Once the king of the retail park, Frankie & Benny’s was everywhere in the UK. But behind the cocktails with sparklers and the swing music was a brand slowly imploding from the inside. In this video, we break down the wild rise and dramatic fall of Britain’s favourite fake Italian-American diner
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:59 The Great Leicester Hustle
3:06 Enter “Chef Mike”
4:40 The Pandemic Purge
5:45 The Sale That Was Actually A Bribe
6:25 The Zombie Resurrection
7:31 Survival of the Fittest
23 Comments
F&B used to be one of our favourite places to for something to eat before going to watch a film. It’s really sad to see what happened to it
Never heard of them.
Good channel. 👍
Yeah I remember these places only ever went to one maybe once or twice in my life but I vaguely remember them year
We loved F&B when our girls were small but stopped going several years ago. As you say, the food got poorer and the prices higher. However, we went for lunch at the Trowbridge restaurant a couple of months ago and it was good. Not quite as good as we remembered but we had a good time and food was nice. Good luck F&B.
It was great to go with friends and tell the staff it was your mates bday multiple times In a year
They always did it and I always tipped them
F&B is Garbage and all British food is terrible
For years I thought F and B were the real deal. How gullible am I
I used to regularly go for meals at Frankie And Benny’s before I’d take my daughter to the cinema. I never had any issues with the standard of their food or the service I received. It’s actually to see how many of their restaurants have close over the past few years now.
Hated the place.
Would never go back again. Went with friends. We ordered of the lunch menu deal. They ordered of full and wouldn't give them the discount or kids meal because we ordered on lunch. Ridiculous. Well done on losing customers.
this is a UK chain?
It’s as fake as any fake restaurant in america 😂
I have a lot of happy memories of F&Bs, it was absolutely a pre-cinema ritual, and often just somewhere me and my dad would go as it was easy.
The restaurant space when it was first around was very different… it felt like a genuine step up from the family pubs we'd frequented before, had a fun vibe, and almost felt like the sort of themed restaurants you get in resorts like Orlando.
As I got older and you saw the increase in gourmet burger places, and restaurants offering better quality, more 'interesting' menus, the decline definitely felt rapid. It lost its identity and very quickly started to feel like Wetherspoons food at twice the price with a vague theme.
I used to deliver knives to various kitchens and restaurants around London. The Marylebone's Frankie & Benny's kitchen, was up there as one of the most disgusting kitchens I've ever seen. Absolute hole of a place.
I only have one memory of frankies and bennys, i was like 6-8 at a birthday party and was trying to show off ig, put wayy too much salt on a burger and had to pretend like i liked it so i didnt look uncool lol
Well I’ll admit I bought into the whole story of Frankie And Benny
I used to love F&B, but they changed their menu too many times. And the Italian vibe all but disappeared.
I used to go there with a friend for breakfast when we were hungover cos it was cheap and massive!
Good times!
It's such a shame. All I wanted was a genuine Italian / American restaurant that served decent food with the 50s music, 50s diner aesthetics and waitresses with beehives.
Having worked for TRG, the microwaved food part of this is to a very large degree quite untrue. Glad BTG are making what's left work.
Defo AI
The one in our town is now a charity shop which looks so weird with the big fancy doors 😅
Always swerved F&B cos I couldn't understand what the restaurant was about and there were always more appealing options like Las Iguanas or even Nandos nearby. But the latest changes sound just what was needed and I might give them a try.