Fisher Foods In 1970,
Fisher Foods swapped capital with and licensed franchises from National, with a total of 550 franchises sold (106 to Fisher alone), but only 99 stores were actually in operation.
Long John Silver's,
Captain D's,
Skipper's and
Alfie's Fish & Chips likewise employed the fish franchise concept about the same time. Aided by Arthur Treacher's advertisements, these companies introduced British fish and chips to northeastern America.
Orange Co. By the early 1970s, National Fast Food had become Orange Co. Under this name, Davis conducted an aggressive expansion campaign from 1972 through 1976. Lacking equity, he relied on generous
sale-leaseback agreements. Under the terms of the agreements, Orange Co. would sell to investors sites for new restaurants and then sign long leases unconditionally guaranteeing to continue lease payments if the restaurants failed.
Mrs. Paul's Seafood On November 21, 1979, Orange Co. sold Arthur Treacher's to
Mrs. Paul's. However, under the terms of its original sale-leaseback agreements, Orange Co. remained liable for millions of dollars of payments to investors. Mrs. Paul's responded by replacing Icelandic cod in Arthur Treacher's recipe with less expensive
pollock. The move exacerbated tensions with franchisees, some of whom had already withheld a total of $5 million in royalties for what they perceived to be a declining level of service. Litigation arising from the conflict eventually reached the
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Lumara Foods After losing the case to the franchisees and having no way to compensate them, Mrs. Paul's sold Arthur Treacher's to a
Youngstown, Ohio, group of investors called Lumara Foods of America Inc. in March 1982. Lumara Foods filed for reorganization under
Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code four months later. , with an attached Arthur Treacher's location. As of 2026, the location is no longer in operation. In the mid-1980s, franchises in
Detroit were converted by their owner to a new chain called Seafood Bay. Arthur Treacher's purchased back six Seafood Bay locations in 1997 but was unsuccessful in reverting them. The company experimented with
co-branding, forming an alliance with
Arby's (which originated in the Youngstown suburb of
Boardman) for co-branded locations. One such location existed in
Breezewood, Pennsylvania. However, by the late 1990s, Arby's parent
Triarc Cos. Inc. removed the Arthur Treacher's portions of its co-branded Arby's.
PAT Franchise Systems In 2002, the company holding the Arthur Treacher's trademark was acquired by PAT Franchise Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of TruFoods Systems. In 2006,
Nathan's Famous bought the exclusive rights to market the Arthur Treacher's trademark and sell their products, co-branded with Nathan's Own concepts,
Kenny Rogers Roasters, and Miami Subs (now
Miami Grill). However, PAT Franchise Systems retained a license agreement entitling it to sell Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips franchises in eight states.
Nathan's Famous . In 2021, Nathan's Famous announced plans to offer Arthur Treacher's branded food nationwide as a
ghost kitchen concept only available via food delivery services. James Walker, the senior vice president of restaurants, said, "We think it's a nice combination of historic, storied brand, with new focus on the food.” ==Locations==