Bonanza / Ponderosa

[Zayre88]

Former Ponderosa in Portsmouth NH (Route 1) :

[d_fife]

I always hangout at whats taken over Bonanza in Laconia

[ynkeesfn82]

Supposedly a seafood restaurant is gonna open in the old Southington, CT Pondrosa.

Seafood and Chops will be opening during this summer. They're putting vinyl siding on the building.

Fish and Chops (as it ended up being called) didn't even last a year. Now it's a restaurant called Route 10 Family Tavern.

[ynkeesfn82]

Supposedly a seafood restaurant is gonna open in the old Southington, CT Pondrosa.

Seafood and Chops will be opening during this summer. They're putting vinyl siding on the building.

Fish and Chops (as it ended up being called) didn't even last a year. Now it's a restaurant called Route 10 Family Tavern.

Route 10 Family Tavern was owned by the same people who owned Fish & Chops. They already closed down. Big shocker there - not! That didn't even last 2 months!

[Zayre88]

By my count, there are only 33 Bonanza left and around 140 Ponderosa steakhouses.

At some point, both chains had more than 600 locations!!

[shore72]

My last visit to a Bonanza was the former Millsboro, DE location, now a Mexican restaurant. All the local ones closed at the same time, I forget what year but it seems like maybe 5 years ago? They are finally doing something with the Delmar, DE location, having recently rebuilt it from the ground-up. I'm real curious what is going in...the Bonanza sign is still there. Our last experience wasn't a good one: huge buffet, but one of the most mediocre meals I've ever had. I went back 2 or 3 times trying my darndest to find something on the steam tables that was really good...no such luck! The surly help didn't do them any favors, either. I was in the Ponderosa in Ashland, KY a few years ago and thought it was a step above as far as food quality.

I agree with that Kmart comparison. With both companies, the stores that are doing well are the ones in locations with nothing else around. Typical is a somewhat rural or blue collar urban/suburban area that is sort of on the skids. All the retail dates from the 60s-70s-80s with nary a WalMart/Target...or Applebees/Olive Garden, etc, in sight. Look at all the choices out there for dining-if you could pick Texas Roadhouse, Cracker Barrel, Ruby Tuesday, Famous Daves, etc, etc, etc, why hit the Bonanza/Ponderosa?

Maybe they can come back, though. I thought Golden Corral was dead but new locations are popping up locally.

[ynkeesfn82]

There is a section on Ponderosa's website for applying to be a franchise owner, so maybe they will come back.

[Zayre88]

I agree with that Kmart comparison. With both companies, the stores that are doing well are the ones in locations with nothing else around.

Good comparison!  And also because like Kmart, Ponderosa/Bonanza were a dominant national chain but did not renovate their locations, did not improve the experience and let every other chain take their place in the market.  They closed store after store and they're struggling to survive with little to no investment in marketing and into improving the stores.

Ponderosa/Bonanza do have a modernized concept called "New West".  It looks quite nice, however only a handful of locations have that design.  Most of the current locations are very old and dated....

[retailisking]

The buffet business is tough to make money with (see: Buffets, Inc.'s two bankruptcies.) Golden Corral seems to be doing well overall, but somehow I doubt many of the remaining Bonanza/Ponderosa franchisees have enough cash flow to plow into extensive renovations. The "New West" concept dates back from the late 90s; that Metromedia Steakhouses was unable to get more than a handful of franchisees on board illustrates my point.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_49_33/ai_58185686/

[Zayre88]

Ponderosa opens a new location!   After closing hundreds in the past 20 years!!

http://nrn.com/article/ponderosa-franchising-co-opens-first-unit-2009

[Crawford]

South Attleboro Mass Ponderosa has closed down. Not exactly sure when, couldn't have been more than a week ago since I had seen a sign that they were getting ready for the Easter holiday. According to their website, there are no more Ponderosas in Southern New England. Closest ones are up in Vermont and Maine

[Zayre88]

South Attleboro Mass Ponderosa has closed down. Not exactly sure when, couldn't have been more than a week ago since I had seen a sign that they were getting ready for the Easter holiday. According to their website, there are no more Ponderosas in Southern New England. Closest ones are up in Vermont and Maine

Maine has 2 Bonanzas and Vermont has 2 Ponderosas.  Now Mass and NH have nothing.

There used to be 14 Bonanzas in Maine alone!  NH once had 6 Bonanzas and 3 Ponderosas...

[TRJ_22487]

It's been so long since I was at a Ponderosa last (probably Lebanon NH, and it seems to me that location was closed by 1999) that I can't even remember what type of food was served there. They remind me of Howard Johnson's in that 95% of people probably don't even think they exist anymore.

[Zayre88]

Ponderosa and Bonanza launched a new website.  

The locator also has a Scroll List now.  By my count there are only 150 locations left including only 23 Bonanza restaurants! (Mostly the ones in upper case).  

In Canada, only 2 Bonanza left.

[Pikapower]

Yet another Ponderosa seeing life as a Chineese eatery.

It seems to me that those Chinese buffet eateries were a Ponderosa/Bonanza at one point and I could think of three former Ponderosas.

. Amherst, NY (Maple Rd.) now a Friendly's completely remodeled facade, like if Ponderosa was never there, but there was a Hooters next door to it, that is now an Irish pub  

. Cheektowaga, NY (Dick Rd.) Now Duff's

. Transit Rd. in Williamsville has been at least two Chinese buffet eateries, but it probably started out as a Ponderosa

[Zayre88]

Ponderosa in Williston Vt no longer showing on retsuarant locator...

[gu4ever]

Ponderosa in Williston Vt no longer showing on retsuarant locator...

Here are some photos of the Williston, VT Ponderosa. These were taking back in April/May of 2010.

[buzz86us]

there aren't very many left in NY seems the national chain buffet is going the way of the dodo around here

[Pikapower]

there aren't very many left in NY seems the national chain buffet is going the way of the dodo around here

My guess is that those vacant Bonanza / Ponderosa restaurns would become more of those Chinese buffets!

[bubcolbert1952]

It's sad that a long stretch of 663 (an important state road even though it mostly crosses rural areas) in Pottstown PA has become a ghost town. Ponderosa was one of the first businesses along it to close, followed by a Pizza Hut and Dairy Queen both next door, leaving the area with no chain restaurants. Acme, CVS, Woolworth, Pathmark, Genuardi's, and Rickel have all closed stores less than a block away in each direction, and a CITGO gas station has become an eyesore covered in weeds, even though it sits right in front of a big bright Redner's supermarket where the Acme was. I'm not up that way too often, but it seems all three of the restaurants that closed (Ponderosa being the most important in my opinion) have become small businesses, but all three have also closed. It doesn't help that Coventry Mall at the other end of Pottstown has been dying. Sears closed a store there last year, and it's not a good sign that the Bradlees at the mall (which already was not a good tenant for an enclosed mall this size) was redeveloped into a Dick's Sporting Goods instead of a Macy's or similar store.

[ynkeesfn82]

They're renovating the old Pondersosa on Queen Street in Southington, Connecticut. Closed in 2008, one person tried 2 different restaurants there first a place called "Fish and Chops" and then it become "Route 10 Family Tavern." "Route 10 Family Tavern" didn't even last 2 months. Part of the building is supposed to become a Dentist Office and the rest will be used for other offices.

[TheFugitive]

An old Ponderosa at Poplar and Noblestown Roads in the Pittsburgh suburb of Green Tree is now
a Chinese Buffet.

As was the Dynasty Buffet on PA Route 88 in front of Walmart (in what was the old Ames District Office store).
For years the neon D and the Y in "Dynasty" was burnt out, giving us all a chuckle.  It was recently demolished.

[Hudsons81]

After sitting vacant since closing in December 2011, the old Ponderosa on Fort Street (M-85) in Wyandotte, MI (which first opened sometime before 1970), will soon be reopening as a Mexican restaurant. No name yet.

Here's what it looked like in July 2013 while it was still vacant.

[ynkeesfn82]

Scroll down to Page 3 and see an ad from 1994 advertising a Weekend Breakfast Buffet for $4.99

http://southingtonlibrary.org/PDFFiles/newspapers/1994/04_28_1994.pdf

[ynkeesfn82]

From The Record-Journal - An article about the new Children's Dentist Office opening in September at the old Ponderosa at 264 Queen Street Southington, Connecticut.

Building that housed restaurants for decades will become dentist’s office

Published: August 29, 2014 | Last Modified: August 29, 2014 07:52PM
By Farrah Duffany Record-Journal staff

SOUTHINGTON â€" A Queen Street building that has been home to several restaurants over the past 40 years is set to become a dentist’s office.

The building at 264 Queen St. housed a Ponderosa restaurant for nearly 30 years until it closed in November 2008 after the franchise filed for bankruptcy. In 2010, Joshua Wilcox of North Haven opened “Fish & Chops.” The restaurant eventually closed and Wilcox reopened under the name Route 10 Tavern. The menu included wings and ribs.

“I think they were wildly successful,” said town Economic Development Coordinator Lou Perillo, referring to the restaurants that called 264 Queen St. home. “Ponderosa was there for 30 years. The restaurant business is very difficult ... and has a high failure rate.”

Despite some of the closures, Perillo believes the traffic on Queen Street continues to make it attractive. He said about 25,000 cars go by 264 Queen St. each day.

The Little Tooth Company, which caters to children, is scheduled to open in the building on Sept. 9, said company owner Jay Leung. Little Tooth is leasing a little more than half the building.

“We’re happy to see the space filled,” Perillo said.

Since 2008, Leung has been a practicing at West Hartford Family Dentistry and lives in West Hartford. When the office opens, he expects to have about three employees. This will be Leung’s first practice of his own.

Leung said one of his goals is to eliminate the fear or hesitation that children often have when coming to a dentist.

“I think dentists have a stigma of being a place where people don’t want to go … we want to change that mentality.” Leung said. “And hopefully foster an environment to make kids excited about it.”

By providing a fun environment and engaging with the children, Leung hopes to overcome the stigma. Most importantly, Leung said he plans to treat the children that come into his practice as if they were his own.

fduffany@record-journal.com (203) 317-2212 Twitter: @FollowingFarrah

[TheFugitive]

Slightly off-topic but not too much....

The Golden Corral location near me was just cited by county officials for a fistful of
health code violations.

Most involved issues with holding food at unsafe temperatures.
A constant problem for these buffet restaurants I would think.

[Hudsons81]

I found out the name of the Mexican restaurant that's opening in the old Ponderosa in Wyandotte, Michigan: Camino Real Mexican Grill.

Taken today:

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

We had some Bonanza and Ponderosa locations in Northeast Wisconsin:

*Appleton
**Ponderosa

*Fond du Lac
**Ponderosa

*Green Bay
**Bonanza
***Ashwaubenon - Oneida Street (across from Bay Park Square Shopping Mall, demolished)
**Ponderosa
***West - Military Avenue (torn down for expansion of Broadway Hyundai dealership)
***East - University Avenue (torn down, empty lot)

*Manitowoc
**Ponderosa
***(Now Pizza Ranch)

*Oshkosh

*Shawano
**Ponderosa
***(previously Golden Corral, now vacant)

[Hudsons81]

The former Ponderosa in Wyandotte has now been repainted on the exterior into gold with red striping to match the colors of Camino Real Mexican Grill.

[Hudsons81]

The former Ponderosa in Wyandotte has now been repainted on the exterior into gold with red striping to match the colors of Camino Real Mexican Grill.

As of November 6, 2014.