Another legendary Southern California chain restaurant is facing the financial cliff, holding onto just a handful of locations after years of diminishing success.
The current dining landscape has not been kind to most chains. Hemmed in from above by rising rent and labor costs, as well as fluctuating prices for commodity goods like beef and butter, once-thriving chains, including Denny’s and Applebee’s, are also being squeezed from below, as cost-conscious consumers dine out less and less — or lean into food delivery. For California, the originator of so many mega-famous chains, from McDonald’s to Del Taco to Dave’s Hot Chicken, the rapid demise of these nostalgic former stalwarts has been startling.
Claim Jumper, the 49-year-old steak and seafood chain, is down to just its last four outposts under the brand’s original name. A nod to California’s Gold Rush-era mining world, Claim Jumper first made a name for itself in 1977 as a cavernous restaurant serving boulder-sized fare like its giant chocolate motherlode cake, with one slice boasting nearly 3,500 calories. Less than two decades removed from World War II, America — and California, in particular — was booming, and a desire for beef and excess made steakhouses like Sizzler and Clearman’s North Woods Inn immensely popular. Claim Jumper was no exception, opening its 250-seat restaurant to early acclaim in the fall of 1977. Just weeks after its opening in Los Alamitos, the Long Beach Press-Telegram declared that the restaurant was “off to a fast start, with scads of customers.”
By 1995, the Nickoloff family behind Claim Jumper had opened 18 locations, and even starred in a glowing Los Angeles Times review. “Here are crowds cooling their heels for up to an hour and a half to eat prime rib and rotisserie chicken,” the review reads. “And you won’t hear a lot of complaining. Diners are wild for these restaurants.” The Times went on to point out the restaurant’s ease of excess, from its endless salad bar to a pizza topped with fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy. At its height, Claim Jumper had 45 locations across eight states, including Colorado and Oregon…