Archie's Family Restaurants was an American

restaurant chain A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...

based on the characters by

Archie Comics Archie Comic Publications, Inc., is an American comic book publisher headquartered in Pelham, New York.Jughead Jones Forsythe Pendleton "Jughead" Jones III is one of the fictional characters created by Bob Montana and John L. Goldwater in Archie Comics who first appeared in the first Archie story, from ''Pep Comics'' #22 (December 1941). He is the drummer of th ...

eating a

hamburger A hamburger, or simply burger, is a food consisting of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically Ground beef, beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. Hamburgers are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles ...

. Around 1972, Archie Comics' parent company, Archie Enterprises, Inc., decided it wanted to further diversify into food service operations. Barbara Kovacs and Gary Kovacs, sole owners of the recently founded BarKo Group, Inc., became interested in the venture and bought stock in the Archie companies. Consequently, BarKo received the contract to develop the restaurants. In 1973, the first Archie's restaurant opened in Joliet, Illinois, on the north-east corner of Hammes and Jefferson (

U.S. Route 52 U.S. Route 52 (US 52) is a major United States highway in the central United States that extends from the northern to southeastern region of the United States. Contrary to most other even-numbered U.S. Highways, US 52 primarily follows ...

). An 8-page promotional comic, written by Frank Doyle, illustrated by

Harry Lucey Harry Lucey (November 13, 1913 – August 28, 1984) was an American comic artist best known for his work in MLJ and Archie Comics. He was the primary artist on ''Archie'', the company's flagship title, from the late 1950s through the mid-1970s. ...

, and titled "Archie's Restaurant," was published in the 136th issue of ''

Life with Archie ''Life with Archie'' is a comic book published by Archie comics from 1958 to 1991. It featured Archie Andrews in adventure stories that were more dramatic than the standard Archie tales. In 2010, it was revived as a magazine-sized comic devoted t ...

''. The comic notably featured Maurice Berlinsky, then the real-life mayor of Joliet, and Bob Anderson, then the real-life director of First National Bank of Joliet. The Archie's Restaurant storyline was also featured in issues #26-30 of ''

Everything's Archie Archie Comics is an American comic book company. A B C D E F G H J K L M N O P R S T V W Y Z External links *Archie Comics
at the Big Comic Book DataBase * {{DEFAULTSORT:Archie Comics publi ...

'', and ''

Pep Comics ''Pep Comics'' is the name of an American comic book anthology series published by the Archie Comics predecessor MLJ Magazines Inc. (commonly known as MLJ Comics) during the 1930s and 1940s period known as the Golden Age of Comic Books. The titl ...

'' #280 and #295. 180 The next restaurant opened in

Merrillville Merrillville is a town in Ross Township, Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 35,246 at the 2010 census. Merrillville is in east-central Lake County, in the Chicago metropolitan area. On January 1, 2015, Merrillville became the ...

, Indiana. By May 1974, two more were on the drawing boards, for

Matteson Matteson may refer to: Places * Matteson, Illinois * Matteson, Wisconsin * Matteson Township, Michigan Others * Matteson (surname) * Matteson (Metra), railway station in Illinois, United States * Matteson M-1 The Matteson M-1 was an Amer ...

and Homewood. Within five years, Kovacs hoped to open Archie's restaurants throughout the states of Illinois, Indiana,

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. However, the two existing locations were badly mismanaged, which prompted Archie Comics to close them down and buy the stock back from BarKo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Archie's Family Restaurants 1973 establishments in Illinois Restaurants established in 1973 Regional restaurant chains in the United States Restaurants in Illinois Restaurants in Indiana Archie Comics