Denny's - The Rise and Fall...And Rise Again

America's diner has had some major troubles over the years. This video talks about the source of those troubles and how they were able to recover.

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A very special thanks to this wonderful group of Patrons:
Tyrone Cowan, Ken, Ronnie Cheng, Eric Shapley, PleaseUseWisely, Michael Sawyer, Astra, Cervidian, Brooks Sparling, Brian Smith, Huperzia Selago, Ahmad, Jesse Long, Robert T Kirton, milkshake, Brandon L, Jon, Christian & Penny Gray, Emerald Computers – Jason Dragon, Dylan Kinnard, Brett Walton, Dominique Dugas, Nicholas Murphy, Peter Wesselius, Tristan Williams, Meow Wolf, Amy Westacott, MyNameIsKir, Jimmy1985, Stewart Tritapoe, Sondre Grimsmo Sinnes, Chris Lion-Transler, Sirpoptart.

Company Declines:
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[Director_Orson_Krennic]

My granddad was a general manager at a Denny's up until his final days, ended by an aggressive cancer. On literally the day he died the district manager called my grandmother to ask if he was coming in to work again soon (after having been in hospital for the last month from the cancer). When informed he was newly deceased, the district manager simply said 'okay', hung up, then blocked my granddad's final paycheck and 401(k) from being paid until an attorney hired by my mother was able to finally get them to release it. Mind you, the 401(k) was also in my grandmother's name, so legally Denny's didn't have a right to withhold that, nor did they have the right to withhold the final paycheck by Texas state laws. After that mess, I'll never step foot in a Denny's again in my life, thank you very much.

[Mattsashl]

"You don't go to Denny's you end up at one."

[sixonethreee]

One of the things i find interesting about Denny's is the duality of the Denny's experience. In the morning time and during the day Denny's can be a wholesome place to go with family or possibly even a date. Late night and after midnight Denny's is a sketchy place where sketchy people gather and sketchy things occur.

[alexforce]

The fact that some company can lose money FOR DECADES and still exist amazes me.

[Mtlbro]

So you're telling me Chef Boyardee was a real person but Denny never existed.

[rexblade]

Denny's: "Can I come in?"

Delaware: "No"

[Patterrz]

I can't believe Denny's had over 2 billion in debt and is still around today, that's insane

[alexniklaus]

to quote an old tumblr post, " Denny's is where I'd go to meet a hitman".

[matt]

As a person who works at Denny's, i was intrigued to learn all these things

[Ironica]

As a comedian once said, you never go to Denny's, you only end up at Denny's, and it usually is the one across town.

[VicHD]

Ned Flanders at Uncle Moe's: "I'd expect that kind of language at Denny's, but not here!"

[BernieTime]

In the 80's as college students, there were only so many places open late that we could hang out at and eat on the cheap. Nobody ever claimed they had the best food, but they filled a niche for us at the time.

[InfectedChris]

Back in the day, we had a waitress friend there who would always hook us up with tons of free extras when we would show up at like 2am. The good old days.

[prestonrau]

I always think of the Family Guy joke where Peter says "Lois, I am obligated to keep loving you, so I will take my rage out on my own body. Let's go to Denny's."

[tubular]

Definitely hearing more negative stories than I was expecting. It also seems like nobody really liked going there; they just sort of ended up there, to quote another comment. I have a completely different story. When I was very very young, I had this irrational obsession with going to Denny’s for my birthday. I do not know where this came from, and I had no desire to go there at any other time of the year, nor did I. But every birthday morning, I would beg my parents to take me to Denny’s. There was something so incredibly special about that grand slam breakfast (which I’m sure I didn’t finish), the presents and cards, and me just an only child having a special morning with his mom and dad. Great memories, I went there from the ages of 4-6 (three whole birthdays) and then lost interest. I do find it funny tho how I had literally no interest to go there at any other time of the year lol.

[FireballFarts]

No idea how Denny's stays in business. Everytime I go inside one I see the staff screaming at each other and it's like I'm just hanging out in someone else's house.

[MikeDeeJackson]

"They're in every state except Delaware"

We USED to have a Dennys! Good times 😔

[Tickles_The_Oaf]

My husband and I worked as team truck drivers for 8.5 years and went to our fair share of Denny’s around the country. We couldn’t always get home for holidays and Denny’s were always open for Christmas serving traditional Christmas dinner. I also have fond memories of us stopping at a Denny’s in the morning for a nice breakfast. My husband would have just finished his night shift, I would be just starting my day shift and stopping like this was really decadent for us!

[wanfu]

Company Man: "...leveraged here it comes..."

[syscruncher]

Not one mention of “Moons over My Hammy” is surprising for me. It’s an icon.