Our kids grew up on fast food, although there is no evidence it stunted their growth. One son is 6 feet tall, and the other is close. Growing up, their everyday, go-to places were McDonald's, Wendy's and Taco Bell.
On soccer trips, when they were trying to replace the calories burned on the field, we'd look for a Panera Bread, Steak 'n Shake or Cracker Barrel, places where the food "sticks to your ribs," as my grandmother used to say.
Years from now, I have no doubt that they will recall these places as they sort through childhood memories. If past is prologue, there's a good chance some of these restaurant chains will be gone.
One of the other editors at work -- who is close to my age -- recently shared a list from the website Eat This, Not That. The list included restaurant chains from the 1970s that aren't around anymore but stir baby boomer memories. While I grew up in Middle Tennessee, I've talked to lifelong Chattanoogans who say most of these chains were represented here, too.
(READ MORE: We made a Chattanooga burger trail. Try these 10 burgers within 10 miles)
Here are some of the 1970s restaurant chains I remember, and why. Maybe you remember them, too.
• Lum's: Some people in my hometown were scandalized when this "hot dog" restaurant moved in. It wasn't the menu that upset people; it was the cooking technique. Lum's used beer as part of the process of steaming hot dogs.
"The skin is steamed in beer," my mother explained to me.
As a kid, I thought she meant the "skin" of customers, not the skin of hot dogs, and I vowed to myself never to enter the front door of a place that zapped you with beer steam.
• Burger Chef: It's hard to believe but Burger Chef was once the second most popular fast-food chain in America, according to Eat This, Not That. All I know is that we had a Burger Chef long before we had a McDonald's in my hometown.
Although it was several miles away from my house, it was the fast-food chain most reachable by a Sting-Ray bike with a banana seat. I don't remember the food, which I guess makes the food literally "unmemorable."
On the other hand, I remember just about every item of the menu at McDonald's, which arrived in my hometown when I was in high school. And I still have occasional Big Mac cravings, which are impossible to ignore.
• Howard Johnson: The last HoJo restaurant is said to have closed in New York state earlier this year, although the chain had become vanishingly small years ago.
My childhood memories are of their 28 ice cream flavors, which for me and my sister were utterly unattainable. Paying for ice cream by the scoop was against our parents' code of conduct.
Still, that aqua-and-orange color scheme was memorably fetching.
(READ MORE: End of Howard Johnson era brings back ice cream memories)
• Minnie Pearl's Chicken: Not on the Eat This, Not That list, but embedded deep in my memory was this short-lived, Nashville-based chain.
The brainchild of a flamboyant Nashville politician named John Jay Hooker and endorsed by Minnie Pearl, aka Sarah Cannon, this restaurant produced the best fried chicken I've ever eaten.
This chain launched in an effort to replicate the success of Kentucky Fried Chicken, but, alas, it folded after a few years, much to my dismay.
• Shakey's Pizza: Although a few stores still exist on the West Coast, this chain is mostly gone. I remember visiting the Shakey's in Nashville's Green Hills area with my parents. It had a big window into the kitchen where you could watch the pizza being assembled. I also remember a player piano programmed to play ragtime tunes.
Good times!
The Family Life column publishes on Sundays. To contact Mark Kennedy email mkennedy@timesfreepress.com or call 423-757-6645.