Smokey Bones folds

not really roadfood, but very interesting that the owners of Olive Garden and Red Lobster have pulled the plug on the entire brand. Mobile's Smokey Bones closed suddenly Friday May 4. The restaurant actually did decent business, and from guys in my reserve unit, the food was predictable, decent chow as BBQ goes, nothing to rave about, but a place to take a muti-generational grouping for lunch or dinner after church or during family visits...............Darden Foods the parent company said that they over-estimated how often the typical family goes out for BBQ and sales lagged at most resturants but were strong in the south....so why can all of'em?...I mean using their ratinale, how often does the usual family go to Red Lobster or Olive Garden? The influx of Katrina workers and displaced families kept the Mobile store busy with the typical business travelers also stopping in. If I was in town on business, I would not hesitate goiong to SB's if it was close to the motel....any thoughts? My experience at SB's was OK.........

The food was average. I didn't care for the TV in every corner and the volume/channel box on the table. It made eating with the family a TV watching outing. We don't eat in front of the TV at home, so why do it out? They closed both locations in the Memphis area. The speculation is that their generic brand of BBQ won't fly down here.

I guess I'm looking at the whole picture from having traveled for business and the military a lot for over 12 years. Maligned as national restaurant brands are, they do serve a very large clientle that are not familiar with the city they are visiting, are tired, don't want to venture too far off of the strip in search of decent chow and want at least OK quality food before hitting the motel and doing it all over again....that's what keeps most of these places in some form of cash flow.........normally the second day I would get the lowdown on where the good local places were.....

I never really had anything against them, went there 3 or 4 times and the food was OK. Only bad experience was that we were in the non smoking section which was about 5ft away from the smoking section with no barrier of any kind.

do the mods have the ability to merge this topic with the one already created, ie http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=19770?

They closed our Smokey Bones here about two months ago and started converting it over to a Rocky River Grillhouse. Well....that one got closed down before it even opened! No telling how much money they pumped into the renovation before pulling the plug. It was scheduled to open this month.

http://www.rockyrivergrillhouse.com/

quote:

Originally posted by TJ Jackson

do the mods have the ability to merge this topic with the one already created, ie http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=19770?

I'd love to them merged as I would like to run a victory lap!

Hi I just want to say thank you to backfromiraq. Thank you for all your service for us here at home and protecting our Country. As far as I know here in Florida we still have Smokey Bones up and running

TJ, no merge function, AFAIK.

MikeS.

My wife and I actually like SmokeyBones (theres no real BBQ joints anywhere around us that I know of). I'd kill for some of their cornbread right now. My wife will be more upset than I about this.

Probably the worst BBQ ever...but good cornbread.

Terry H.

While at my local watering hole for happy hour today in
the burbs of Syracuse NY I asked the bartender if she
had heard anything of SBs up the street closing up.
She said that that is the rumor from the SB crew!

I note that place waS packed for the first few months
it was open. A ghost town now! It is located on what is now "resturant row" of chain joints with a Olive Garden
and Red Lobster within spittin' distance of SBs.........

More betta' to brave the drive to downtown to Dinosaur
BBQ...............geo

Local Smokey Bones is up for sale
Springfield Illinois SJ-R


Published Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Springfield’s Smokey Bones Barbeque & Grill is not one of dozens being closed by parent company Darden Restaurants, but it is up for sale, a spokesman confirmed Monday.

Darden, which also operates Red Lobster and Olive Garden, announced last weekend it is closing 54 of the chain’s locations and putting the remaining 73 up for sale.

“Unfortunately, in some markets our restaurants have not enjoyed consistent, lasting success,” said a message on the Smokey Bones’ Web site.

“We made the difficult decision to close 54 of these Smokey Bones restaurants after dinner on Friday, May 4. ... In these markets, you may see some familiar Smokey Bones faces at local Red Lobster, Olive Garden and Bahama Breeze restaurants. That’s because, where possible, we give employees of a closing restaurant opportunities to transfer to our other company restaurants.”

Orlando, Fla.,-based Joe Chabus, a Darden spokesman, said the Springfield Smokey Bones at 2660 S. Dirksen Parkway is “definitely open and serving guests lunch and dinner.”

He said the company chose to sell the remaining 73 Smokey Bones because there are too few left to be supported by national advertising.

“When Smokey Bones was originally developed, it was to be a company with a national scale to support national TV advertising. The frequency that people are served in those restaurants is not as strong as Olive Garden or Red Lobster,” he said. “So we’re putting them all up for sale. We can’t cherry-pick.”

Among Smokey Bones in Illinois, those in Champaign, Aurora and Schaumburg are closing. Besides Springfield, the Fairview Heights location will remain open but on the auction block.

The first Smokey Bones Barbeque & Grill opened in Orlando in 1999. Most are in the Eastern and Midwestern United States.

Jack@DrofBBQ.com

I am sad to see them go. We would stop at the one near Hartford whenever we were in the neighborhood. Their pulled pork was very good, as well as their iced tea. In the north, there are very few places that serve iced tea like they do in the south. It is so inexpensive to make, but so many restaurants here want to charge you by the glass. They had good slaw, too. Oh well...

Smoky Bones in Kennesaw, GA is still open as of today - in fact, they had a sign advertising, "Now Hiring."

Good riddance.

Nah nah nah hey heeeey goodbye. Reminds me of football season. BBQ sucked anyway.

quote:

Originally posted by sonjaab

While at my local watering hole for happy hour today in
the burbs of Syracuse NY I asked the bartender if she
had heard anything of SBs up the street closing up.
She said that that is the rumor from the SB crew!

I note that place waS packed for the first few months
it was open. A ghost town now! It is located on what is now "resturant row" of chain joints with a Olive Garden
and Red Lobster within spittin' distance of SBs.........

More betta' to brave the drive to downtown to Dinosaur
BBQ...............geo

About a year or so ago, I took my nephew out for lunch in Syracuse, NY. I told him we'd take him for BBQ. HE assumed we'd be taking him to Smokey Bones. I said, "no, your Aunt and I are taking you to the Dinosaur." He said he had never been! Although I was shocked, I also had to realize he lived in Rochester, so I could deal with that, I guess. Well, he couldn;t believe the difference. He said he thought all BBQ was the same, until he went to the Dinosaur.

I may have told that story before in another thread - but the conclusion to that was that when my parents recently (his grand parents) asked him where he'd like them to take him out for dinner, he told them he wanted BBQ from the Dinosaur, claiming it was his favorite place in Syr.

Having hooked him already with Heid's hotdogs and now the Dino, My job is done with that boy!...until he asks for Subway and I take him to the Brooklyn Pickle instead!

SCORE........Does the kid know there is a Dinosaur BBQ
in Rochester also?...........geo

Brooklyn pickle? If you want a real deli sandwich, the closest substitute in Syracuse is pickles in Dewitt. While Brooklyn pickle may be good if you grew up on it, it ain't deli. I took my dad there for Corned beef and pastrami and not only did they serve it cold, they asked if we wanted lettuce, tomato and worst of all, MAYO on it.
That ain't real deli. The best deli in the world, Katz's is only 5 hours away in NYC, and they do mail order.

I am not sad to see Smokey Bones go out of business. My wife and I tried the Tulsa location twice in one day (first and last time). My wife ordered Pulled Pork. She said that meat tasted tainted. I have an iron-clad stomach and can eat about anything (except broccali and cauliflower) and it tasted tainted to me. We sent the meal back and received a second portion. It also tasted tainted. My wife sent the second portion back and ordered sliced brisket. The manager came over and argued with us that the meat was not bad. We never returned. Of course, in Tulsa we have plenty of better BBQ places. Chain BBQs have not done well in Tulsa (Smokey Bones, Tony Romos, and El Paso have all closed here). On the other hand, local regional chain The Rib Crib seems to thrive.

[url='http://www.smokeybones.com/closed_restaurants.asp
']Here[/url] is a list of closed SB locations.

Even though the SB near me is on the closing list, they had buy one, get one coupons in the Sunday paper today. Only went once and I thought the pulled pork was good, especially since you could get it without a bun.

The giant ( Darden) was taught the lesson the small guys have known for years - bar-b-q is LOCAL (regional at best). Residing in a state (Florida) that is generally acknowledged as having non-existent bar-b-q by the other Southern states, why should this have been a surprise?
The other franchise operations (Sonny's-Bono's-Woody's) from Northern Florida have fared well in their own regions but seldom outside. Sticky Fingers,from my viewpoint, (is a great operation!) and has kept within it's regional borders. Corky's did not enjoy success in Jacksonvile because it served only Memphis bar-b-q and did not have the frequency that Smokey Bones suffered for the same reason: they served as a once a month dining place instead of a weekly dining place for the customers. Perhaps tha allure of fresh donuts and asparagus do not a bar-b-q place make. Good idea diluted by the corporate process of implementation.

TU Pablo,
I had the same sort of thing happen at a Tony Roma's near our home in SoCal some years ago. They had an AYCE special on pork ribs going. The first order -5 baby back bones- was ok, but when the reorder came out it smelled 'spoiled'. I quietly asked the server to replace it. They did, with another 'spoiled' serving. When I asked the manager to smell the serving as I hadn't touched it, he refused and said there was nothing wrong with it. They refused to comp the meal or offer any redress. We paid, and left and will NEVER enter another TONY ROMA'S again.

In my opinion, Darden restaurants has a history of pulling the plug on their restaurants too soon. Here, in Denver, they closed a Bahama Breeze, saying it was "underperforming" at several millions dollars of gross per year.They put several friends of ours out of work as a result. I like Red Lobster, but refuse to go there because of their "corporate thinking".

In Sunday's paper they had a coupon for the Smokey Bones on USHWY281 in San Antonio.However i thought in the food section of the paper one day I thought they said it was closed.Will have to check the company's website.Ryan's Steakhouse is no longer here in town.All locations are closed.

Our Smokey Bones have all now closed, too. They won't be missed: believe it or not, Indianapolis actually has some pretty good local places for BBQ. And besides, there was an amazing local place that opened a few years ago, on a side street. SB's came in and opened 5 minutes away, and before long the local faded away. Corporate BBQ is an oxymoron.

dogmeat wrote:
===The giant ( Darden) was taught the lesson the small guys have known for years - bar-b-q is LOCAL (regional at best).===


I think that it is becoming more than that. The tremendous growth in the sales of home grills and smokers makes anyone capable of cooking good Q. We have seen plenty of photos that are as good as any place. Why should I go out for it when I have a New Braunfels that can cook a whole pig? Louisiana license plate attached...
The second truth is regional as I (wrongfully) believe that good BBQ can only be found in the south.

I would love to own a BBQ place, but I worry that it would not work due to these reasons.

mark

DoggyDaddy,
While I agree in concept, I think the mad rush for "I want it right now" will never allow the 'low and slow' style of BBQ cooker to be a mainstay in the current Home Cooking diet. Oh yeah, It will be used...and Dads everywhere will have to have a cooker bigger, more powerful,and 'faster' than the neighbor, but people are just too impatient, or rather, too in a hurry to devote the time to the preparation of good BBQ. Thus the "Call Ahead and order for Taking Home" that is so common at food service establishments of all types (including good BBQ places). I just don't see the typical suburban "yuppie" spending 20 hours each weekend tending the shoulders anf briskets and ribs that will feed his/her family the following week.
No, The folks who do the Que are a breed apart. and that group will maintain the traditions of whatever region they hail from....but don't think that the next generation (or two) will continue that process, cause it MAY NOT be the way it is.