There's Only One Yogi Bear Honey Fried Chicken Restaurant Left In The World And It's On The East Coast

Named after a character from the 1950s TV show "The Huckleberry Hound Show" who liked stealing visitors' picnic baskets in the fictional Jellystone Park, Yogi Bear Honey Fried Chicken used to serve picnic baskets of chicken across the Carolinas. The chain was founded in the 1970s by inventor Gene Broome and business partner Roy Davis, who discovered a sweet, sweet additive to cook with chicken, giving it a burst of honey-flavored pizzazz that blended perfectly with a breaded crunch. While nobody would mistake Yogi Bear Honey Fried Chicken for one of America's best soul food eateries, sweetened, crunchy chicken offers an allure that extends well beyond the fast food chain. Mixing the sweet breakfast waffle with crunchy fried chicken, then smothering both in hearty maple syrup, is a soul food tradition made famous in Los Angeles with the 1975 founding of Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles in Hollywood; however, the Wells Supper Club in Harlem, New York, claims to have pioneered the recipe back in the 1930s.

Yogi Bear Honey Fried Chicken took the sweet and salty flavor combination and ran with it, although it used bread rolls and other sides in place of waffles at its restaurants. Today, however, the only remaining Yogi Bear Honey Fried Chicken is located at 514 US-15 Business in Hartsville, South Carolina. It's the perfect sweet stopover while you're exploring the most iconic East Coast national parks on a thrilling road trip. Pay it a visit before it vanishes behind the curtain of 20th-century fast food culture.

It's no surprise that the swinging 1960s gave birth to many of our favorite fast food vices, and Yogi Bear Honey Fried Chicken was one of them. At the time, a trend among restaurateurs was to attach their brand to a celebrity endorsement — and that's exactly what Yogi's founders tried to do. They set their sights on comedian Jackie Gleason, who was known as a loudmouth character on "The Honeymooners" in the 1950s. By the late 1960s, he was riding high on his long-time celebrity and turned down the endorsement deal offered by the honey chicken partners. So instead, they set their sights on a character inspired by Gleason's co-star Ed Norton on "The Honeymooners," Yogi Bear.

The animated Hanna-Barbera character, who appears on the Yogi Bear's Honey Fried Chicken sign with a drumstick in hand, turned out to be the perfect hungry celebrity to convince Carolinians that honey fried chicken was exactly the taste for which they were searching. The chain flourished until the fast food burger giant Hardee's purchased it, leaving the corporate-owned restaurants in the chain to falter. The last remaining restaurant still uses Yogi Bear branding and the identities of his Jellystone counterparts to sell "pic-a-nic" baskets of chicken and sides to its many happy customers. Before packing your car and heading to Hartsville to order your own sweet chicken, be sure to learn about the dangerous driving conditions in South Carolina first.