through the Verizon phone company's web site. While Culver's store locator does not show a Culver's at that address, I did find a pizza crust manufacturer listed for that address and posted details in my second post of September 3rd.

What I find fascinating is how many people still have a craving for this pizza, even if all the stores in their area closed down.

I saw your post from the 3rd, but there is nothing like that (pizza crust business) over in that area. It's a big industrial area, and I don't think the building Shakey's was in is actually standing anymore. On the corner is a dealership, then the Culver's then another delaership, then a back road to the grocery store. There are about 3-5 dealerships on that block alone. The grocery store is set back from the road aways, and the dealersships make up most of the east side of that block, with the exception of Culver's.


Ok, I just did a Google Maps search. The name Eastmound Drive was familiar-sounding, but I had to know for sure.

Eastmound Drive is in a business park. Tru Green Chemlawn is back there as well as several other businesses.

The Shakeys I remember everyone going to in HS (early 1990's) was over where the Culver's is now. I am not 100% positive but I am pretty sure that there was not a Shakeys over in the business park.

And yes, there is a pizza maker back in the business park. When I used to take the bus, it would cruise back there, and we picked up some nice people that worked there.

Hi Detective,

I see now I caused some confusion. What I was doing on Sept. 3rd was researching the present businesses listed in telephone directories for the addresses supplied by adm22.

For Waukesha, I used the Eastmound Drive address supplied by adm22. But the 1992 list of Shakey's restaurants showed a Shakeys at 1720 Hwy 164 in Waukesha. Bingo! That is the address shown by Culvers for one of their three Waukesha locations at "1720 State Road 164 Waukesha, WI 53186".

I believe adm22's purpose in publshing the list was to see if there were any real or impostor Shakey's at those locations listed by mytravelguide.com.

I found the venues on one of the internet search sites. Was just putting them up to see if anyone knew which ones were still open if any. Guess if I was not in frugal mode I could just give them all a ring. I know the site is not 100% accurate since they did NOT list the Janesville Shakeys.

A roadtrip from Rockford to Janesville is not a long one. Depending upon where in Rockford you start from you can make it to the Shakeys in Janesville in less than an hour. About 35 minutes from the State St entrance to the tollroad. I have friends in the Chicago area who have a longer commute to work than this every day.

I do not recall which Rockford station had the roadtrip. I was just scanning through them when heard "Do you miss Mojo Potatoes?" and decided to continue listening.

I did pick up a customer comment card from the Janesville one. Filled it out asking if there were anymore still open and posted it. Was before i did any online searching, I think the adress on the card was in Green Bay or Madison. Not heard anything back.

Just for trivia's sake, the Shakey's in Springfield,MO closed and re-opened as a strip club called the Pink Cadilac (now defunct).

Shakeys chain gets smaller... again.

Last week had another trip to Janesville, WI to visit the Sahekys there. The parking lot was a bit vacant not a good sign. There was a sign on the door stating somthing to the effect of : "Sorry we are closed we have run out of cheese, chicken and chicken breading.'

There was no indication on the sign as to when they would be reopening. It after all sounded like a temporary setback. Saw someone inside and he noticed I was out there adn came to the door. He showed me another sign inside the restuarant. This one said that after 36 years of business they would be closing for good at some date in February. Forget what it was. It thanked cusotmers for their patronage. The guy told me that they had had a big rush of business on their last week and ran out of the afore mentioned items on Friday night of the weekend they closed. So a lot of people who had planned for one last trip were really disappointed.

Just glad I found they were still around last summer and managed to get there once. I know there is allegedly another one over in the Milwaukee area, does anyone know if they closed down also. I drove by there once last fall at abot 9 AM on a Sunday and it looked open.

The local Janesville newspaper, in its February 9th edition, gave the planned closing date as February 10th. The article quotes the owner as saying the restuarant closed because of financial problems because of competition from other restaurants opening up in the area:
http://www.gazettextra.com/news/2008/feb/09/long-time-janesville-restaurant-will-close/
Local readers hijacked the comments section of another story that day to weigh in on the closing of the Janesville Shakey's:
http://www.gazettextra.com/news/2008/feb/09/obama-visit-very-possible-official-says/
The article states the restaurant in West Allis, WI is still open.

Wow, that is sad for us Wisconsinites. Hopefully the West Allis WI location will stay open. It seems to be busy all of the time, but I guess time will tell.

-Andy

The old Shakey's location here in Chehalis, WA was just burned down to clear the lot for a new building. Kind of sad when it happened, but it hadn't been a Shakey's for quite a few years.

MOJO potatoes. Very difficult to stop eating, once begun.

I rang the one that is still open in West Allis (Milwaukee). Asked if they were planning to close down anytime soon and was told "No! Just the one in Janesville closed. We are the only one left!" Not sure if that means all the ones in California have departed us.

I hope to get by there at some point when they are open. I am in the Milwukee area every other month for business but never seem to have a chance to go there since I tend to make dinner plans with persons in northern Illinois whom I meet on the trip back home.

quote:

Originally posted by adm22

Shakeys Pizza
785 N Houston Rd, Warner Robins, GA
Tel: (478) 923-5381

Dearfolk,
This is apparently an original franchised location, operated by the same people since something like 1964; very, very little has been changed because if it ain't broke, you don't need to fix it. This remains a popular restaurant in this Air Force town; it was still thriving as of two weekends ago (March 8th. or thereabouts).
As soon as my van is repaired (the transmission reverted to neutral all too often, and I quickly became tired of having to back the 3-1/2 miles home [tee-hee]), this is a probable destination.
Can a chain be Roadfoodable? In this case, as my 8-Ball would say, "Signs point to yes." This isn't just Roadfood, in my estimation... it's Roadfood ARCHAEOLOGY!! -- Maybe even PALEONTOLOGY!!! (Gee, I hope I spelled those million-dollar words correctly.)
Remind me to buy a camera before I leave; we need some shots of this. I plan to bring my appetite.
Wondersomely, Ort. Carlton in UnShakey Athens, Georgia (we never had one).
P. S. The one on Stewart Avenue (now renamed Metropolitan Parkway) in S/W Atlanta only closed a couple or three years ago.

quote:

Originally posted by bgcubsfn
Hey gang. I remember going to Shakey's at least three times a week including Family Friday, with the Stooges

Bgcubsfn,
One absolutely cannot help but wonder what the Dickens those familites thought of Iggy & Company.
Thanks for reminding me: I need both their albums on ELEKTRA; I have the one on COLUMBIA.
Surely the only AM airing of any Iggy & The Stooges song was on WGOE in Richmond, Virginia in 1979, when they played "I Wanna Be Your Dog." Gad, what a memory....
Progressively, Ort. Carlton in Athens, Georgia, which needs a radio station like WGOE.

There were several Shakey's pizza places located in Oklahoma city during the 70's. I recall going to the one located in the 5700 block of South Western. Later as a junior high schooler (my family moved out of OKC when de segration started in 72, and ended up in a suburb called Del city, which also had a Shakey's pizza.

I remember the Pizza at that time was VERY good. The crust had a very distinctive taste, which was unlike anything I have encountered since. I wish I could describe the taste, but it was without peer.

The environment as someone noted was Gothic, dark woods tables and benches that were evocative of colonial in construction.

They had a piano player and live entertainment which was great fun. The store was divided into two sections, one for adults only and the other side for families.

The Pizza was made in a large kitchen with large windows and benches for kids to stand on and watch the pizza being made. Most of the guys actually tossed the dough and they did not have automatic dough rolling machines.

All in all, it was an experience unlike any other, and I still fondly remember to this day.

If I knew the Pizza still tasted the same, and the environment was the same, I would purchase a franchise and open a few stores!

I met Milwfoodlovers for the first time at the West Allis Shakey's.

It's quite a hilarious story.

Wellll....funny to us, anyway.....

The $10,000 question is if the pizza still tastes the way it did back in the early 70's, or have they changed the recipe so much that the pizza is not even close??

We know for sure the recipe changed over the years. Several people who used to work for Shakey's posted their recollections over at pizzamaking.com. They worked there at different times, and each account give different information about the recipe and baking methods. A while back, I even posted on this thread some recent statements made by the current owners of Shakey's about how they are going to improve the product, such as changes to sauce manufacturing and the type of cheese they are using.

We also know that some franchisees refused to use some of the prepared mixes Shakey's was trying to sell to their franchisees, instead using "make from scratch" earlier recipes they got from the franchisor. So, trying to determine if the pizza still tastes the same as from the 70's becomes even more difficult since you will have to specify which Shakey's pizza joint you are comparing it to. A lot of the old ones no longer exist. As to Shakey's corporate publishing a white paper about differences between the "official" 1970's formula and today's formula.......................

As of Sunday (yesterday - 6 april 2008) The shakeys in West Allis, WI was open. I went there with a friend who had not been to a Shekeys since the 1980s when the one in the Chicago area he frequented ceased operations.

The West Allis (Milwaukee) one was a better experience than the one in Janesville had been last summer. In part because we were there on a Sunday around 5 PM and it was much busier than 15 minutes before shutdown on a weeknight. If you are coming from out of the area, it is easy to get to being just off the 894 bypass @ National Ave.

The pizza was more like I remembered it to be way back when although to be honest my memory fo same is a bit foggy. The other food was hot and plentiful. still find it weird that although the buffet was unlimited, refills on soft drinks were not free- a lot of place do this now. I once had the guy running a non chain fast food place that by installing a self serve pop dispencer and offering free refills he would make asmuch money as having an employee get one drink up until the point that a customer got 4 refills! he said he need one less person at busy times because of it!

Shakeys place also looked as if about half the available seating was being used. So not jam packed but much busier than the Janesville one had been. Again note the time of day. I took a couple pictures outisde the place and may post them here if I can figure out how once the roll of film is done and back from the lab!

They did not have the old movies :( and the game room did not have any of the types of games I might be inclined to play, those that if you are skilled you play longer- pinball and video games. They were all of the type that awarded coupons for high scores the coupons could then be redemmed for assorted prizes. Also they had no piano being played :( They did still have all the signs one recalled about various sayings- Like their agreement with the bank of the bank not making pizza if Shakeys would not be cashing cheques!

I just ate @ the local Shakey's in West Allis on April 1st. Still the same great place I know from my childhood. It was during a weekday lunch rush and boy it was busy. Hopefully they will not close down or be forced by the Shakey's brand to change the format and not allow the buffet. I still do not know how they are keeping the Shakey's name on it.

-Andy

Apparently some Shakey's franchisees needed to continue offering the buffet, and I think the franchisor relented and will allow franchisees to continue offering the buffet. I read this in one of the on-line pizza industry publications.

A pizza buffet?

Its not like CiCi's buffet, if that is what you are thinking, Jim. Here is a review of the one in Georgia from about a year ago:
http://www.macon.com/132/story/31609.html

The items I remember most from the buffet were the pizza, fried chicken and the breaded and fried potatoes. At lunchtime, the big advantage is that you don't have to wait for your food to be prepared.

Back in the 60-70's I loved Shakeys nite out with the folks. I hated that they didnt have the buffet anytime but lunch. By the time I was in high school that became a problem(ditching school for SHakeys buffet!) The chicken was the best around back then. KFC was still small and the clones werent around. There was a chocken express that delivered broasted bird but we never got, Any way I was a deorived kid. Ma only made ovenbaked and you need the southern fried for all those vitamins and menerals for a healthy body!
britt

Shakey's is alive and well in Auburn, AL!

Back in September, I noted published reports that a Shakey's would be opening in Alabama. As Shakey's East noted, one has in Auburn. According to my list of Shakey's from 1992, there were no Shakey's in or anywhere near Auburn at that time, or presumably from then on. So many people have fond memories of the Shakey's they went to 30 or so years ago, and it wasn't always for the food. So, this raises a few questions in my mind. I assume most of the locals patronizing the place will not be familiar with the way a typical Shakey's used to be. For them, it will be another new place that just opened up, like many of us are looking at Five Guys burger places for the first time now. So, does the new place have anything that kids today will remember 30-odd years from now? Also, will the place be noted locally for its food or for food value? Also, how many older folks will make a trip there to see how this brand spanking new Shakey's compares to the ones they remember from years ago?

Most of the meals I had in Shakey's were in restaurants needing remodeling back in the 80's in Mid-Atlantic locations. They were getting hit hard by other competition from other chains. They all eventually folded. The pizza was great in some, mediocre in others. I would go for their signature dishes, and rarely bought the buffet.

I found six fascinating candid shots of the new Auburn restaurant on the web site of a local radio station. If you click on a photo and click on the photo again above it, you will get a large 2-3 meg image showing what it looks like. It even includes the sign out front advertising the lunch buffet (for $6.95) that the franchisor wanted to kill off, and people lining up at the buffet:
http://www.wingsfm.com/frmGalleryPhotos.aspx?GalleryID=8
There is a photo of what looks like prizes that can be won from playing the games. This may be the current "attraction" of Shakey's. Old movies probably wouldn't hold the interest of most of the people you see in these photos. Being a college town, I'd also like to know if Auburn has any live bands.

What one can't tell from the photos is what the food tastes like.

There was a Shakey's once in Columbus, GA. At this Auburn location, there is live four-string banjo music on Friday nights, an original Shakey's player piano and sometimes live music on Saturday nights.

Sad day indeed. The last Shakey's Pizza in West Allis WI is closing on June 30th.
http://www.westallisnow.com/watch/?watch=24&date=6/23/2008&id=42101

-Andy

This is an interesting news release. The web site linked to is operated by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel newspaper. Hopefully the Journal-Sentinel will provide in-depth coverage of the closure.

What piques my curiosity in the article is the statement: 'Its owners have "decided to focus on other business interests," according to a news release.' I have seen similar flowery press releases about executives who I know for a fact have been fired for screwing up big time.

There are also a few errors in the article. They do not list the new restaurant in Auburn, AL. Also, there is only one Shakey's left in Georgia.

quote:

Originally posted by shakeyslover

Sad day indeed. The last Shakey's Pizza in West Allis WI is closing on June 30th.
http://www.westallisnow.com/watch/?watch=24&date=6/23/2008&id=42101

-Andy

Aw, man! Does this mean they aren't going to be at State Fair? My dad is going to be upset. He loves those mojos. LOVES.

I detect a sacary pattern here. Last summer I discovered the one in Janesville Wisconson was open went there and a few months later it went out of business.

I went to the one in West allis in April and now it is closing, had been planning a trip to Milwaukee on July 13 and one of the events on the interary was dinner at Shakeys. Guess that wont be happening.

The others at this point are too far away to consider trips to so I guess I wont be closing them donw.