Here's What 5 Chain Restaurants Looked Like In The '80s

Chain restaurants have been part of America's fabric for generations, and the longer-lasting ones have undergone many stylistic overhauls. Perhaps some of the most decade-specific looks appeared during the 1980s, an era simultaneously known for pops of bright, neon color and shades of wooden browns.

Some giant chains, like McDonald's and Burger King, often represented the browner end of the '80s color spectrum. Beige and medium-brown tones dominated, as did wood grain details. Lighter browns strove to break up the monotony, aided by plenty of artificial plants and sunlight (where possible).

The '80s were also a big time for sit-down chain restaurant experiences, and these rode more varied color trends. Many TGI Fridays of the era featured brass accents and colorful lamps to evoke the chain's tavern roots, and Pizza Huts wore red, white, and green to approximate a traditional pizzeria. Another Italian-inspired chain, Olive Garden, used reds and whites with potted plants to suggest the freshness of Italy.

Olive Garden has an improbable origin story as the brainchild of General Mills, the commercial food giant. In the chain's early days in the 1980s, the restaurant's dining rooms seemingly aimed to evoke garden-style eating. Diners saw plenty of potted plants, red-and-white parasols, and wall sconces, as though they were eating on a verdant Tuscan terrace rather than in a strip mall.

Burger Kings of the 1980s greeted customer with an impressive amount of wood grain. A slightly different brown adorned complementary wallpaper, and the text-based menu was black and white with no frills — no flashy animations like we see today. The dining rooms, however, could feature accents of turquoise, pink, or gold, as seen in a perfectly preserved 1980s Burger King found buried in a forgotten mall passage.

In 1965, the first TGI Fridays opened in an old tavern in New York City. Credited as the world's first singles bar, it had a fun and breezy vibe that continued even after the founder's contract expired in 1980. Under new management, the chain leaned into its tavern roots with wooden interiors, brass accents, and red-and-white faux-Tiffany lamps.

Despite being long-time rivals, McDonalds restaurants of the 1980s used a brown color scheme that was very similar to Burger King's. Plenty of wood grain and beige ran through store interiors while customers tried out the chain's three different attempts at pizza (and other '80s McDonald's items you forgot about). Locations with the appropriate space sometimes featured solariums where customers could eat their food in a sunny glass enclosure.

Pizza Hut once provided a popular sit-down dining experience for the whole family. Brick walls ringed a green-carpeted dining room, tall wood booths with red cushions, red-and-white gingham tablecloths, and stained glass lamps featuring the Pizza Hut logo and colors. Locations with the iconic hut-shaped roof sometimes had unique trapezoidal windows inside. Once the '90s rolled around, buffets became an especially prized part of some restaurants, and thankfully, some Pizza Hut buffets remain (or simply came back).