How This 1992 Commercial Ended a Fast Food Chain
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- Опубліковано 29 чер 2024
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In this video, I am going to discuss what led to the decline of Rax Roast Beef, and how Mr. Delicious was the nail in the coffin. - Розваги
Worked at Rax as a manager while they were kicking this idea around. My GM and I said this was the dumbest idea ever but all they would say is, "We paid a lot of money to an advertising agency to come up with this so it has to be good." Showed us mock ups of him driving a car, walking with his briefcase, etc. All of them had his "catchy" phrase: 'You Can Eat Here!' It wasn't really the nail in the coffin as they were going down hill for awhile before that. They would have gone out of business with or without Mr. D. (Man, I haven't thought of that idiot for ages!) I would sit with my employees for hours almost every night with no customers. Then Hardee's bought them out, but that's another failure story.
Comment Pinned. Thank You for the explanation.
It sounds like the real problem was incompetent management, and the commercials were simply another symptom of incompetent decision-making by incompetent managers.
@@joeschembrie9450 It could be, or people were liking Arby's better or anything. I would tour other Rax stores and they were pretty much the same. We'd have lunch rushes and, very rarely, dinner crouds and just nothing else. Every store was pretty much losing money all over the place. We had a good, loyal customer base for the first year or so I worked and it just started dropping away. Tried a "hot bar" with mashed potatoes, wings, nachos, etc. but that didn't work either.
'You Can Eat Here' sounds like a lack-luster movie review.
Checkers's 'YOU GOTTA EAT!' came along with their command statement and nailed it.
As a Gen-X-er, and an animator, I find Mr. D hilarious. BUT in the 90s, that would not have driven me to ANY fast food chain. Not because he wasn't funny, but because Gen-X-ers didn't really love fast food restaurants by the time we got to our 20s. I don't think that advertising firm was wrong in designing that character, I just think that the industry was failing to realize that a Gen-X-friendly approach wasn't going to lead to widespread Gen-X patronage.
I had never heard of Rax until today. 😨
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Same
Me either…
Me either
I often passed by it in my hometown (where it surprisingly still is to this day), but never went inside
Mr. D would work as an Adult Swim bumper. No idea how he was supposed to make anyone want fast food though.
that's exactly what was going through my mind when I saw that. I was thinking that he seemed like an adult cartoon from Comedy Central in the 90s.
My feelings exactly!
10 years ahead of its time
I've worked at Adult Swim. Maybe that's why I find him funny.
Exactly he would make you realize you don’t want to end up like him and make better choices.
Mr. D feels like he belongs in Daria
He's Daria's uncle that by the end of the show she actually gets along with.
totally lol
Like he is Daria's husband in the future. All monotonous.
Daria’s father!!!!:/
good call
Looks like Mr. D belongs in the 1950s and sounds like he belongs in a 2015 Adult Swim sketch.
Yup
The whole campaign sounds like an Adult Swim show. I'd totally watch!
Same thought.
Mr D would be a hit today with Millennial self-depricating humor and Gen Z's post irony aesthetics. Truly ahead of its time.
The "You can eat here" slogan would be a hit today as well
@@gzylyIt’s so stupid; I love it!
@@gzylyYou can eat here, but you don’t have to.
That’s depends if Rax’s was still around today.
I mean the Arby’s in my town closed down a while ago…
@@phoebevolz2291 I’m so stealing this
The then CEO of Rax was recently interviewed about this, and he said that this ad campaign was a big success. It did go viral, without the help of the internet. The problem is that Rax was already so deep in debt that Mr D ads just couldn't save the company. It was too little too late.
Gen X humor? Gen X were mostly teenagers at this time. These ads 100% were trying to appeal to professional Baby Boomers.
The ads did exactly what they were intended to do, it got people talking about the ads. Some people loved the ads, some hated them. Some loved the ads but acted like they were offended.
BTW, the CEO said in his interview that he thought that the delicate surgery was for hemmroids, not a vasectomy.
I though it was hemorrhoids, too. Mr. D wasn’t getting any, so why would he need a vasectomy?
@@Jaelismyhomegirl he did go to Bora Bora with this two young ladies. So I think he was getting some action.
Mr D was laying down the D in bora bora with those young ladies.
He is on he's second marriage and don't need any pregnancy scares..
Hence the surgery.🤔
Gen X was born 1965-1980 and we started hearing about it in 1992. Most were in their 20s at the time, and more Hip-Hop and alternative than what Mr. Delicious was. We might have related in the late 2000s however, lol.
Who wants to think about either of those things while eating roast beef?
I grew up in the 80s and I can verify people exploded because of meatball pockets
lol
I googled rax... As of 2024, Rax is based in Ironton, Ohio, and has only six franchisee-owned restaurants still in operation.... That's why i didn't realise Rax was gone. I live where the last few stores are based. The strange thing is i don't recall the Mr D commercials at all.
If I lived near a Rax I would definitely try their roast beef sandwich
I definitely went to a Rax in Illinois after their 1997 bankruptcy and similarly have no memory of them ever advertising at all. Honestly with the salad bar I did not even totally realize it was fast food as a kid
@@gzyly i get a "classic w/ no red ranch". they are super good.
Ironton is the next town over from me and I lived there briefly as a child. I had no idea that's where Rax is based now. Just goes to show the shape they're in as a business. It's all Arby's around here anyhow; I don't know how Rax is staying afloat.
@@Write-Stuff i am from coalgrove. i don't live there now but i used to help clean the carpets in rax on 3rd st. in ironton every friday night from 1995 till 2001.
Honestly if Mr. Delicious came out five years later he have been a big hit
I’m dying at the “There ain’t no Mo” campaign 😂
Just seeing the commercials makes me slightly nostalgic for the late 70s/early 80s when every restaurant seemed to have a solarium with plants, a salad bar, and faux Tiffany lamps.
Indeed 🥹
Yeah… I miss those days.
Mr D is the Andy Kaufman of ads: Ahead of his time.
This is Kaufman here. I object. I was never ahead of my time, I was perfectly timed. And now I'm out of time.
@@TheAngryIntellect- Forgive me, Mr. Kaufman! I stand corrected! 😊😉
Not really ahead of his time when Mr D is like something out of a 1940's advertisement.
Grew up in the 80’s - never heard of Rax. 🤷♂️
Same, I was born in ‘81 and never heard of them until this video. They must not have had many locations near where I grew up or traveled as a kid.
They had a lot of them in Ohio.
Born in the mid-60s. Never heard of Rax until this video.
I live in Canada. This is news to me too.
@@N_A_Lunddid you see Jared Fogel at the beginning? Lol
I feel like Mr Ds personality would convince me to eat there genuinely
Yeah, I appreciate his candor.
You can eat there... If you go to one of the remaining locations.
Mr. D needed his own show.
Mr D and his slow sluggish downward spiral
My hometown has the only Rax in the state of Kentucky. It's such a staple here that I didn't realize it was part of a defunct chain until a year or so ago.
Ashland, KY? I'm here in Huntington and just went to the Rax in Ironton lol
@@brulesrulesforyourhealth5928 Harlan
@@brulesrulesforyourhealth5928 It's Harlan, Kentucky.
I'm over in Lee Co VA and went to Harlan many times as a kid where my dad worked in the mines over there. My 90 yr old neighbor loves that place still to this day.
I wonder if they figured that their target demographic was middle-aged, drunk, depressed men with a history of relationship problems, and Mr. D came to life as a result.
Aww 🤣 if that’s what they were doing for, I can see why their target demographic wasn’t too impressed with the ads lol
@@jessica_jam4386 One of those "I know my life sucks, asshole, so don't remind me of it further" things?
What a bizarre ad campaign.
only in ohio
Wow, when people said that Rax 'didn't know what it wanted to be', they weren't kidding. The story of how it was founded already had red flags considering they couldn't even settle on a NAME when they first opened.
That said, Rax is apparently a mix of the chain's previous names, JAX and RIX.
I could see how all the name changes led to branding problems. Four name changes in a decade (JAX -> RIX -> JAX again -> Rax) seems concerning, and probably made it hard to establish a consistent brand until Rax started expanding to areas where it hadn't been known as JAX or RIX.
Finally, a mascot I can really get behind.
When I clicked on the link I was expecting to see some really bad commercials and you guys did not disappoint me.
There is one more bad commercial about a soda coming soon😅
Where's mo there aint no mo ok thanks for the update
you can go back to bed now
With a name like that , they didn't even think of trying to compete with Hooters??
🎯🎯🎯
The would have needed a new mascot. Miss DD
Nailed it
Or be a bbq rib joint
needed the added three X's to be "Raxxx" and it'd sound like a Hooters ripoff they'd have in a Grand Theft Auto game.
Rax existed in the Tampa Bay area, where I grew up. I remember the mediocre salad bars but, most of all, those awful solariums built into the front of each restaurant. Because peninsular Florida is basically a hotter version of a rainforest for most of the year, those solariums were miserable places in the building to eat and the plexiglass on them quickly became scratched and faded in short order. Basically, a terrible idea.
Mr D walked so the Clear Eyes guy could run!
Ahh Ben Stein. Back before we all knew he was a racist conservative. I apologize for saying the same thing twice.
What’s wrong with being conservative?
@@ParanitisWhat did he say or do that was racist?
@@Paranitis Conservatives can't be racist. It's just impossible.
What's wrong with being a racist?
It's a perfect Gen X commercial. The problem is in 1992 there was a recession and most of young Gen X'ers were out of work and/or short on money. So even if the commercial was a success, its target demographic didn't have any money. It's a marketing failure, not so much a failure of the commercial.
The recession in the 1990s was from July 1990 to March 1991.
@@garrettedwardspears Oh right, I forgot that recessions turn off like a light switch and there isn't any lingering effects for years afterward. That's why the recession had absolutely no effect on the 1992 election.... right??? Everyone loved George Bush Sr., didn't blame him for the recession and promptly reelected him.... right??? Just like how the Great Recession promptly ended in June 2009 and everything was back to normal in 2010.... right???
GTFO with your wikipedia history cut n paste, I actually lived it.
@@garrettedwardspears
Wow, so Gen Xers got to feel like how Millennials today feel for less than a year
@@coyotelong4349yes😢
Your comment is why people should never take UA-cam comments seriously lol!
Ronald McDonalds soul is in the suitcase like Marcellus in Pulp Fiction
Nah, you mean the Burger king's soul.
Ronald Mcdonald lives in a box in Arby's basement.
I am born in 1984 and never heard of this company.
🤣 I was born in 1978 and never heard of this food place either 🤷♂️
I was born in 1966 and never heard of this company. 🙃
Mr. D is awesome. We just weren't ready for him yet.
I feel like the challenge to marketing yourself as as a calmer, more mature place to eat fast food is that you're trying to thread the needle of people who both find other fast food venues too chaotic but haven't also selected to just take their food home, eat in their car, go to a public space or any other option. Couple that with trying to do that in the USoA, which has an extensive history and network of diners that do exactly that already and you're trying to pass a VERY tight market.
That's a really good analysis of the issue
If a brand did those ads today it would go so much better. I found them hilarious.
Mr. delicious would make the perfect spokesperson for what Mcdonalds has become now. Bland and boring... kinda like it. ahead of its time
McDonald's barely wants you ordering from a person, having those digital booths inside of them. It's pretty uninviting, even after the fact that I don't eat their food.
2:35 That's an old Shoney's building! Now *there's* a restaurant that I'm nostalgic for. Their french toast sticks were too good!
Rax was like an upper-middle class Arby’s. And unsurprisingly it went the way of America’s middle class.
I miss Rax. I loved their BBC sandwich. One minor correction is that Uncle Alligator was around in the 80s.
Yes, thank you for that! I thought I was the only one that remembered Uncle Ally back when I was a kid in the 80s.
Then the Rax in my area became a Wendy's in the mid 90s---funny enough, they left up the solarium, the salad bar configuration and the glass with the white embossed bamboo print until that Wendy's became a dunkin' donuts in the early 2000s
Their. What?
@@evanchismark3092 Big Black Cocktail sandwich?
@@steve9833 The BBC was one of the most common sandwich with the cheese sauce as I liked to called it. Their Cheese melt was really the best thing they had. And yes it was better than Arbys at that time and Era
I can't believe one of the few remaining locations is in Chicagoland. Growing up here, I never had heard of this place until seeing one downstate many years ago
You should try it
Its in Joliet Illinois on Jefferson Ave off Hammes
I’m sorry, it sounds like Mr Delicious was before his time.
An ad campaign ahead of it's time. It was the only fast food place you could get a baked potato instead of fries
no doubt about how good their food was, It is just mismanagement and lack of identity
You definitely bring up a good point regarding lack of identity and trying to be "everything to everyone"
Didn’t Wendys have baked potatoes back then?
@@Blueberryyymuffin They did, indeed. Introduced in 1983. Wendy's didn't really expand in my area until Rax was well into it's unfortunate decline
Rax was so much better than Arby’s. I still miss their milkshakes.
Mint Chip Shake is the bomb. I just got one from the last Rax still open in Ohio.
@@brulesrulesforyourhealth5928 you managed to make me happy for you and jealous at the same time! 😂🤣😂
Good for you! Please enjoy the shake for the rest of us out here crying when we drive past Arby’s. 🥰😂
@@brulesrulesforyourhealth5928 i only ,ive a few hours from that rax i plan on driving up to try them
That's too bad. Their roast beef sandwich was good. My favorite though was the Philly cheese steak. They should have stuck with what they were best at
Yeah, I loved the Philly cheese steak. I guess I was around when Rax was at their peak, then I moved out of the Midwest and there was no longer a Rax where I lived. I remember them fondly.
Watching this at my local Rax rn
my son's name is also Bort
No way
We have one of the Rax here in Lancaster, Ohio. I wasn't aware of how few there were. Used to see them more than Arby's when I was a kid.
the billy squier rock me tonight of fast food commercials no coming back from this🤣
Thank you for showing this video. I remember when they put a Rax Roast Beef in the town, but it did not last long and was turned into a bank within like two years. When I ask people if they remember Rax Roast Beef, most people in the town do not. I then wondered what happened to Rax. Plus I started to question my own memory when others did not remember it. So thank you. :)
I enjoyed Rax. I thought their "Stuffa-you-face" pasta promotion was pretty funny, I'm also Italian!
You mean you are an American who happens to have some Italian heritage? I hardly think that an Italian would find such degrading and disrespectable appropriation the least bit acceptable let alone humorous.
that does sound funny.
@@stevekov6740 Maybe some people in italy have a sense of humor
@@victorconway444 All americans do is mock things and persons different from they are all the time. ALL THE TIME! Our sense of humor is not to make others the subject of fun at expense of they or marginalize persons who are of the minority. Pleased to have explain how that is good humor.
TBH I kinda like the ads.
We all like it
I used to love going to Rax. The one closest to me finally closed permanently during the pandemic. They had changed the name to Rancher's Roast Beef a few years prior, but it was the exact same food.
Just found your channel, I love stuff like this, I just subbed and turned on notifications. 🙏
Did that sign at the 6:09 mark really say starting pay was $16 an hour? I know what I see, but I find it so hard to believe that a fast food place payed that much back then. What fast food even pays that these days? They sure don’t where I live, anyway. I’ve seen some that pay above minimum wage, maybe $14 an hour, but $16 is crazy. Especially for when this took place. That’s insane.
That pics of the Illinois store, and only a couple years old. Rax as a company doesn't really exist anymore, but they're still around because one franchisee - Rich Donohue - bought what was left of the company instead of shutting down his restaurants 😆
Not all heroes wear capes.
“THERE AIN’T NO MO!” 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Mr. D reminds me of the straight talk mascot years ahead of his time
So you think Mr. D would be successful today?
I’m sorry I didn’t see this message until three days ago. I think he would be successful today because you have cartoons on adult swim that mimic this character and I work for Walmart that’s why I made that comment about the straight talk mascot because they kept playing the same stuff on their televisions in the store to try to get rid of Motorola phones that were not selling. But then again I’m gonna make up a joke. Maybe Walmart should resurrect this character and then that can be their mascot and let’s see how they do.
I LOVE how most of your stock photos of Rax are of the one in Joliet IL where I grew up and was my go to fast food. There is even an Arby like across the street from it and Rax is still the local favorite. Yeah, it doesn't have the salad bar, but I still go there, the locals still love it and its still beloved and talked about on the Joliet facebook page. It's a gem. I'm 36 and I've been eating there since I was a kid. ❤️ Rax over Arby's any day
Rax! We have one of the last one's here in Joliet IL
Yes! It’s about 5 minutes from me, right on Jefferson. I haven’t tried them yet.
Mr. D seems like a pervy.
He is
Great video. Please make more.
Thank you so much for the feedback
First heard about this from a Vlog Brothers video a few years ago. Great story!
LMAO holy shit. Wow. I gotta say that today is the first time that I ever heard of Rax in my life.
I guess I can see why. I was a very young child in the early 90s, which is where the narrator says that the company became obscure.
That Mr. D character reminds me of something you would have seen as an adult cartoon on Comedy Central in the 90s.
The way she exploded!! 🤣
😂
My cousin own the Rax franchise now. There are several restaurants in Southern Ohio & Northern Kentucky. After seeing this, I went yesterday & purchased a BBC. Delicious!😋
🇺🇸✌🏻😎
So my childhood Wendys was previously an Rax, guessing from how it was built with that same glass roof in the front. It was our teen hang out spot when it rained, and we had to wait to walk home. Also seeing that drive thru menu was another confirmation and him saying they bought the company completed the mystery full circle. Thanks !!
I never heard of Rax, and was a teen in the 80s.
You didn't see any of their commercials?
Damn what state did u grow up in?
I saw another video on this topic..........there were other forces behind the scenes working against Rax.
I grew up in the 80s. I don’t remember Rax. There were no Rax commercials nor were any Rax restaurants in my area. Strange.
Wow. I wished I knew about this place. The commercials are awesome.
I’d take any of these commercials over the crap they put out today. I’d love Rax back too!
Mr D reminds me of duckman as a human without the pizzazz or charm
There’s one in Joliet, Il! Hands down my favorite stop for lunch, and has been since I was little.
great video man, keep are good work
Thank you so much
I definitely miss the old, simple Rax Roast Beef sandwich and their excellent fries. Their roast beef was every bit as good as Arby's and all they had to do was not "complicate" the menu.
I'll never understand the "suits" who come in to a successful fast food restaurant then, wreck it by adding garbage nobody asked for or wanted and change the perfect foods that do not need changing...WENDY'S! IM LOOKING RIGHT AT YOU!
Wendy's was once my favorite American Burger place. They had the best, most tastiest beef patties and THE BEST FRENCH FRIES IN THE BUSINESS. That's right, I said it, Wendy's Fries were even better than McDonald's fries and that's saying something even if most people disagree.
As long as Dave Thomas was around Wendy's succeeded and thrived in a most competitive marketplace because of the simplicity and outstanding quality of their menu and Wendy's ORIGINAL French Fries were as important as their awesome burgers.
After Dave passed away some jackass in a suit decided they should change the Fries, probably to save a few pennies and thus began the slow, steady decline and ruination of my favorite Burger Place. Yes, the Fries are that important because together with the beef patties & Frosty they created their own unique "Flavor Profile". As soon as you change one of those items you change the entire Flavor Profile and not for the better.
And now Wendy's is doing breakfast.....and I don't give a ding-dang-doodly darn about that garbage. I'm from the 1970s, I'm fit, strong & healthful and I don't eat breakfast and I WANT MY SQUARE BURGER & MY ORIGINAL FRIES BACK!
So, thanks for nothing, Wendy's suits. You've ruined an American icon & destroyed the work & passion of Dave Thomas who gave us quality burgers & Fries & the Frosty. May your greed and lack of vision lead you where you deserve to be....jerks.
Execs don't understand......just make the food good! If people like the food, they'll come back.
Its not rocket science
Rax never operated in my area.
Mr. D. was way ahead of his time.
This generation will never understand how popular pita pockets were. Every fast food place had one.
Never heard of them!!
First time ive ever even heard of Rax.
would you try it if you have a chance?
@@gzyly I'd definitely consider the idea, especially as it would be a unique experience I'd likely never get again.
0:31 I used to work at Rax restaurant on the turnpike in Vickery Ohio many years ago. They tore down the building where the Rax restaurant used to be. And it’s completely changed since then. They have many different restaurants there now.
I never heard of Rax here in the NYC area……never saw a commercial…..nothing…
1. those six stores should band together and come up with a new logo that doesn't smell like secondhand tobacco
2. your channel name sounds like the brand of some generic power strip, wall shelf, or aftermarket vacuum cleaner part on amazon
3. your sticker cuts off the "mr. d" on his suitcase
a good video, thank you.
aw, you fixed the sticker
I always hear people say Mr D would work better nowadays, but I honestly disagree, it's basically "I hate my wife humor"
I don’t think the idea was to like Mr. D. I think it’s more like this miserable guy, whose life sucks, and who hates everything even likes and has good things to say about Rax. I guess a contemporary version would have a cartoon “Karen” giving a glowing review of her satisfaction with a business’s costumer service.
Man Rax takes me back. They had one at Sunrise Mall here in Northern California back in the day. Which means I’m old af.
There were 2 in my area back in the day. The one in my hometown of Marietta, OH closed in 2007. The one down the road in Parkersburg, WV closed in 2013. I really liked Rax. I thought the salad bars were great. You are right, they were trying to be everything.
6:15- Given the dates of the bankruptcy and whatnot, that picture would of been taken circa 1992/3. So $16/hr pay is about $35 in 2024 dollars. That would be one of the big reasons they weren't making much profit.
Please hit the Like button 👍, It means a lot to me. Thank you
What's in Mr. D's briefcase? His dignity and self-respect......
Because you asked, I will.
@@markanderson9061 Thank You so much
I read that in Mr. Delicious' voice. XD
@@tarantasaurus4177 I should have thought of doing it with the AI, Mr. D saying please hit the like button lol
I live near one of the last Rax locations in Joliet, IL. Going there is like going into a time warp. I’m not a fan of the food, but love the bizarre history.
I'm glad I'm not old enough to remember those ads although I don't think there ever was Rax in my area. Then again Sonic Drive-In has always advertised here for a very long time even before we ever had a sonic drive-in so there are some times where we see ads for things that aren't even here which is really annoying
So we gon' act like "There ain't no mo!" wasn't clever and hilarious?
I went to the one in Muncie, IN when I was growing up. Loved the food, especially the roast beef sandwiches. There was something different that Arby's didn't have.
I always wondered what happened to them, this explains why they left.
Mr. D was ahead of his time, like Marty Mcfly said, "Your kids are gonna love it"
Had one in Arkansas but I didn't know what their menu was because I don't remember ever seeing a commercial for them
Ahead of its time , it would be gold today!!
That pic of the rax restaurant you showed is the rax in my home town still open to this day
They had a good model ca 1987. The one by U of Cincy was always packed. Great shakes. Then it disappeared. I remember a Jax in Worthington, OH about 1970-71. Had a great ham sandwich that I still remember from childhood!
You actually tried Jax their first restaurant, that is amazing.
Our RAX had an incredible salad bar, with pasta, and Mexican as well. Became one of our favorites. At the time, I'd no idea they were a roast beef sandwich place.
I vaguely remember a couple of these commercials…
I grew up in Springfield Ohio in the 80s. We couldn't afford to eat out much, but Rax was one of our favorite places!
💥💥I never heard of this food place
Grew up in Ohio. Rax was one of my favorite places to go. I miss it (it's not around where I live in Ohio anymore) but I don't even remember the commercials.
There's still an open Rax in Harlan, KY if anyone wants to eat there as Mr D would say. I remember the pasta bar. Of course I'm also old enough to remember when even Wendy's had a pasta bar, and it was good and yummy too.The 80s were a strange time, in the early 90s I loved the pizza at McDonald's... strange times indeed.
The craziest part of this video is how I swear I’ve seen that shape of abandoned building around
Never actually went inside, but surprisingly enough the Rax in Joliet is still around on Jefferson St just a couple blocks west of Larkin
My brother worked at this joint in Allentown Pa back in the 80's