Beloved Restaurant, The Ground Round, Thriving After Going Bankrupt 20 Years Ago
It's always sad when a favorite restaurant closes its doors after years in operation, but sometimes, those sad stories have happy endings. The restaurant business is a volatile one, and it's more common than not to see establishments, even ones that have been around for decades, close down.
Sometimes, restaurants are forced to close because of the economy or competition, and other times, it's just because that business or brand has run its course. But, there's something to be said for nostalgia.
Now, a popular restaurant chain that went bankrupt 20 years ago is thriving once again. It's quite a turnaround and shows what a little creativity can do.
The Ground Round was a popular American restaurant chain founded back in 1969. It was huge in the 1980s but had some trouble decades later, so the Ground Round filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2004. So, for years, the Ground Round only lived in the hearts and minds of those who remembered it.
Now, however, a Massachusetts couple is bringing that beloved brand back. That couple, Joseph and Nachi Shea, have reopened a Ground Round location in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. They regularly post on the restaurant's Facebook page with updates about its menu and hours.
Joseph and Nachi purchased the branding rights to the Ground Round last year. Now, the restaurant is opening and welcoming customers.
Joseph tells Marketplace, "We're just a husband-and-wife team. We don't have investors or deep pockets, we're bootstrapping this."
'People have brought in different menus," Nachi added. "They've brought in even employee manuals from the old one. We had a lady bring in her old suspenders from when she used to work at the original Ground Round here in town."
So, will the couple expand past their one location and make the Ground Round a national brand again? They tell Marketplace that they aren't sure if they'll expand, but in the case that "selling nostalgia" works for their first location, it could happen.Beloved Restaurant, The Ground Round, Thriving After Going Bankrupt 20 Years Ago first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 3, 2025
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