Yogi Bear's Honey Fried Chicken facts for kids

Yogi Bear's Honey Fried Chicken was an American fast food restaurant chain. It started in 1968 and had many locations in the 1970s. The restaurants used the popular cartoon character Yogi Bear to attract customers. They also wanted to join the growing market for fried chicken, like Kentucky Fried Chicken.

How Yogi Bear's Chicken Started

In the late 1960s, a man named Eugene Broome from South Carolina created a special honey-flavored chicken tenderizer. This made chicken very soft and tasty. People in his area loved it, so Broome opened several restaurants.

Naming the Restaurant

At first, Broome wanted to name his restaurant after the actor Jackie Gleason. He hoped to compete with another chicken chain called Minnie Pearl's Fried Chicken. But Jackie Gleason said no to the idea.

Even though Gleason declined, Broome kept one of his famous sayings. From Gleason's TV show The Honeymooners, the motto "How sweet it is!" was used.

Later, Broome saw Yogi Bear on TV. He contacted Hanna-Barbera, the company that owned Yogi Bear. They agreed to let him use the character for his chicken restaurants. This is how "Yogi Bear's Honey Fried Chicken" got its name. It's interesting that Yogi Bear's character was even inspired by Art Carney, who was Jackie Gleason's co-star on The Honeymooners.

Partnership with Hardee's

In January 1968, the Hardee's restaurant company joined with Broome. They paid $1 million to help run and expand the chicken chain. However, Hardee's did not focus much on the Yogi Bear restaurants.

By 1971, a magazine said that the Yogi Bear chicken places were not doing well. There were only eleven locations in the Southeast and Midwest. The next year, another magazine called it a "mistake" for Hardee's. They thought the Yogi Bear cartoon appealed to kids, but fried chicken was mostly for adults.

Why the Restaurants Closed

By 1972, the company said they were planning changes for the Yogi Bear restaurants. They stopped opening new locations. Like many cartoon-themed restaurant chains, Yogi Bear's Honey Fried Chicken slowly disappeared. Most locations closed by the early 1970s. The second-to-last restaurant closed in the late 1970s.

Yogi Bear Statues

When the restaurants closed, many large statues of Yogi Bear and other characters were left behind. These statues had been made for the restaurants. The owner of a "Jellystone Park" campground in North Carolina bought some of them.

Later, these statues were left on an empty piece of land near Interstate 95 in Halifax, North Carolina. This spot became an unexpected tourist attraction. People would stop to see the "statue graveyard." However, in 2008, the land was cleared for new buildings, and the statues were removed.

The Last Location

As of 2021, only one Yogi Bear's Honey Fried Chicken restaurant was still open. It is located in Hartsville, South Carolina.

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