What Happened To The First Marie Callender's Restaurant?

After 52 years of service, 2016 marked the year that the first-ever Marie Callender's restaurant, located in Oranga, California, closed its doors for good. Of course, the North Tustin Street location wasn't just the first Marie Callender's, either; it was also a family business. Marie Callender began baking and selling her pies in Riverside, CA, almost 80 years ago. Calendar was a mother in her '40s when she began her baking career and inspired her kids to follow in her footsteps; a few decades later, her son, Don Callender, got into the bakery game. He chose Orange, a desirable middle-class city in the affluent Orange County, as the home of the pie empire's first bakery and restaurant. It had changed hands by 2016 but nonetheless remained an important piece of pie history.

Originally, early Marie Callender's locations were pie and coffee shops. They must have been popular, as they became full-service restaurants in 1969. The brand's namesake was still around at that point, and she developed many of the recipes served at locations across the country. While the first restaurant has since closed, Marie Callender's baked goods remain a dessert staple across the U.S., available whenever someone can't be bothered to decide on the best homemade pie crust. They're also a great cheat option for those of us who can't bake at all (or forgot they were supposed to bring dessert to a dinner party). Some Marie Callender's pies happen to be vegan, so even the plant-based eaters can enjoy their nostalgic comfort. Residents of Orange still have an eat-in or takeout option, too, as there's now a Marie Callender's location on Katella Ave.

According to the Orange County Register, following the restaurant's closure, former franchise owner David Sun left a handwritten message saying they had shuttered due to "the end of our lease." When Sun was contacted by a reporter, he added that, "Over the years, our business has been declining, which resulted with the closing of Marie Callender's." Although we don't have all the information, it seems that this particular branch of the franchise fell prey to the changing economic conditions and changing tastes that have caused the death of many fast-casual restaurants over the past decade, including a few we really miss. The Orange location wasn't the only victim of this trend, as Marie Callender's used to boast over 150 restaurants in California alone. Now, they have just 23 nationwide.

Franchise locations have been shuttering since the late '90s, but Marie Callender's troubles deepened in 2011 and again in 2019, the two years the business filed for bankruptcy. Marie Callender's merged with Perkins in 2006, but the bakery businesses weren't connected for long. Towards the end of 2019, they were split when Perkins was acquired by Huddle House and Marie Callender's became part of the Elite Restaurant Group, an LA-based company known for buying struggling brands. It remains to be seen whether Elite will turn Marie Callender's fortunes around. So far, the changes they've made seem to include franchising some smaller restaurants and offering a simplified menu.