I was driving along Street Road in Bensalem, PA a few weeks ago when I saw something I hadn’t seen since I was in high school, at least. It was a Gino’s restaurant. Gino’s was a fast food chain started by legendary Baltimore Colts running back Gino Marchetti, and their restaurants were a fixture in my area during my childhood. It seemed to me that around here Gino’s was third to McDonald’s and Burger King in the fast food market. They also worked out a joint deal with the Colonel that paired Gino’s with Kentucky Fried Chicken, and the only place to buy KFC food was at a Gino’s. The signs outside the stores placed the KFC bucket logo above the big red Gino’s Hamburgers sign. But as far as I know, Gino’s was never a national chain and never expanded beyond the northeastern United States. It came to an end in 1982, when the chain was brought out and the Gino’s name was retired. All existing Gino’s locations were converted to Roy Rogers, and for the most of the next thirty years, Gino’s was a memory.
It was not a total surprise to see a Gino’s restaurant. I heard a few years ago that a return was planned. They had a website going, with a list of targeted locations, but I don’t remember seeing the Bensalem spot on the list. I was actually looking forward to seeing Gino’s restaurants again. Part of it was out of nostalgia, but part of it was also because I liked their food, although I generally try to avoid fast food nowadays. I think I remember reading that there already was a Gino’s open in King of Prussia, PA, which is on the opposite side of the Philadelphia metropolitan area from where I live. But once I saw the Gino’s on Street Road, I had visible proof that they were back.
There are a few Gino’s restaurants that stand out to me in particular. The one we frequented most was in Fairless Hills, PA, which I think was the closest Gino’s to where we live. It stood at an ideal location, on the corner of a busy intersection. I grew up in a fairly large family, one of five kids, and my mother was a nurse who didn’t work, choosing to stay home and take care of us while my father supported us. I think that is why whenever we ate out, it was usually McDonalds or Gino’s. I don’t remember going to fancy restaurants much. My parents just tried to treat us as much as they could on the budget they lived on, and looking back I was happy with it.
We ate at that Gino’s in Fairless Hills regularly when I was little, but there was one afternoon that I won’t forget, even though my memory is vague. I think I was only about six or seven at the time. We were eating at Gino’s during a windy day, and there was a shopping center under construction nearby. A few minutes of particularly strong gusts created a makeshift dust storm coming from the construction site, and I saw the dirt flying all over. For those few minutes, the visibility was very poor. It had blown past by the time we left, and although I don’t remember it, our car was probably covered in dirt, as were all the others. Decades later when we drove by that location, which is now occupied by an Amoco/McDonald’s joint store, my father still recalled that day.
Every summer our vacation routine was to spend two nights in Atlantic City during the middle of a week in late July or early August. My parents liked going there, as they had since childhood. And they probably found that plan cheaper than spending a week at one of the Jersey Shore resort towns that stretched from Long Branch to Cape May. Going to Atlantic City was all I knew for vacation, and looking back I was fine with that as well. As kids, one thing we really liked about Atlantic City was the famous Boardwalk. And among the hundreds of shops and attractions on the Boardwalk there was a Gino’s, which I think we went to at least once almost every year we went there. I have a vague memory of sitting at the Gino’s while looking out over the ocean and watching the waves crash into the jetty.
During my childhood, our family would travel monthly to Jim Thorpe to visit relatives. Our normal route was to take the Pennsylvania Turnpike to get there, but there was also a back way my parents liked to go. That route took us through Bucks County, where we would ride the back roads until we got on the turnpike at the Quakertown exit. More often, we would get off the turnpike there on the way back, and take the back roads through Bucks County the opposite way back home. Along the way in Quakertown, there was a huge shopping center with a Gino’s, where we would often stop for lunch before continuing back home.
At one time Gino’s commercials were seemingly on all the time. During the Phillies telecasts they were, since Gino’s was a sponsor, along with other local institutions such as Schmidt’s beer and Tasty Kake. These ads stand out to me, I guess, because they ran repeatedly during Phillies telecasts, and I watched plenty of Phillies games. Following the trend of Ronald McDonald and the magic Burger King, Gino’s also had their own mascot, the Gino Giant. I don’t remember much about the Gino Giant except his telling kids to rub their bellies and make a wish. I think after that, they were magically transported to the nearest Gino’s. Later, in 1977, after the first Rocky movie created a sensation all over the country, Gino’s found a way to work the spirit of Rocky into their ads. I always remembered a series of those ads, which would end with the main character of the commercial doing a victory dance similar to the one performed by Rocky when he finally made it to the top of the Art Museum steps. In the background, there was music and a chorus of singers singing “feeling good at Gino’s”. One day a few years ago, I searched YouTube to see if one of those old commercials was posted, and indeed I found one. That is what led me to find out Gino’s was making a comeback. My curiosity led me to look up Gino’s on Wikipedia to find out what actually happened to the chain. I learned that they were bought out by Marriott and converted to Roy Rogers’s restaurants, but I also learned that there were plans in place to revive the Gino’s brand in the next few years. That put me on the lookout, occasionally checking the sites, but I missed the news that they had bought property in Bensalem, and also was unaware when it opened.
According to their website, Ginos now has four locations, with a fifth site opening soon. Two are in Pennsylvania, and two are in Maryland, soon to be three. I don’t know if they will regain the presence they had in the 70s. There is no joint deal with KFC this time, and Gino’s is cooking their own brand of chicken. I’m glad to see they’re back, although I don’t plan on going there much. I would like to go there just once, probably when I’m on the run sometime.
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