Anybody remember eating at a restaurant called Sambo's? Whatever happened to them?

Question

Are they what you call Denny's now? What's the story?

Answer 1

Sambos has the unique distinction of being one of the biggest restaurant chains to drop off the face of the map in the shortest period of time.they had a lot more problems than being all the sudden'not politically correct'.in 1979 they had 1,200 units across the u.s.-that is almost as many as Burger King had at the time.by late 1981 they were extinct..............only the original unit in Santa Barbara Ca remained.that type of death spiral has not been ever before recorded,and likely never will.less than 3 yrs....its truly an amazing tumble.

Answer 2

they went out of business

Answer 3

Glad it closed down. The name is not cute.

Answer 4

They went out of business. Also the name was not politically correct.

Answer 5

YES, I used to love going there as a child...great pancakes!

No, never associated with Denny's...in my town, Sambo's was next door to Denny's...it became a sushi grill when Sambo's went out of business in the late 70's.

The chain died largely because of the controversy over its name...I remember lots of news stories about how people objected to the name as discriminatory toward African-Americans and refused to allow the restaurants to use that name in their town any longer.  The company tried other names (don't remember what they tried in my town) but without the "brand equity" and the character they had built up under the original name, they eventually declared bankruptcy.

According to Wikipedia, the original restaurant is still open in Santa Barbara, CA...the Web site for that restaurant suggests that we may see a revival someday!

Answer 6

I remember Sambos,I do believe they are now Dennys. I believe the era of Political Correctness killed them off.

Answer 7

OMG I do remember eating at Sambo's!  Tiger butter and the whole nine yards!  We would stay at a place in Palm Springs that had a Sambo's right next to it. I think the original restaurant was in Santa Barbara.

Whatever happened!? They aren't "politically correct" anymore, as are so many of the things that we grew up with.  Funny how we could grow up with all these "offensive" things and turn out ok, isn't it?

Answer 8

They chain did go out of business. Happily, the original Sambo's is still in its original location in Santa Barbara, CA.

Answer 9

I had forgotten all about them....they were a nice restaurant for families...yes, very much like Denny's.  But as already has been said, they did go out of business.