Brown's, Domino's and Beyond: Business Felled by Crime, Scandal

In this Jan 18, 1993 file photo, a line of roses lie against a wall outside a Brown's Chicken and...

In this Jan 18, 1993 file photo, a line of roses lie against a wall outside a Brown's Chicken and Pasta restaurant in Palatine, Ill., ten days after seven employees were found inside brutally murdered. Brown's was forced to close more than 100 stores in the dark days afterward. On Tuesday, James Degorski, the second of two men accused in the murders, was found guilty by a Chicago jury./A Domino's Pizza worker in the kitchen of a Conover, N.C. franchise puts cheese in his nose, blows mucous on a sandwich and a puts a sponge he will use to wash dishes between his buttocks.

(AP Photo/ABC News)

'Too Much Baggage' at Brown's Palatine Site

Even with Brown's gone, commerce at its former home floundered. The restaurant was replaced by a dry cleaner but the business closed in 1994. For seven years afterward, the property's grisly history scared potential buyers and commercial renters away.

Finally, in 2001, a local businessman purchased the building and tore it down to make way for a parking lot, to the relief of many.

"It was time to move on. There was just too much baggage with that existing facility to further promote a strong, viable, commercial enterprise," then-Palatine village manager Michael Cassady told the Chicago Daily Herald.

Brown's, meanwhile, did bounce back. It said on its Web site that it found a "a new lease on growth" by introducing pasta to its stores and renaming the chain Brown's Chicken & Pasta. It eventually opened a Brown's Chicken & Pasta in Palatine, less than a mile away from the murder scene.

Brown's owner Frank Portillo told the Chicago Tribune yesterday that he welcomed the jury verdict in the Deogrski case for victims' families, franchise owners and employees.

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"I'm glad it's coming to closure for them too," he told the Tribune. "I don't like to give interviews about it too much because it's not good for business. Now we can all put this behind us."

Domino's Restaurant, Conover, N.C.

The video seen 'round the Web was shot in April by one Domino's employee and starred another. Among the grotesque acts depicted on the video included Michael Setzer, 32, putting cheese into his nose and then placing it into a sandwich, which he called "Michael's special sandwich."

Setzer also blew mucus into a sandwich and placed a sponge that he would use to wash dishes in between his buttocks.

The store where Setzer and co-worker Kristy Hammonds, 31, filmed the video was unidentified, but the pizza chain wasted no time tracking it down to Conover, N.C., and contacting the franchise owner. The employees were fired and later arrested on charges of food tampering while the restaurant was disinfected.

A neighboring town's mayor even lent a hand to Domino's efforts to battle the public relations nightmare by driving to the Conover restaurant, buying three pizzas and praising their quality days after the video went viral.

But the swift moves ultimately weren't enough to save the restaurant.

Franchise owner Kevin Hendren told the Hickory Record newspaper that after the video incident, his business declined 58 percent. The store has been closed since Sept. 22, McIntyre told ABCNews.com.