Business Review: Shoney’s Restaurant

By Nathan Young on December 6, 2012

If there is one restaurant chain that is well-known in the south it is Shoney’s. You knew you could find a great buffet and great southern comfort food from the menu. At its peak in 1998, the restaurant chain operated or franchised over 1,300 restaurants in 34 states. But in the many Shoney’s I visited I got bad service and the food was bad. In 2000 the company went bankrupt and was sold off. But in 2007, the 282 Shoney’s restaurants that were left were sold to David Davoudpour, founder and CEO of Atlanta, Georgia-based Royal Capital Corporation. And this is the commercial showing him in action!

As part of his revitalization efforts, Davoudpour established an aggressive quality improvement process that includes a new menu, new restaurant prototypes and rebuilds, and a new Executive and Operations team focused on adding unique twists to the Southern comfort food menu for which Shoney’s is known for. To be honest, it has been a long time since I visited a Shoney’s. I have found better food and service in other restaurant chains. But when I heard of this promotion I wanted to give them another try. On December 6th; Shoney’s held its first ever National Free Hot Fudge Cake Day! Anyone that walked in could get a free hot fudge cake. Shoney’s CEO David Davoudpour invited everyone to come and enjoy their favorite holiday treat in the spirit of the season! So I did! I went to the local Shoney’s in Oxford Alabama to get some dinner and dessert.

I went around 4:30 pm to eat before the Oxford Christmas parade. After being seated and looking at the menu which has some different items than I remembered seeing in a Shoney’s restaurant. I got the Shoney’s Double Decker burger.

And when the burger came out it had a knife through the middle to keep it together. The burger consists of two beef burger patties with american cheese. And it comes with several strips of freshly cooked thick bacon! Along with a side order of fries it was a very good meal!

Then I got my free Hot Fudge Cake. I always loved getting these when I was a kid. The dessert consists of two pieces of cake with ice cream in the middle covered with hot fudge and topped with whipped cream and a cherry. The taste of the dessert has not changed at all and it was good!

Shoney’s features a buffet for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Yes their breakfast buffets have put them on the map! Our local Shoney’s has a lunch buffet special each weekday and I might come back to try it.

Overall I got good service and the food was very good. The entire meal with a drink only costed around $11.00 which is not a bad deal! I always love it when the server makes sure you have a full drink. I like that!

Hey, I know people in the south love traditions. If Shoney’s keeps making great food they will eventually return to their glory days. I will most likely go back to Shoney’s to try the other food very soon! And did you know that Shoney’s gives a 15% discount to all service men in uniform and college students. That’s great for young adults like me! For more information on Shoney’s go to: http://www.shoneys.com.