The Chum Bucket is an unsuccessful fast food restaurant that is located right across the street from the Krusty Krab in a suburban area of Bikini Bottom. It is owned by Sheldon J. Plankton and Karen Plankton, where they both reside. It first appears in the episode "Plankton!"
The Chum Bucket is normally unable to compete with the Krusty Krab because it mostly serves awful and foul-tasting foods made from chum, so it rarely gets any customers. Creator Stephen Hillenburg has stated that the Chum Bucket is the only place in Bikini Bottom that serves meat. A running gag throughout the series is about Plankton's numerous attempts to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula to attract customers to his restaurant, all of which have failed, except in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.
Although both Plankton and Karen operate the restaurant, episodes such as "Krabby Road" and "Plankton Gets the Boot" show that Karen is the one in charge of the building. She has used her authority to kick Plankton out of the Chum Bucket on several occasions.