Dinner Break!!! The Ground Round, Coon Rapids, MN
The Ground Round restaurant and bar, in Coon Rapids, MN, opened in the early 1980's. It was abruptly closed in late 1997, when a fire broke out in the bar and/or kitchen. Ground Round never reopened and the building was demolished the following Spring.
Same picture, additional power poles!
My parents (sometimes I went with) ate there a lot in the early 1990's, after Perkins went out of style at my house. Which coincided with me terminating my employment at the Coon Rapids Perkins in March 1992. I was a busboy/host/dishwasher/etc. at said Perkins for about a year when I was 16. During shifts, my fellow lowest-on-the-totem pole and I, would swap tales of "grass is greener" about how grand life would be, if we were only working at The Ground Round...
"They are so busy there that all the bus staff walk out with $75 in cash each night!"
Really? Prove that...
"You know that Ground Round doesn't make the busboys clean the bathrooms?"
So who does then? The manager?
"Did you hear, it's mandatory for the waitresses to share their tips with the bus staff..."
Yeah, I did hear that... And neither I, nor you, applied for a job there...
The chain was developed to cater to two markets. A bar that served a full menu, and a family restaurant. The bar side was a bar, but Ground Round put a great deal of effort into drawing families into their restaurant. Their store mascot "Bingo" the Clown that would appear during the week and at in house birthday parties. For while, they ran a "penny a pound" pricing promotion, for kids up to a certain age.
My friend Trav summed up The Ground Round as an early version of the "$12 cheeseburger with lots of crazy crap on the walls" style restaurant chain that boomed in popularity during the 1990's.
(Only it was a $5 cheeseburger back in those days...)
To prove they were a free thinking and against the grain restaurant, they gave you a basket of peanuts, and encouraged you to toss the shells on the floor!
We don't care! We're WACKY!!!
Let me guess, the busboys don't have to clean that up either?
It was a cute marketing plan, along with filling you up on free popcorn as an appetizer.
Free peanuts and popcorn...
Hmmmm... Seems like a clever ploy to make you thirsty with salty food so you buy more drinks...
What I remember most at Ground Round were the large TV screens that played a mixture of old cartoons and silent movies in black and white. The sound was always off, but I thought it made for a really cool visual to have large moving pictures on the wall. There wasn't enough context given the short clips and absence of sound to follow along. You would look up from your chicken fingers and see some moving artwork. Then look away and back and something completely different would be on the screens. Eat some french fries and there's Popeye!
Along with a wandering clown, screaming children and that patented buncha crazy crap on the walls, eating at the Ground Round was a ADHD mind explosion...
Almost as if Negativland had opened a family restaurant...
Now there's a great theme restaurant idea!
There have been two differing opinions on the cause of the early morning fire, that closed the Coon Rapids Ground Round in late 1997.
The easiest excuse, and one most commonly cited, was a careless bar employee tossed a hot ashtray into the garbage at close. After smoldering in the trash can, a fire broke out. No one was there to catch it until too late.
Another cause that has been floated about was faulty and filthy grease traps. Looking at the damage to the roof, it seems focused above the bar, more than the kitchen.
Yet, either could be plausible...
Once spring hit and the snow melted, the Ground Round was bulldozed. A parking lot to nothing lasted on the property for over a decade. That land (and the Acapulco Mexican Restaurant next door) was turned into a Walgreens.
Because the world needs more Walgreens...
The Ground Round chain was founded in 1969, as a part of the Howard Johnson's hotel brand. In 2004, the franchisor for Ground Round filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and all 59 remaining corporate owned stored closed. An almost equal amount of independently owned franchises remained open. In 2010, a group of the 30 remaining Ground Round owners united to buy out the parent company. As of January 17, 2010, Ground Round restaurants are owned by Independent Owners Cooperative, LLC.
The current version of Ground Round is geared more for adults. Their child-friendly promotions extend only to a kids menu.
And no more throwing peanut shells on the floor...
And no more busboys...
And I think that coupon is no longer valid...
And here's Byron Buxton...
BAM!! Another dual subject post!!!
But a really quick one for today, stuck in the middle of a series of 12 hour overnight shifts until Monday morning...
Thanks for the blast from the past . Used to frequent the Ground Round in HS quite a bit. They're were a few in the Boston, providence area. I think most are gone now
ReplyDeleteWe used to go like once every other week or so as kids and I distinctly remember eating popcorn. They would weigh us for reasons I can now understand and give us balloons (which was my favorite part). I remember eating fried sunfish and watching Marshall Bravestarr on the big screen. Great stuff!
ReplyDeleteIt was a fire caused by a plumber soldering in a wall, I know this because I used to work for the company that was responsible. It was often referred to when talking about safe soldering practices.
ReplyDelete