The Vintage Restaurant Chain Known For Its Mason Jars Still Has A Few Locations Remaining

Good, ol' Southern cooking, extremely bad grammar, and drinks served in mason jars were some of the hallmarks of a once-thriving restaurant chain that has now dwindled to just five locations. Known as PoFolks, the brand started out trafficking in food aimed at drawing out a post-Depression-era clientele of, well, poor folks. The company operated under the slogan "We're PO But We're Proud." Menu items included intentionally misspelled things like "deelishus" catfish," "kuntry" fried steak, and homemade "biskets." And, yes, drinks were served in mason jars — a throwback to that old Southern custom of storing moonshine and drinking it from the hearty glass containers. 

The kitschy approach worked — for a while. At its heyday, PoFolks had over 100 restaurants in operation. A bankruptcy in the late 1980s — after which some franchise owners broke off and rebranded — heralded its decline, though. Even a $20 million investment from movie star Burt Reynolds couldn't save the brand. Reynolds and a music industry friend, Buddy Killen, poured millions into the company in the '80s, only to lose their money and, ultimately, liquidate their assets.

PoFolks opened in 1975, with its first location in Anderson, South Carolina. The restaurant's name was inspired by the country music song "Po' Folks" by Bill Anderson. The problem was, the company owners didn't have the musician's permission to use that name. Anderson was at one point contemplating a lawsuit, but that down-home cookin' evidently softened his resolve, and he instead became a spokesman for the chain. Like Reynolds, Anderson became financially involved with the restaurant brand for a time, becoming a franchisee at one point. The singer had reportedly ceased his involvement by the 1990s, though.

Failed restaurant stories are certainly nothing new, with brands seemingly flaming with success one day and fizzling into oblivion the next. The many examples include former sandwich powerhouse Quiznos, which now only has a fraction of the previous locations it once boasted. Johnny Carino's Italian is another once-popular chain that went from booming to bankrupt. The influence of celebrity owners — one of them an A-list actor — also couldn't keep Wahlburgers from massively closing locations in 2025. Celebrity involvement similarly couldn't keep PoFolks from dwindling into near obscurity.

Today, the chain's five surviving locations are all in Florida. Diners with fond memories of PoFolks in its heyday report that the Southern-fried joint isn't as good as it once was. You'll still find some of the original food offerings, like that kuntry fried steak and those fresh-baked biskets. The remaining sites have also added some other menu offerings with questionable spellings, like the WhitefishFee-Lay Samwich and Fried Green T'maters. Visitors to the restaurants report that they no longer serve drinks in mason jars, though (a call from Food Republic to one of the locations confirmed this).

If you have a hankering for fried chicken gizzards, deviled crab, hush puppies, and the like, this once-thriving chain still has you covered. If you're nowhere near Florida and aren't planning to travel there anytime soon, though, you may need to try your own hand at some Southern cooking. You can turn leftover boxed stuffing into crispy hush puppies, for instance. Waste not, want not — now that sounds like something genuine po' folks would do!