Remember Rax Restaurants? Illinois Has Only One Of Them Left

If you're not old enough to remember Rax restaurants, and you're trying to figure out what their place in the food world was was during the fast-food restaurant wars of the 1980s, think of it like this:

You'd encounter a Rax back in the 80s nearly as often as you happen to see an Arby's restaurant in 2024. At their very peak in the 1980s, Rax had 504 restaurants scattered across 38 states.

Even though Rax didn't ever reach the number of spots that Arby's has today (3,413 locations throughout the United States, 121 in Illinois), there's no getting around the fact that Rax was really popular...until it wasn't anymore.

In Rockford During The 1980s, You Had Two Rax Locations To Choose From, With One On Sandy Hollow Road, And The Other On East State Street

I'm unclear as to what happened to the Sandy Hollow Road location, but the East State Street location is different. After the Rax at that location closed, it became a Hardees, then something else for a short while before becoming a terrific place that Rockfordians now know as:

Rax Has Gone From Those 504 Locations In 38 States In The 80s To Having About 8 Locations Today, But Illinois Still Has One If You Feel Like A Roast Beef Scented Trip Down Memory Lane

Just type "2136 W. Jefferson Street, Joliet" into your car or phone navigation, and you could be pulling up in front of a 56 year old Rax franchise in a little over 90 minutes.

When the Joliet Rax location opened in 1968, it was only the 5th location in the entire country, and the company probably had no idea how much more successful they were about to become throughout most of the country.

The Joliet Rax location has something going for it that you rarely see today, and that's longevity among the owner and employees, according to a piece at Patch.com. The owner, Terry Bucciarelli, is the original owner:

Food is food, but it depends on consistency. We have a great, great, staff. Some of the girls have been with me over 30 to 35 years, so the food is very consistent and very few complaints.

If you're wondering what happened to Rax that caused it to drop from 500-plus locations down to a handful--this is a pretty good explanation: