Pargos restaurant: A favorite that failed
I honestly don't expect really anyone to even know what this is. It was a wildly popular but quite localized restaurant chain on the East Coast of the USA. It began around the early 90's and by the early 2000's almost all of them were gone.
I worked at one of them, and we were always busy. I mean VERY busy. The other Pargo's I went to in other cities were the same way. So how can some place with so many customers shut down?
While you probably haven't heard of Pargos, you almost certainly heard of TGI Fridays, Applebees, or Outback Steakhouse. Well, Pargos was essentially the same type of store, but most who experienced all of them would suggest that Pargo's was decidedly nicer than the others. There was more space, the restaurants tended to have high ceilings and lots of windows (Outback's tend to be like caves) and reservations were an absolute must (at least at the Pargo's I worked at in North Carolina.)
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The above building was originally a Pargo's location and all of their architecture was quite similar with loads of windows and high ceilings. It as a actually a very nice, mid-range dining experience.
I dug into their financials a bit (and there isn't much to be found, honestly) but I think I know why they went under: They were owned by Shoney's - a mostly breakfast oriented restaurant chain that has been around for ages and really struggles to remain relevant, filed for bankruptcy and was sold to I don't even know who and is a shell of its former self.
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Shoney's was an American staple at one point. In the late 90's they operated over 1,300 stores in more than 30 states. I don't know what happened in 2 years but by the year 2000, they were down to 282 restaurants and filed for bankruptcy.
Anyway, this wasn't meant to be about Shoney's but rather about Pargos. I worked in restaurants from the moment I was legally allowed to do so at 13 years of age. I then continued to work in the food service industry for all of my life including owning a restaurant for a decade. It is a tough industry with very low profit margins.
I would be surprised if any of you ever even heard of Pargos, let alone ate there. If you did... please let me know :)
You are correct, I have never heard of it. I have heard of Shoney's though. I always feel the same way when I go by a place that I know used to be a Chi Chi's and the architecture is still there, but is is some other place now. The same is true with Stuckey's gas stations on I-75 heading down to Florida. They used to be all over the place with their high roofline. Now most of them are gone or turned into something else but the architecture is still there..
I think Shoneys was an innovator, but then places like Western Sizzlin (which is also quickly disappearing), Golden Corral and what not came along and did it better.
Chi-Chis is gone? That's a shame but i suppose not terribly surprising when every town has authentic Mexican food for far cheaper than Chi Chi's charges.
Yeah, Chi Chi's had an issue several years ago with Listeria outbreak or something like that with some lettuce or something and they were never able to fully recover from it I don't think.
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The name looks like Greek, is it?
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One of the owners had twin children, Par and Margo, who were called "Pargo" when family members referred to them, and thus the restaurant was named after them.
The original Pargo's Restaurant in Manassas, VA was created by two former Shoney's executives, Mitch Boyd and Jerry Brunotts. Boyd left Shoney's corporate offices in Nashville, TN in the late 1970's to start his own franchise of Shoney's restaurants, Shoney's Inns, and Captain D's Seafood Restaurants. It was a company requirement to do so in order to advance beyond Vice President. You had to prove your worth and successfully run a Shoney's franchise before you could return and become the CEO and/or Chairman. Brunotts left Shoney's before Boyd did, and opened his own successful restaurants and pubs in Georgia. Boyd and Brunotts became lifelong best friends during their stints with Shoney's, and one day decided to combine their talents in the early 1980's, and created Pargo's Restaurant, which was named after Boyds twin children, his son Par and his daughter Margo. Everyone in the family referred to them as "Pargo" because they stuck together like glue, and so the restaurant was named after them.
Pargo's was a wildly successful "Spirited Foods" themed restaurant in it's heyday, which expanded in Virginia and several other east coast states. The original design of the restaurant was created by the acclaimed and talented Virginia architect Jay Dalgliesh, who designed Boyds ski resort home in Wintergreen, VA, and then transferred a similar design into Pargo's Restaurants. That house was an engineering marvel built 3000 feet up on a rocky cliff overlooking the Shenandoah Valley below. The vast open views through the enormous glass windows were magnificent, much like those that were instilled in the restaurant.
After over a decade away from Shoney's corporate headquarters, Boyd was asked by then Chairman Ray Danner to return to Shoneys as CEO/Chairman, allowing Danner to become Senior Chairman. Boyd agreed and Shoney's bought his Virginia franchise which included the purchase of Pargo's restaurants. Boyd stayed with Shoneys for several years as CEO, but grew tired of the corporate games, back stabbing, and racism that permeated the company, the latter of which cost the company almost 300 million in a well publicized lawsuit after Boyd left. When Boyd left Shoney's for good, Pargo's was doomed as no executive at Shoney's had the first clue how to operate the Pargo's concept, they were mentally stuck in the mediocre food business. Shoney's once operated two theme restaurants called Capt. Rays"The Sailmaker" which was upscale and had the restaurant divided into different themed sections, one of which was an entire sailboat inside the restaurant with tables inside the ship and the wait staff dressing according to the theme of each area. It was unique and a fun concept which I loved as a child, but Shoney's ran that into the ground as well. One was in Nashville, the other I believe in Jacksonville, FL.
As a Boyd family member, I grew up working in all of the franchised restaurants and the Inn, and helped build and operate the original Pargo's concept. After 45 years in foodservice, I can tell you Pargo's was the most $ucce$$ful concept I have ever been a part of, and it's sad that it is gone. I still cherish the memories and great people that worked there. It was truly a unique concept unlike any other.
If you ever had a birthday there, you never forgot it. You got a free dessert with a lit sparkler in it, and the entire wait staff would come to your table and sing "Happy, Happy Birthday may your friends drink Absolut, may you dance upon the table in your Happy Birthday suit". There was more to the song, but it's been over 3 decades since I heard it last. The entire restaurant would then applaud and it was just plain fun. They used to serve a drink called "Miss Nubie's Hunch Punch", which came in a huge stemmed glass that reqired two hands to hold, and 3 healthy human livers to process. I recall quite a few patrons being helped to a taxi after attempting to finish one, and the restaurant paid the taxi fare. Of course, it was a liability issue, but a responsible decision by the owners and management. They wanted you to get home alive along with everyone else on the road.
Pargo's success was attributed in some small part to it's oversized drinks served in huge brandy snifters, but mostly to it's fun and inviting atmosphere created by the positive, upbeat people that were hired to work there. Boyd and Brunotts knew this going in, and they made it happen. It's a people business and if you don't get that, then you just don't get it. Almost every great concept that was bought out by a corporation has more often than not met it's doom, because they didn't understand what made it work. Corporations are too busy looking at financials to satisfy investors stock portfolios than to see that quality people with positive, fun attitudes hired to work there were what made it financially successful. Lesson learned.......