What ever happened to…?. When I was a kid there was a fast-food chain on the east coast called Arthur Treacher’s Fish ‘n’ Chips. I seem to recall that Treacher was some kind of celebrity from long before my time. Whatever happened to that place? I can’t think of any other fast-food chains that…
What ever happened to…?. When
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I can’t believe I stumbled upon this page by accident! I used to work for Arthur Treacher’s Fish & Chips in the Detroit Market, back in the mid 80s, thru the mid 90s. The Detroit franchise was owned by the Chakeres family and they opened them up all throughout Detroit and the suburbs in the early 70s. In and around 1985 (about the time I started working for them), Chakeres lost his franchise contract with Arthur Treachers and, pretty much overnight, changed all the Detroit Arthur Treacher’s locations to “Seafood Bay”. Only the name, logo and colours changed. The food was EXACTLY the same! The Menu was EXACTLY the same! Even the rotating Lantern shaped road signs, outside, were still kept, only the sign panels were changed to reflect the new Seafood Bay logo. After a good 11 years, Chakeres just couldn’t stay afloat as he simply refused to re-invest any money into his restaurants letting them basically fall apart and closing them one by one, slowly. By the mid 90s, there were about 15 stores left (originally there were 30), and the stores were so run down, with 70s decor and everything, Chakeres filed for bankruptcy, and that was the end of my first ever job that lasted over 10 years! It was actually fun working there! I ended up working for a new Treacher franchisee in a mall in Warren MI, but that was gone about a year after I started. The Treacher’s company bought about 6 closed Seafood Bay restaurants in hopes of re-opening them as Arthur Treacher’s Seafod Grille (a new concept they were trying). One opened in Madison Hts, another opened in Livonia, and hopes of opening 3 along 8 mile rd, but that lasted about 2 years. Depsite the location listings on http://www.arthurtreachers.com, there are only 2 locations left in MI. One at Fairlane Mall, in Dearborn, and the other in Flint. I still have some Treacher’s and Seafood Bay memoribilia and would love to find more and anyone has any they would like to share!
John in Warren MI