Changing Tastes

To all the old Bennigans family..... because that is what we used to be :( I found out from the IRS that you have to contact them 1-800-829-1040 and ask for a 4852. Then you get to estimate what your wages were and file. Then in June contact them again and by that time they should have your social secutity logged in and they can tell you what you realy made....THEN you get to file an ammendment so that your taxes will be ok for next year. And I thought that loosing my job with no notice was a pain in the ass..... I was wrong. 11 years of empty promises ,and it will be ok's should have told me to run from this company a long time ago.

say what you want about bennigans, but they had the best honey mustard ever.

I was a cook at Bennigans in the early 80's. The soups were made by recipe. Potato skins and potato soup, the broccoli bites, egg rolls, chicken cordon bleu, CFS, Jambalaya, Etouffee were all prepared by recipe. This is where I learned how to Cook. Years later, everything came in frozen for consistency. That was their downfall.
The great Jan Tatum was my GM. I remeber to this day she said. If your not using the recipe book, then you don't need to work here. I had a long 10 year cokking career with Bennigans. Sad to see them go.

You're dead wrong when you say that Bennigan's failed because it was out of step with today's health conscious diners. There aren't enough health conscious diners out there to keep any restaurant in business. The fact is that Bennigan's has healthy food on it's menu but people don't buy it, at least not in great numbers. The public may say they want to eat more healthy food, but they don't do it. The Monte Cristo was the best selling item on the Bennigan's menu because customers liked it better than the grilled chicken and veggies. And there's nothing wrong with that.

I worked in a Bennigan's in Clearwater, FL, it's not like I made a great deal of money working there, but it was my main source of income. Now I have no idea how I am going to make my car payment this month, or any other bills for that matter, Bennigan's closed on Teusday, today is the Wednesday the following week, and I am down to my last $9. Bennigan's didnt even make an effort to give me the last 3 days worth of tip shares, or my final check. With the way the economy is now, I have no idea where to start looking for a new job, I appplied at a fst food place this afternoon. Thanks Bennigan's, MY ASS HURTS REALLY BAD NOW!

Well, "Olive Garden" is overrated. The food isn't even close to real italian food. The pasta sauces have only little variation, more or less garlic. Healthy choices, give me a break. If you want healthy eating, cook yourself and save money that way.

I'm not surprised. I stopped going to Bennigan's a few years ago after several disastrous encounters. I wrote a long letter to management to express my concerns ... and, surprise, surprise, never got a reply. Good riddance is what I say.

Bennigans closing is not a sign of the times. It is years and years of bad UPPER management. The corporate stores have been going down for a long time. General managers, FOH and BOH managers have been beating their heads against a wall for years. When you can't and are not allowed to keep up with basic wear and tear of your building, you feel helpless. When you are allowed to call someone out for repairs, the repair people want COD, because corporate hasn't been paying the bills. I have traveled to a lot of the franchise stores and they are great. Better run, kept up, and cared for. I hope these stores do well because of their own reputation. I worked for Bennigans for 14 years and am sad of what it had become, best of luck to the franchise owners.

In most franchise systems, the franchise restaurants operate better than the company owned ones. The primary reason for that is there is a higher level of "caring" by management. This is the case in the Bennigans situation as well. I am associated with the Bennigans Franchise in Michigan, we have thousands of loyal guests who dine with us frequently and enjoy the products we have ot offer. No restaurant can be all things to all people, so if you want tofu, don't dine with us. But, if you want a great meal with great service, give us a try. As Director of Restaurant Operations, I guarentee if you are not happy with your dining experience, you will not have to pay. How many bankrupt companines can and will make that kind of claim? If you ever have a negative experience at one of the Michigan Bennigans, call me. 989-773-8850 Ext 221. Rich Boyce, Director of Restaurant Operations, LaBelle Management, a Michigan based restaurant and hospitality company

The Decline of Bennigan's--a short trip

Bennigan???s (Bedford, TX)
Our first time at Bennigan's was several years ago. The adult menu and food was fairly good, but the children's menu offered a choice between PBJ sandwich or mac & cheese-- OK if the fridge is empty or if we???re too lazy to cook, but at a RESTAURANT? With so many other choices, why come here?

Southlake Tavern (Southlake, TX)
???Steaks, Seafood, and Burgers???, said the sign (or something like that). Our burgers were overcooked on our first visit, and the manager awkward and unresponsive. Would we trust them with a steak? I don't think so! Apparently everyone else voted with their feet as we did.

Twenty Nine Degrees (Ft Worth, TX)
This moniker refers to the temperature at which their beer is served???too cold for ANY beer except the long-neck, painted-label Sol or Corona that you toss down in 2.5 seconds after having baling hay for eight hours on a 110 degree day. After that, you want some flavor. When served at 29 degrees, even the best beer tastes like bitter, iced bathwater. Want proof? The beer companies pleaded with 29d managers to raise the serving temperature. Some, like the Bud distributor, even threatened to withhold delivery. One driver remarked to me that the number 29 was chosen for the sake of unity, matching both the beer temp and decision-makers??? IQ.

I should have known (but didn't until the Chapter 7 filing) that these three losers were brainchildren of the same company. I give its pointy-haired execs a D minus. They should be jailed for stupidity as public service. RIP.

Next to fall: Applebee???s. Three visits, three restaurants, three cities, three meals served cold. No mas.

The Decline of Bennigan's--a short trip

Bennigan???s (Bedford, TX)
Our first time at Bennigan's was several years ago. The adult menu and food was fairly good, but the children's menu offered a choice between PBJ sandwich or mac & cheese-- OK if the fridge is empty or if we???re too lazy to cook, but at a RESTAURANT? What???s up with that? With so many other choices, why come here?

Southlake Tavern (Southlake, TX)
???Steaks, Seafood, and Burgers???, said the sign (or something like that). Our burgers were overcooked on our first visit, and the manager awkward and unresponsive. Would we trust them with a steak? I don't think so! Apparently everyone else voted with their feet as we did.

Twenty Nine Degrees (Ft Worth, TX)
This moniker refers to the temperature at which their beer is served???too cold for ANY beer except the long-neck, painted-label Sol or Corona that you toss down in 2.5 seconds after baling hay for eight hours on a hot day. After that, you want some flavor. When served at 29 degrees, good beer tastes like bitter, iced bathwater. Want proof? The beer companies pleaded with 29d managers to raise the serving temperature. Some, like the Bud distributor, even threatened to withhold delivery. One driver remarked to me that the number 29 was chosen for the sake of unity, matching both the beer temp and decision-makers??? IQ.

I should have known (but didn't until the Chapter 7 filing) that these three losers were brainchildren of the same company. I give its pointy-haired execs a D minus. They should be jailed for stupidity as public service. RIP.

Next to fall: Applebee???s. Three visits, three restaurants, three cities, three meals served cold. No mas.

Basically I am like really no longer eating out much. NOT because of the economy, but because of my line of work, see, I am a HVACR technician. In the last few years I have been doing quite a bit of refrigeration work at local restaurants, some of which USED to be favorites of my family and I, however after being insede their kitchens I will never eat there again.
It really does not matter much wether it is a five star restaurant, or a diner..............Some are very nice and clean, their kitchen workers handle food properly, and others .......Well, lets say I would not feed my dog their food.
Most used pre packaged, pre cooked food, those ribs you think are cooking on that grill were cooked probably three months ago, most everything is out of a can, or some plastic five gallon bucket with enough preservatives to mummyfy an elephant.

There are still some good clean ones around, mostly independents, and family owned local establishments around who offer good, CLEAN, well cooked and served food with excellent customer service, but do your research if you eat out a lot.

pish posh ! I thought i was going to read an article with insight and truth, and all im reading is a negative , fictional essay full of opinions. Bennigan's does have an old menu, but it did offer some new stuff to its menu over the years including healthy crap which i obviously dont care for. sure it was not recognized because ithe options are so small, but the effort was there a little.(NOBODYS PERFECT). Bennigan's is an irish like pub. People go to hang watch tv, socialize, have family time without the worry of interrupting fine dining, and also it's no olive garden; olive garden should be healthy, it's ITALIAN FOOD. Obviously this article is just hating! Bennigans is great! Obviously it was doing something right it lasted for 30+ years. The economy is bad, and people have to make choices and it's sad to see more jobs to go especially in Illinois we have to many people and jobs that are depleting fast.

So what does the price of gasoline and the mortgage crisis have to do with Restaurants going out of business? People don't have excess funds now to go out to dinner as they used to. Add poor service and poor food and goodbye. Steak & Ale used to be great now they are closing. Apparently Olive Gardens is doing well. We have a place here in Baltimore County, the Peppermill, that is doing great and you have to wait to get in unless you are very early or very late. Why? Consistently good food, reasonable prices and pretty good service: maybe that is the secret.
Things can't be all that bad in the US, just drive by a public high school and look at the Mecedes and BMWs that the kids are driving to school (not their parent's car, their car). China has 1.2 billion people (going to 1.3or 1.4 before population control finally catches up). A fourth of those are doing well (75% are still poor farmers) which means that they are about equal to the US population in numbers doing well. When they raise their standard of living and get farmers in a better situation, their GNP should eclipse ours, they have a 4:1population advantage. Also the Chinese are willing to study and to work hard for the most part. They love Americans and emulate us but are even more materialistic (I visited two years ago). That's a dangerous situation for us (especially since a lot or our kids won't even study or go for easy college courses).

One of the few places that knew how to properly make a Monte Cristo sandwich (en croute) and serve it with dipping jam. That I will miss.

Gasoline is not $4.00 per gallon because of Bush or the oil companies. The media only reports oil profits in $, not in percentages, oil companies make 8 to 11% of gross which is hardly exorbitant. Oil is in demand and with China and soon India asking for more and more it is a case of supply and demand. If you don't like the price don't buy it, if everyone did that the price will drop. Also we import 75% of our oil compared to 25% some years ago. So most of the "exorbitant" profit is going overseas. Why? Because our environmentalists and Congress have prevented new nuclear power plants, oil refineries and off shore drilling for what. 30+ years. Ethanol is not the solution for the US (it needs more energy to make it than you get out, it puts CO2 in the air when it is being made, you get at best 2/3 of the MPG of gasoline and it will divert the use of corn which will run food prices even higher). Wind energy is not the solution (that takes a lot of area, looks ugly as the wind generators have to be 123 ft high to get a decent wind the power still has to be able to come from the power grid when there is insufficient wind and it kills birds and bats). Thank god here in MD a group was stopped from denuding a large beautiful forest on top of a large hill to put up those ugly beasts. So what is the answer? Drill offshore for oil, approve more refineries (hopefully somewhere else than the Gulf Coast), invest heavily in Geothermal and Nuclear Power and use Solar (on individual homes) as the price comes down. Those last three can also be used to produce hydrogen (Or better yet, hydrogen compounds-yes you have supply energy to get hydrogen in the first place). Congress is also at fault for allowing the mortgage abuses by relaxing the requirements (letting the mortgage sharks in) so people with big eyes could bypass FHA rules and buy oversize houses with nothing down when they didn't make enough money to make the payments (in some cases they couldn't even make the first payment).