No More Fudds

Pioneering burger restaurant gets nudged out of Dallas' Greenville Avenue

Pioneering burger restaurant gets nudged out of Dallas' Greenville Ave

Fuddruckers hamburger
Burger down. Fuddruckers

There's a loss on the burger front, of a restaurant with a long history: Fuddruckers, the chain invented by Phil Romano that does burgers and American food with games for the kids, has closed its location on Greenville Avenue, after 21 years in that space.

A sign posted on the door says, "Lost lease," confirmed by David Futrell, co-owner of the franchise group that owned this location along with eight other Fuddruckers in Dallas-Fort Worth.

"We just couldn't get a new lease," Futrell says. "We fought to the end to stay, but the landlords just wanted something else in that space. I opened that store 21 years ago. It was a great location and we hated to lose it."

Fuddruckers' theme is "you build it, we top it," and they were among the first to promote "fresh" toppings. They fill a useful niche as a place that's equally comfortable for singles, dates, and families.

The chain was invented by restaurateur Phil Romano and is currently part of the same company that owns Luby's Cafeterias. It preceded the entire "better burger" trend that has constituted half of the restaurant openings in the past few years.

Many of the Fuddruckers are corporate-owned.

But Fuddruckers and its parent company have experienced a decline in traffic in the past year. A number of Fuddruckers across the country have closed, such as Tucson, where the closure was attributed to increased competition in the burger field.

But that wasn't a problem at this store.

Other locations in the Dallas area include one at Frankford and the Tollway and another in Plano.