Sizzler will serve its final cheese toast this weekend

Australians are about to lose one of country’s most iconic food chains, which has been a part of our dining landscape for almost four decades.

Australians are about to lose one of country’s most iconic food chains.

On Sunday, after 35 years in Australia, Sizzler will close its remaining nine restaurants.

The restaurant chain’s parent company Collins Food said it made the “difficult decision” after they struggled to recover from slow sales during the peak impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sizzler was known for its all-you-can-eat buffet service and a no-nonsense, kid-friendly menu that’s changed little over 35 years. They served pastas, soups, nachos, fruits, and a wide array of salads as well as steaks and chicken dishes.

But Sizzler’s cheese toast became the brand’s stand out dish — a simple appetiser that has become an Aussie dining legend. As a parting gift to fans of the restaurant, Sizzler recently revealed the secret 40-year-old recipe to their iconic cheese toast.

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The Sizzler in Rockhampton closed in March.

An almost extinct species.

The brand was originally created in California in 1958 by Del and Helen Johnson, who had learned about the unusual concept of a “self service budget steak house”.

After gaining popularity and expanding its options to shrimp (prawns), the chain found some diners were choosing to eat only from the buffet bar — to save cash.

The first Sizzler opened in Australia in 1985, in Annerley in Brisbane — that restaurant continued trading for 31 years before closing in 2017.

Retro ads for the restaurant show how Sizzler positioned itself as being “not fast food” but still convenient, and cheap.

The remaining Sizzler restaurants were in Queensland at Mermaid Beach, Loganholme, Toowoomba, Maroochydore and Caboolture, and in Western Australia in Innaloo, Kelmscott and Morley and in New South Wales in Campbelltown.

In March a Sizzler restaurant in Rockhampton, inside the Stockland Shopping Centre was also closed.

The company offered their 600 employees redundancy packages and other staff will be moved into roles at KFC or Taco Bell.

The company said at the time their network of Sizzler restaurants had been under review since 2015.