Big Boy Restaurant Group, LLC is an American restaurant
chain
A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. A c ...
headquartered in
Warren
A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval Angl ...
,
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 ...
. Frisch's Big Boy Restaurants is a restaurant chain with its headquarters in
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, Ohio. The Big Boy name, design aesthetic, and menu were previously licensed to a number of regional franchisees.
Big Boy began as Bob's Pantry in 1936 by
Bob Wian
Robert C. Wian (June 15, 1914 – March 31, 1992) was the founder of the Big Boy restaurant chain. The restaurant started as a 10-stool hamburger stand in Glendale, California, opening in 1936 with an investment of $300 raised from the sale of hi ...
in
Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''.
It may refer to:
Places Australia
* Glendale, New South Wales
** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre
*Glendale, Queensland, ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. The restaurants became known as "Bob's", "Bob's Drive-Ins",
"Bob's, Home of the Big Boy
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 ...
",
and (
commonly as)
Bob's Big Boy
Bob's Big Boy is a restaurant chain founded by Bob Wian in Southern California in 1936, originally named Bob's Pantry. It is now part of Big Boy Restaurant Group, the current primary trademark owner and franchisor of the Big Boy system. At its ...
. It became a local chain under that name and nationally under the Big Boy name, franchised by Robert C. Wian Enterprises.
Marriott Corporation
Marriott Corporation was a hospitality company that operated from 1927 until 1993, founded by J. Willard Marriott and Frank J. Kimball as Hot Shoppes, Inc. In 1957, Marriott Corporation opened its first hotel in Arlington County, Virginia, Ar ...
bought Big Boy in 1967. One of the larger franchise operators,
Elias Brothers, purchased the chain from Marriott in 1987, moved the headquarters of the company to
Warren, Michigan
Warren is a city in Macomb County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The 2020 Census places the city's population at 139,387, making Warren the largest city in Macomb County, the third largest city in Michigan, and Metro Detroit's largest suburb.
T ...
, and operated it until
bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
was declared in 2000. During the bankruptcy, the chain was sold to
investor
An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future Return on capital, return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some specie ...
Robert Liggett, Jr., who took over as Chairman, renamed the company Big Boy Restaurants International and maintained the headquarters in Warren. In 2018, Big Boy was sold to a group of Michigan investors and renamed Big Boy Restaurant Group, with David Crawford as Chairman, CEO, and co-owner of the new company.
The company is the operator or franchisor for 66 Big Boy restaurants in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and two in Thailand. In January 2020, Tamer Afr replaced Crawford as chairman, CEO, and co-owner.
Immediately after Liggett's purchase, Big Boy Restaurants International—then known as Liggett Restaurant Enterprises—negotiated an agreement with the other large franchise operator,
Frisch's Restaurants. The Big Boy trademarks in Kentucky, Indiana, and most of Ohio and Tennessee transferred to Frisch's ownership; all other Frisch's territories transferred to Liggett. Thus Frisch's is no longer a franchisee, but Big Boy Restaurant Group and Frisch's are now independent co-registrants of the Big Boy name and trademark.
Frisch's operates or franchises 84 Big Boy restaurants in the United States.
Big Boy Japan, also independent of Big Boy Restaurant Group, operates 274 restaurants in
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
.
Origin
The Big Boy mascot
The chain is best known for its trademark chubby boy with a
pompadour hairstyle wearing red-and-white checkered overalls holding a Big Boy sandwich (double-decker
cheeseburger
A cheeseburger is a hamburger topped with cheese. Traditionally, the slice of cheese is placed on top of the meat patty. The cheese is usually added to the cooking hamburger patty shortly before serving, which allows the cheese to melt. Cheese ...
). The inspiration for Big Boy's name, as well as the model for its mascot, was Richard Woodruff of
Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from ...
. When he was six years old, Woodruff walked into the diner Bob's Pantry as Bob Wian was attempting to name his new hamburger. Wian said, "Hello, Big Boy" to Woodruff, and the name stuck.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
animation artist
Ben Washam
Benjamin Alfred Washam (March 17, 1915 – March 28, 1984) was an American animator who is best known for working under director Chuck Jones for nearly 30 years. According to his World War II draft registration, he was born in Newport, Jackson Cou ...
sketched Richard's
caricature
A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, a ...
, which became the character seen on the company trademark.
In 1955, Bob Wian hired Manfred Bernhard, son of graphic designer
Lucian Bernhard
Lucian Bernhard (March 15, 1883 – May 29, 1972) was a German graphic designer, type designer, professor, interior designer, and artist during the first half of the twentieth century.
Career
He was influential in helping create the design ...
, to create a new
public image for Big Boy.
Bernhard was not impressed with Washam's mascot, saying it was sloppy and had a moronic expression.
The "West Coast Big Boy" mascot was revised,
fiberglass
Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...
statues molded, schemes created for menus and building designs, and a comic book for children launched.
In 1951, Bob Wian's original franchisee Dave Frisch developed a slightly different Big Boy character. He was slimmer, wore a
side cap
Side or Sides may refer to:
Geometry
* Edge (geometry) of a polygon (two-dimensional shape)
* Face (geometry) of a polyhedron (three-dimensional shape)
Places
* Side (Ainis), a town of Ainis, ancient Thessaly, Greece
* Side (Caria), a town of ...
,
saddle shoes
The saddle shoe, also known as "saddle oxford", is a low-heeled casual shoe, characterized by a plain toe and saddle-shaped decorative panel placed mid foot. Saddle shoes are typically constructed of leather and are most frequently white with a b ...
and striped overalls. Having reddish or blonde hair he was portrayed in a running pose. Known as the "East Coast Big Boy", he was copyrighted by Frisch's and used for statues and comic books for Frisch's, and its subfranchisees Manners and Azar's. Before 1954, Parkette (
Shoney's
Shoney's is an American restaurant chain headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. It operates restaurants in 17 states, primarily in the Southern United States, South with additional locations in the Midwest and lower Mid-Atlantic states.
Founder ...
) used both versions, though never together.
Since 1956, the Wian "West Coast Big Boy" design was used exclusively by all franchisees other than Frisch's, Manners and Azar's. In the late 1960s, both characters were redrawn to appear similar, incorporating the checkered outfit, pompadour and hamburger above the raised arm from the West Coast design, and the running pose and direction of the East Coast design. In the 1980s, the hamburger was removed from the West Coast design; representing a de-emphasis of the hamburger in North American Big Boy restaurants, it also accommodated the Japanese Big Boy restaurants, which do not serve hamburgers on a bun.
Big Boy statues
Early versions of the West Coast Big Boy statues were gigantic, measuring up to 16 feet tall
with later versions as short as 4 feet. The early statues always included the Big Boy hamburger above mascot's raised right arm; much later versions eliminated the hamburger with both arms clutching the suspenders instead. The hamburger remained a part of the Frisch's East Coast statues, though the slingshot was eliminated from the figure's back pocket. Although still used by that chain, some Frisch's restaurants currently display the West Coast statue instead.
Occasionally Big Boy statues have come into conflict with local
zoning
Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...
ordinances. In 2002, Tony Matar, a Big Boy franchisee in
Canton, Michigan
Canton, officially the Charter Township of Canton, is a charter township of Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the township had a population of 98,659.
Canton Township is Michigan's second most-populated townshi ...
was cited in violation of local sign ordinances. The town claimed the statue was a prohibited second sign; Matar asserted that the 7 foot statue was a sculpture, not a sign. A 2004 compromise allows the existing statue to remain with the words "Big Boy" removed from the figure's bib. When a
Brighton, Michigan
Brighton is a city in the Detroit metropolitan area in southeastern Livingston County, Michigan, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 7,444. Brighton forms part of the South Lyon-Howell-Brighton Urban Area. It is one of ...
franchise closed in early 2015 for financial reasons, zoning codes caused the entire sign—topped with a rotating Big Boy statue—be taken down before the restaurant could be reopened. In contrast the planning commission in
Norco, California
Norco is a city in Riverside County, California, in the United States. Norco is known as Horsetown, USA and prides itself on being a "horse community," with horse trails, hitching posts, and corrals, and city ordinances requiring construction to ...
—known as ''Horsetown USA''—was concerned that the statue was not western enough. In response, the restaurant's Big Boy statue is now outfitted wearing a cowboy hat and boots.
A few other modified statues are in official use. In
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
's
Great American Ball Park
Great American Ball Park is a baseball stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio. It served as the home stadium of the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball (MLB), and opened on March 31, 2003, replacing Cinergy Field (formerly Riverfront Stadium), the R ...
, a Frisch's statue is painted wearing a 1970s
Reds
Reds may refer to:
General
* Red (political adjective), supporters of Communism or socialism
* Reds (January Uprising), a faction of the Polish insurrectionists during the January Uprising in 1863
* USSR (or, to a lesser extent, China) during th ...
baseball uniform with a Reds ball cap added. Frisch's Big Boy hamburgers are sold at two of the park's concession booths. Rather than modifying a typical statue, the Big Boy restaurants in
Manistique and
St. Ignace
St. Ignace is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Mackinac County. The city had a population of 2,452 at the 2010 census. St. Ignace Township is located just to the north of the city, but the two are administered auto ...
, Michigan display full scale
moose
The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult mal ...
statues dressed in checkered overalls with "Big Boy" printed across the chest. To conform with
Gaylord, Michigan
Gaylord is a city in and the county seat of Otsego County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Gaylord had a population of 4,286 at the 2020 census, an increase from 3,645 at the 2010 census.
Gaylord styles itself as an "alpine village" and contain ...
's Alpine theme, the local restaurant's statue previously wore a green
Tyrolean hat
The Tyrolean hat (german: Tirolerhut, it, cappello alpino), also Bavarian hat or Alpine hat, is a type of headwear that originally came from the Tyrol in the Alps, in what is now part of Austria, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. It is an essenti ...
. (The restaurant was rebuilt in 2016, and no longer displays the modified statue.)
In March 2017, Frisch's unveiled a
restyled statue. The new statue resembles the West Coast design but wears striped overalls like the original East Coast Big Boy.
The debut statue wearing a Reds uniform is placed near the existing statue at Great American Ball Park; another is planned for an unnamed Frisch's restaurant. Frisch's will gradually swap the new statues for existing restaurant statues in need of repair.
Because of the closing or separation of former Big Boy restaurants, many West Coast statues were acquired by private individuals, often traded through
eBay
eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...
. Smaller versions of the statues are sold as
coin banks and
bobblehead
A bobblehead, also known by common silly nicknames such as nodder, wobbler, or wacky wobbler, is a type of small collectible action figure. Its head is often oversized compared to its body. Instead of a solid connection, its head is connected to ...
figures. The three dimensional Big Boy figure was also used on early ash trays, salt and pepper shakers, wooden counter displays and as small unpainted
pewter
Pewter () is a malleable metal alloy consisting of tin (85–99%), antimony (approximately 5–10%), copper (2%), bismuth, and sometimes silver. Copper and antimony (and in antiquity lead) act as hardeners, but lead may be used in lower grades of ...
models.
Gigantic
air inflatable Big Boy figures are available and typically used for restaurant openings and special promotions, where permitted.
''Adventures of the Big Boy'' comic book
''Adventures of the Big Boy'' (initially ''The Adventures of Big Boy'') was a promotional comic book given free to children visiting the restaurants. Intended to "give the kids something to do while they waited for their food", the book involves the escapades of Big Boy, his girlfriend Dolly and dog Nugget. From the comic books children could also join the Big Boy Club, a
kids' club
A kids’ club, children's club or mini club is a childcare facility (daycare), which includes a fully staffed mini playground or complete village specially designed for children; is usually offered by private companies, health and fitness clubs ...
offering them free Big Boy hamburgers,
[Part 2]
/ref> decoder cards, pin-back button
A pin-back button or pinback button, pin button, button badge, or simply pin-back or badge, is a button or badge that can be temporarily fastened to the surface of a garment using a safety pin, or a pin formed from wire, a clutch or other mechani ...
s and other premiums. The serial – sometimes called "King of the Giveaways"
continued page 5D
– once had distribution estimated at three million copies.
Manfred Bernhard commissioned Timely Comics
Timely Comics is the common name for the group of corporations that was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics. "Timely Publications became the name ...
to produce the book. In the first year, ''Adventures of the Big Boy'' was managed by Sol Brodsky
Soloman Brodsky (April 22, 1923 – June 4, 1984) was an American comic book artist who, as Marvel Comics' Silver Age production manager, was one of the key architects of the small company's expansion to a major pop culture conglomerate. He ...
, written by Stan Lee
Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Publications which ...
and drawn by Bill Everett
William Blake Everett (; May 18, 1917 – February 27, 1973) was an American comic book writer-artist best known for creating Namor the Sub-Mariner as well as co-creating Zombie and Daredevil with writer Stan Lee for Marvel Comics. He was alle ...
, Brodsky, and Dan DeCarlo
Daniel S. DeCarlo (December 12, 1919 – December 18, 2001) was an American cartoonist best known for having developed the look of Archie Comics in the late 1950s and early 1960s, modernizing the characters to their contemporary appearance and ...
. DeCarlo continued drawing in the second year and Lee writing the series through 1961. For 17 years, starting in the mid 1970s, Manny Stallman drew the (Marriott) series, followed by Bob Bindig
Robert K. Bindig (December 21, 1920 – November 6, 2007) was a cartoonist and comics historian who worked on the ''Adventures of the Big Boy'' comic book from 1985 to 1995.
Education
In the late 1930s, Bindig attended the Buffalo Technical Hi ...
who drew the series until 1995.
Variations
Because of the distinct East and West Coast Big Boy mascots, dual versions of ''Adventures'' were produced, identical except for the detail of the Big Boy figure. In July 1969, the versions merged, and a fluffy brown haired Big Boy appeared. In 1976, Shoney's began publishing their own series instead. Contracted to Paragon Products, this version featured an older, leaner Big Boy, with his siblings Katie and Tripp replacing Dolly and Nugget, and was adopted by the JB's and Azar's Big Boy franchises. After 75 issues, it became ''Shoney's Fun and Adventure Magazine'' introducing a Shoney's mascot ("Uncle Ed" bear) in place of Big Boy, allowing it to serve Shoney's non-Big Boy restaurants.
Cancellation
In 1996, after 39 years and 466 issues, Big Boy cancelled the comic book and hired Craig Yoe's Yoe! Studio to revamp the characters and produce a magazine styled replacement. After 63 issues, the ''Big Boy Magazine'' was itself cancelled in 2008.
Food
The Big Boy hamburger
The signature Big Boy hamburger is the original double deck hamburger.
The novel hamburger started as a joke. In February 1937, some local big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ...
musicians, who were regular customers of Bob's Pantry, visited the restaurant. When ordering, bass player Stewie Strange asked, "How about something different, something ''special''?" mphasis added Bob Wian improvised, creating the first (then unnamed) Big Boy, intending the thing "look ridiculous, like a leaning tower". Demand for "the special" soared but Wian sought a "snappy" name, which became Big Boy. In 1938, the Big Boy hamburger cost 15¢ (). In 2018, the Big Boy cost $6.49 in Michigan.
Several slogans were used from the 1950s through the 1970s to promote the Big Boy hamburger, such as, "A Meal in One on a Double–Deck Bun" and "Twice as Big, Twice as Good". On menus from that period, it was called, "...the Nationally Famous, Original Double–Deck Hamburger...".
The Big Boy hamburger inspired and was the model for other double deck hamburgers. This includes McDonald's Big Mac
The Big Mac is a hamburger sold by the international fast food restaurant chain McDonald's. It was introduced in the Greater Pittsburgh Region, Greater Pittsburgh area in 1967 and across the United States in 1968. It is one of the company's fl ...
, Burger Chef
Burger Chef was an American fast-food restaurant chain. It began operating in 1954 in Indianapolis, Indiana, expanded throughout the United States, and at its peak in 1973 had 1,050 locations, including some in Canada. The chain featured severa ...
's Big Shef and Burger King's Big King
The Big King sandwich is one of the major hamburger products sold by the international fast-food restaurant chain Burger King, and was part of its menu for more than twenty years. As of March 2019, it is sold in the United States under its 1 ...
.
The Big Boy consists of two thin beef patties placed on a three-layer bun with lettuce, a single slice of American cheese
Modern American cheese is a type of processed cheese developed in the 1910s made from cheddar, Colby, or similar cheeses. It is mild with a creamy and salty flavor, has a medium-firm consistency, and has a low melting point. It is typically yel ...
, and either mayonnaise
Mayonnaise (; ), colloquially referred to as "mayo" , is a thick, cold, and creamy sauce or dressing commonly used on sandwiches, hamburgers, composed salads, and French fries. It also forms the base for various other sauces, such as tartar ...
and red relish (a combination of sweet pickle relish
A relish is a cooked and pickled product made of chopped vegetables, fruits or herbs and is a food item typically used as a condiment to enhance a staple. Examples are chutneys and the North American relish, a pickled cucumber jam eaten with ho ...
, ketchup
Ketchup or catsup is a table condiment with a sweet and tangy flavor. The unmodified term ("ketchup") now typically refers to tomato ketchup, although early recipes used egg whites, mushrooms, oysters, grapes, mussels, or walnuts, among other ...
and chili sauce
Chili sauce and chili paste are condiments prepared with chili peppers.
Chili sauce may be hot, sweet or a combination thereof, and may differ from hot sauce in that many sweet or mild varieties exist, which is typically lacking in hot sauces. ...
), Big Boy special sauce (often called thousand island dressing
Thousand Island dressing is an American salad dressing and condiment based on mayonnaise that can include olive oil, lemon juice, orange juice, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, vinegar, cream, chili sauce, tomato purée, and ketchup or ...
) or (at Frisch's, Manners and Azar's) tartar sauce
Tartar sauce (French: ''sauce tartare''; spelled tartare sauce in the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, South Africa) is a condiment made of mayonnaise, chopped pickles and/or relish, capers, and herbs such as tarragon and dill. Tarta ...
on one or each slice of bun. (Regardless, the Big Boy condiment used was often simply referred to as "special sauce" on menus chainwide.) Wian used a sesame seed bun while Frisch's used a plain bun and included pickles. The Big Boy hamburger originally called for a quarter pound (4 ounces) of fresh ground beef, but later, franchisees were permitted to use frozen beef patties, and the minimum content reduced to a fifth of a pound to offset increasing food costs. Other specifications were exacting, such as the bun's bottom section being 1½ inches high and the center section ¾ inches, and 1½ ounces of shredded lettuce used.
Originally, the Big Boy hamburger was the only common menu item ''required'' of all Big Boy franchisees.
Other core menu items
Just as Bob Wian's Big Boy hamburger was served by all franchises, the early franchises also contributed signature menu items. Frisch's provided the "Brawny Lad" and "Swiss Miss" hamburgers, Shoney's contributed the "Slim Jim" sandwich and Hot Fudge Ice Cream Cake, while Strawberry Pie
Strawberry pie is a dessert food consisting mainly of strawberries and sugar in a pie crust, sometimes with gelatin. It is often served with whipped cream.
Preparation
Fresh strawberry pies are usually made with in-season sweet berries, w ...
was introduced by Eat'n Park. Hot Fudge Cake and Strawberry Pie remain popular dessert items chainwide but other items were not necessarily offered by all franchises, and franchises would sometimes change the item's name: The "Slim Jim" became the "Buddie Boy" at Frisch's, and Elby's renamed the "Swiss Miss" as the "Brawny Swiss". Similarly, when franchisees left Big Boy, they would typically rebrand the Big Boy hamburger: it became the "Superburger" (Eat'n Park), the "Buddy Boy" (Lendy's), the "Big Ben" (Franklin's),[. . .
*
*
* ] and the "Elby Double Deck hamburger" (Elby's). Shoney's reintroduced the "Classic Double Decker", somewhat different than the Big Boy, about a decade after leaving.
Big Boy offers breakfast, burgers and sandwiches, salads, dinner combinations, and various desserts.
Philosophy and practices
Bob Wian developed rules and philosophies about how Big Boy should operate. Besides the (construction of the) Big Boy hamburger he attributed most of his success and that of his franchisees to following these rules. His fundamental restaurant principles were: "serve the best quality food, at moderate prices, in spotless surroundings, with courtesy and hospitality." He believed "the customer is always right
__NOTOC__
"The customer is always right" is a motto or slogan which exhorts service staff to give a high priority to customer satisfaction. It was popularised by pioneering and successful retailers such as Harry Gordon Selfridge, John Wanamaker ...
" and instructed employees that, "if any food item is not satisfactory, return it cheerfully and apologize for the error". Wian said he had five basic rules for building his business: "be a good place to work for, sell to, buy from, and invest in. And be a good neighbor in the community." He also attributed the growth to, "capable management and a conservative policy of not trying to seat more people than can be served or opening more restaurants than can be serviced." If some disruption occurred at a restaurant, such as a new manager or renovation, Wian would postpone advertising until operations would return to his standards.
Typical of Big Boy restaurants, Elby's Big Boy used a nine-step process waiting on dining room customers:
# Greet customers within one minute of being seated, serving water and taking beverage orders.
# Serve beverages and take meal orders.
# Call in meal orders to kitchen.
# Place setups (e.g., silverware
Silverware may refer to:
* Household silver including
**Tableware
**Cutlery
**Candlesticks
*The work of a silversmith
* Silverware is also a slang term for a collection of trophies
A trophy is a tangible, durable reminder of a specific achieveme ...
) and condiments, serve salad items.
# Watch kitchen (number panel) for completed order and promptly serve meals to table.
(The kitchen should complete orders within 8 minutes, 10 minutes for steaks.)
# Check back with customers within a few minutes: "Is everything OK?"
# Return and place check on the table: "I'll return shortly."
# Suggest dessert and take dessert orders.
# Serve desserts or deliver final check, remove empty dishes.
Bob Wian was discerning of employees, hiring wait staff—which he considered a profession—by appearance, intelligence and enthusiasm. He preferred employees with little or no restaurant experience which afforded training in the Big Boy tradition. Wian said that he "conned mployeesinto believing in themselves ... I put my cooks in chef's outfits, even though they couldn't boil an egg". Other than wait staff, employees typically started as dishwashers and busboys, and advanced to short-order cooks, and then possibly to management. Bob's Big Boy was one of the first restaurant chains to offer health insurance and profit-sharing to employees.
Bob Wian excelled at franchise relations. He led 20-person training crews to open new Big Boy restaurants, made periodic nationwide tours of the franchises, was available for consultations and claimed to know every manager's name. He also assembled the principal franchisees as board members of the National Big Boy Association to participate in leadership. After Wian left, some Big Boy operators began to question the value of their franchise.[part 2]
part 3
/ref>
Regional franchises
Operation and history
In addition to the Big Boy name, the "Big Boy" concept, menu, and mascot were originally licensed
A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
to a wide number of regional franchise holders (listed in the next section). Because many of the early franchisees were already in the restaurant business when joining Big Boy, "Big Boy" was added to the franchisee name just as the Big Boy hamburger was added to the franchisee's menu. In this sense it is confusing when referring to a chain, as each named franchisee was itself a chain and Big Boy could be considered a chain of chains. People tend to know Big Boy not simply as Big Boy but as the franchise from where they lived such as Bob's Big Boy in California, Shoney's Big Boy in the south or Frisch's Big Boy in much of Ohio, Marc's Big Boy in the Upper Midwest, Elias Brothers' Big Boy (or sometimes just Elias Brothers') in Michigan, among the many others.
Each regional franchisee typically operated a central commissary which prepared or processed foods and sauces to be shipped fresh to their restaurants. However, some items might be prepared at the restaurants daily, such as soup
Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot (but may be cool or cold), that is made by combining ingredients of meat or vegetables with stock, milk, or water. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ing ...
s and breading of seafood
Seafood is any form of sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of molluscs (e.g. bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters and mussels, and cephalopods such as octopus an ...
and onion ring
An onion ring, also called a French fried onion ring, is a form of appetizer or side dish in British cuisine, British and American cuisine. They generally consist of a cross-sectional "ring" of onion dipped in Batter (cooking), batter or bread ...
s.
Through the 1950s and 1960s, the emphasis changed from drive-in restaurant
A drive-in is a facility (such as a restaurant or movie theater) where one can drive in with an automobile for service. At a drive-in restaurant, for example, customers park their vehicles and are usually served by staff who walk or rollerskat ...
to coffee shop and family restaurant. New franchisees without existing restaurants signed on. A larger standard menu was developed. Most adopted a common graphic design of menu
In a restaurant, the menu is a list of food and beverages offered to customers and the prices. A menu may be à la carte – which presents a list of options from which customers choose – or table d'hôte, in which case a pre-established seque ...
s and promotional items, offered by Big Boy but personalized to the franchise. Stock plans of restaurant designs were provided by Los Angeles architects Armet and Davis
Armet Davis Newlove Architects, formerly Armét & Davis, is a Californian architectural firm known for working in the Googie architecture style that marks many distinctive coffee shops and eateries in Southern California. The firm designed Pann' ...
or Chicago architectural designer Robert O. Burton, and modified as needed.
In the 1960s, Big Boy and other drive-in restaurants could not compete with the spreading fast food restaurants such as McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...
and Burger King
Burger King (BK) is an American-based multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based res ...
. Big Boy built its last drive-in in 1964 and by 1976, only 5 of the chain's 930 restaurants offered curb service. Big Boy redefined itself as a full service restaurant in contrast to fast food. Nonetheless, in the late 1960s and 1970s, Bob's, Shoney's and JB's also opened Big Boy Jr. stores, designed as fast food operations which offered a limited menu. Sometimes called drive-ins, these junior stores did not use carhops. In 1993, Marc's Big Boy similarly developed Big Boy Express stores using dual drive-thrus and no interior dining area. Two Express stores were built, offered for sale a year later and closed in 1995.
Several franchises also held Kentucky Fried Chicken
KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) is an American fast food restaurant chain headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, that specializes in fried chicken. It is the world's second-largest restaurant chain (as measured by sales) after McDonald's, with 2 ...
franchises and sold that chicken in their Big Boy restaurants; these included Marc's, McDowell's, Lendy's and one or more Shoney's subfranchises. The practice was discouraged and Big Boy eventually provided a similar scheme of selling buckets of take out chicken, marketed as Country Style or Country Cousin Chicken. Franchises who resisted the change were forced to remove Kentucky Fried Chicken menu items and physically relocate those operations. However, Marriott sold "Pappy Parker Fried Chicken" in Bob's Big Boys; the Marriott owned brand was also sold in the company's Hot Shoppes and Roy Rogers Restaurants
Roy Rogers Franchise Company, LLC is a chain of fast food restaurants primarily located in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States. The chain originated as the rebranding of the ''RoBee's House of Beef'' chain of Fort Wayne, Indiana, acq ...
, and later Marriott Hotel Restaurants.
Big Boy's origins as a drive-in restaurant, required a much smaller investment to open and much lower costs to operate: a small building having no dining room or limited counter space. Thus persons of modest assets could become Big Boy operators. It was the profits from these operations which allowed not only additional drive-ins, but operators to build modern restaurants with large pleasant dining rooms. Many of the early successful franchisees would probably not have assets (converted to present value) sufficient to join Big Boy today.
By 1979, there were more than a thousand Big Boy restaurants in the U.S. and Canada, and about 20 franchisees. Shoney's, Elias Brothers and Frisch's—charter franchisees—controlled the vast majority. These mega franchisees paid practically no fees, e.g., Frisch paid $1 per year for its core four state territory. After Bob's, the four original franchisees (in order) were Frisch's, Eat'n Park, Shoney's (originally called "Parkette") and Elias Brothers, all clustered near the state of Ohio. All, including Bob's, remain in operation today, albeit Elias Brothers is simply known as Big Boy, and Eat'n Park and Shoney's dropped Big Boy affiliation in the 1970s and 1980s.
Big Boy developed named franchisees in several ways. Very quickly the Big Boy name and even the Big Boy character were being widely used without permission. Bob Wian, needing Big Boy restaurants operating in multiple states to maintain national (U.S.) trademark protection, offered very generous franchise agreement A franchise agreement is a legal, binding contract between a franchisor and franchisee. In the United States franchise agreements are enforced at the State level.
Prior to a franchisee signing a contract, the US Federal Trade Commission regulates ...
s to Frisch's, Eat'n Park and Parkette (Shoney's). In 1952, Wian instituted a formal franchise process and Elias Brothers became the first such "official" franchisee paying Wian 1% of sales. Bob Wian also settled trademark infringements allowing the rogue operator to become a licensed franchisee, such as McDowell's Big Boy in North Dakota. Franchisees were permitted to subfranchise; these early subfranchisees often used their own name and operated independently: Frisch's licensed Azar's, and Manners; Shoney's licensed Adler's, Arnold's, Becker's
Becker's is a Canadian chain of independent convenience stores selling products of Alimentation Couche-Tard company. The original Becker Milk Company was founded in 1957 in Toronto, Ontario. The chain grew from 5 to 500 stores and was sold in 200 ...
, Elby's, Lendy's, Shap's, Tune's, and Yoda's. (An eastern Pennsylvania Elby's franchisee briefly operated as Franklin's Big Boy before dropping Big Boy.)
Acquisitions and mergers also occurred. In the early 1970s, Frisch's acquired Kip's Big Boy; JB's acquired Vip's, Kebo's, Leo's and Bud's which were rebranded JB's. Shoney's acquired the Missouri territory previously assigned to Tote's. After buying Big Boy, Elias Brothers bought Elby's and TJ's
TJ's was a music venue and nightclub located on Clarence Place in Newport, South Wales. It opened in 1985 and shortly became a live music venue.
It was an integral part of the so-called toilet circuit and the Newport music scene, particula ...
. Elby's was unique in leaving and rejoining the Big Boy system. When Marriott purchased Big Boy (Wian Enterprises) in 1967, this included Bob's Big Boy. The name "Bob's" would be used by all Marriott owned Big Boys and became common in parts of the eastern U.S. and elsewhere, far away from Bob's historic territory.
Frisch's now owns the "Big Boy" name in a defined four-state region and its franchisee Azar's closed in 2020. Bob's is licensed Big Boy Restaurant Group. Many of the other former franchise owners (Shoney's, particularly) have expanded into the former territories of other franchise holders.
After buying the Big Boy system from Marriott, Elias Brothers planned to phase out franchise names, only generally realized by Big Boy Restaurants International after 2000. This was intended to strengthen the trademark but also prevent defections, such as happened with Shoney's Big Boy retaining identity as Shoney's. The same occurred with Eat'n Park, Elby's, Lendy's, JB's, and Abdow's who kept their names after leaving Big Boy. Big Boy now permits operators to informally identify by location such as ''Tawas Bay Big Boy'' in East Tawas, Michigan.
Unlike most modern franchises, the historic Big Boy franchisees differed somewhat from one another in pricing
Pricing is the process whereby a business sets the price at which it will sell its products and services, and may be part of the business's marketing plan. In setting prices, the business will take into account the price at which it could acqui ...
and menus. After purchasing Big Boy in 1987, Elias Brothers intended to standardize the name and menu, but Bob's, Frisch's and McDowell's (now known as Bismarck Big Boy) continue to offer distinctions from the standard Big Boy menu.
Franchising costs today
Big Boy Restaurant Group and Frisch's Big Boy Restaurants both continue to offer franchises in their exclusive territories, each having 20 year terms. As of 2014, Big Boy Restaurant Group charged a $40,000 franchise fee, and an ongoing 4% royalty and up to 3% advertising fees based on weekly gross revenue. (In most of Michigan the franchisee pays a 2% advertising fee and must spend an additional 1% on local advertising. Franchisees in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan or outside of Michigan pay a ½% advertising fee and must spend 1½% on local advertising.) As of 2020, Frisch's Big Boy charges a $40,000–$45,000 franchise fee, and an ongoing 4% royalty and 2½% advertising fees on gross revenue. The majority of Big Boy Restaurant Group units are franchised while the majority of Frisch's units are currently company owned. Big Boy Restaurant Group franchise agreements are not renewable but new agreements are required.
Roster of named franchisees
Big Boy restaurants were cobranded with at least 34 different names representing various franchisees. These franchisees are listed below with territories, time span, founders, comic book code (in brackets) and additional notes, as known:
*Abdow's (Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
and Central
Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object.
Central may also refer to:
Directions and generalised locations
* Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
Massachusetts, Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
, 19631994, founded by George and Ron Abdow and their sister Phyllis Abdow-LaVallee) Abdow's opened as a Hi-Boy franchisee in 1959, bought a Big Boy franchise in 1963 and changed the corporate name to Abdow's Big Boy in 1965. Abdow's left Big Boy in 1994 over menu conflicts with Elias Brothers and value served for the franchise fees, removing 18 restaurants from the national chain. Now defunct, many converted to Elxsi Corporations's Bickfords Family Restaurants or remain vacant.
*Adler's (Lynchburg, Virginia, 1958–1960, founded by Abe Adler) Became a Lendy's Big Boy, when Adler sold the business to Leonard Goldstein of Lendy's.
*Arnold's (Folsom, Pennsylvania, 1955–?, founders unknown) Arnold's and Tune's operated in the Philadelphia area.
*Azar's (Northern Indiana, Colorado, 1953-2020, founded by brothers Alex, David and George Azar) Opened in Ft. Wayne, Indiana as a Frisch's subfranchise and in 1967 expanded to the Denver, Colorado market. Operated 26 units in 1984. Alex Azar's son, George Azar, became CEO. After closing during the COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
pandemic, the last Azar's Big Boy closed permanently. Alex Azar became a member of the Big Boy Board of Directors.
*Becker's (Rochester and Buffalo, New York, 19561965, founded by Abe Becker) Shoney's opened a restaurant in Rochester in the mid 1950s which may have become Becker's Big Boy.[ In this list, the Rochester franchise is Becker's, the Wheeling franchise is Elby's, the Philadelphia franchises are Tune's and Arnold's, the Chattanooga franchise is Shap's, and the Roanoke, Virginia franchises are Lendy's and Yoda's.] By 1957, Becker's was operating four Big Boy restaurants in Greater Rochester. Trying to expand too quickly created a financial crisis and the end of the franchise.
File:Historic Big Boy Restaurant Franchisee Logos.svg, upright=1.8, alt=Historic Big Boy franchisee logos, Logos of historic Big Boy franchisees.
Franchisees were once required to use their own name with the Big Boy name and character. Some changed logos periodically and these show designs used while a Big Boy affiliate, most dating from the mid 1950s to the mid 1960s. ''Eat'n Park, Shoney's'' and ''JB's'' are no longer affiliated with Big Boy. Logos for ''Adler's,'' ''Arnold's,'' ''Bud's'' and ''Chez Chap'' were not available to the artist.
circle 206 83 42 #Bob's
circle 77 177 32 #Abdows
circle 162 177 32 #Azars
circle 248 177 32 #Beckers
circle 332 177 32 #Eat'n Park
circle 73 264 31 #Elbys
circle 160 264 36 #Elias Brothers
circle 246 264 36 #Franklins
circle 332 264 35 #Frejlachs
circle 72 351 35 #Frischs
circle 159 349 32 #JBs
circle 245 349 31 #Kebos
circle 332 351 33 #Kens
circle 73 437 33 #Kips
circle 159 436 36 #Lendys
circle 245 437 32 #Leos
circle 333 437 35 #Manners
circle 73 522 31 #Marcs
circle 159 523 33 #McDowells
circle 245 523 32 #Mr Bs
circle 333 523 32 #Shaps
circle 76 610 31 #Shoneys
circle 163 609 31 #Teds
circle 249 609 31 #TJs
circle 336 609 31 #Tops
circle 74 696 32 #Totes
circle 161 697 34 #Tunes
circle 247 696 31 #Vips
circle 334 696 34 #Yodas
desc none
*Bob's
Bob's () is a Brazilian fast food chain, founded in 1952 by the American Brazilian tennis champion Bob Falkenburg, Wimbledon tournament winner in 1948. The first store was opened in the Copacabana neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro. It is the firs ...
(California, Arizona, Nevada, Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Vermont; and Indiana, Ohio, Florida, New York and Pennsylvania toll roads and airport locations operated in several states by the Marriott Corp. or others, 1936+, founded by Robert C. "Bob" Wian) The original Big Boy chain, which in Wian's time was confined to Southern California, Arizona and Nevada. Because Marriott developed and acquired Big Boy restaurants elsewhere, principally the northeastern U.S., Bob's developed a more diverse territory and identity. Bob's in Nevada and Arizona were purchased by JB's Big Boy. Currently, Bob's operates only five restaurants – all in Southern California. Bob's units are the only operators under the domain of the Big Boy Restaurant Group now permitted to use a franchise name for public identity. Wian was the original chairman of the Big Boy Board of Directors.
*Bud's (Montana, Wyoming, 1966197?) Operated two units. Acquired by JBs in the 1970s.
*Chez Chap ( Westmount, a suburb of Montreal, Quebec, 1978?, founded by Chapman Baehler) Baehler was Bob Wian's stepson.
*Don's (Burlington, Vermont
Burlington is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the seat of Chittenden County. It is located south of the Canada–United States border and south of Montreal. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 44,743. It ...
, 1984, founded by Donald Allard) One of several chain restaurants operated by Allard. Restaurant was rebranded as Bob's Big Boy about 1986, and closed, with plans to construct a Red Lobster
Red Lobster Hospitality LLC is an American casual dining restaurant chain headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The company has operations across most of the United States (including Puerto Rico, Guam) and Canada, as well as in China, Ecuador, Hong ...
Restaurant on the site in 1991. As of 2020, there has been an Olive Garden on that site for some years.
*Eat'n Park
Eat'n Park is a restaurant chain based in Homestead, Pennsylvania, with 59 locations in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. The chain is known for its Smiley Cookies and has adopted the motto, "the place for smiles".
History
In the late 19 ...
(metro Pittsburgh, 19491975,[Part 1]
/ref> founded by Larry Hatch and William Peters) Hatch and Peters were supervisors at Isaly's
Isaly's () was a chain of family-owned dairies and restaurants started in Mansfield, Ohio, Mansfield (Richland County, Ohio, Richland County), Ohio, with locations throughout the American Midwest from the early 20th century until the 1970s. It ...
in Pittsburgh. On Isaly's business in Cincinnati, Hatch saw the success of the Frisch's Big Boy Drive-In prompting contact with founder Bob Wian, who needed national exposure to gain national trademark protection. Within a year Eat'n Park opened as the second Big Boy franchisee. When the 25 year franchise agreement expired Eat'n Park dropped Big Boy, attributed to the loss of drive-in popularity but primarily motivated by the end of the $1 per year license fee the franchise had enjoyed. Pittsburgh area Big Boy rights were reassigned to Elby's in 1977.
*Elby's (Northern West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio, Maryland, 19561984, 19882000, founded by brothers George, Ellis and Michael Boury) Named after a brand of flavoring syrup sold by the Bourys' restaurant supply business. Originally acquired the Big Boy rights to northern West Virginia through Shoney's. In 1960 Elby's expanded into Ohio, licensed through Frisch's. Six years later, Bob Wian awarded Elby's franchisor rights to Pennsylvania, excluding the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia areas; Pittsburgh was awarded Elby's in 1977. When Frisch's refused existing terms on a fourth Ohio unit in 1971, Elby's withdrew from Big Boy affiliation in Ohio, leading to a long running trademark battle by Frisch's. In August 1984 Elby's paid $500 thousand to buy out it's Big Boy franchise, four months after Shoney's—franchisor for Elby's West Virginia stores—broke affiliation. Opened units in Maryland after leaving Big Boy. The Elby's name and most company restaurants were sold to Elias Brothers in 1988 becoming Big Boys again. (George and Michael Boury retained nine Ohio units that could not become Big Boys because of nearby Frisch's operations; they were rebranded as Shoney's restaurants until placed for sale in 1993.) Although officially stripped of the Elby's name, identity was so strong that the Elby's name continued in print advertisements. The last remaining Elby's closed in 2000 in response to the Elias Brothers financial crisis.
*Elias Brothers (Michigan, Northeastern Ohio, Ontario, Canada, 19522000, founded by Fred, John and Louis Elias) In 1938 the brothers opened Fred's Chili Bowl in Detroit and later the Dixie Drive-In in Hazel Park
Hazel Park is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As a part of Metro Detroit, the city shares its southern border with the city of Detroit. As of the 2010 census, the population was 16,422.
Hazel Park was incorporated as a c ...
, which would become the first Elias Brothers Big Boy. Considered the "first official franchisee" because they were the first to formally apply to Bob Wian. Worked with Wian, Schoenbaum and Manfred Bernhard to create the 1956 Big Boy character design and launch the comic book. Owned the Big Boy system from 1987 through 2000 when the bankrupt company was sold to Robert Liggett. Many Michigan units continue operations stripped of the Elias Brothers name and these are the vast majority (90%) of Big Boy Restaurant Group's Big Boy stores. Fred Elias became a member of the Big Boy Board of Directors.
*Franklin's (Eastern Pennsylvania, 19661976, founded by Marvin and Joseph Franklin) Subfranchised by and originally operated as Elby's. Sued Elby's in 1975 for receiving commissions from approved vendors. inflating prices of supplies, and using continued franchising as an incentive. Elby's denied the charges, which were settled out of court in 1978. Franklin discontinued use of the Elby's name in 1976, but initially continued to operate as Big Boy Restaurants. Elby's sued Franklin's. In August 1978, a federal court cancelled Franklin's contracts with Elby's, awarded Elby's an undisclosed cash settlement and enjoined Franklin's from use of the "Elby's" and "Big Boy" names, food items, recipes and other materials. Nonetheless, Franklin's renamed the "Big Boy" the "Big Ben" and adopted a Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...
theme. Elby's subsequently built new restaurants adjacent to several Franklin's units. The 12 unit chain was sold to Hershey's Foods and Friendly's Restaurants in 1985.
*Frejlach's (Illinois, 1954196?, founded by Irvin Frejlach) Added Big Boy to their established chain of ice cream shops. Unlike other franchisees, the stores did not directly use the Big Boy name; they remained Frejlach's Ice Cream Shoppes not Frejlach's Big Boy. The company also owned rights to McDonald's restaurants in Cook County (Chicago), Illinois which were sold back to Ray Kroc in 1956. Irvin's brother Lucian "Lou" Frejlach became a member of the Big Boy Board of Directors.
*Frisch's
Frisch's Big Boy is a regional Big Boy restaurant chain with headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio. For many years a Big Boy franchisee, in 2001, Frisch's became the exclusive owner of the Big Boy trademark in Indiana, Kentucky, and most of Ohio and ...
(Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee; Florida until the early 1990s, 1947+, founded by David Frisch) The Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
restaurant chain and first franchisee, began serving Big Boy hamburgers in 1946, but opened their first Big Boy Drive-In restaurant in 1948; Frisch's now operates 96 Big Boys and franchises 25 Big Boys to others. Frisch's subfranchised to Azar's and Manners, which used the Frisch's styled Big Boy, to Milton and David Bennett in 1955, who operate as Frisch's in northwest Ohio and also licensed Elby's to operate three Big Boy units in the upper Ohio Valley until 1971. In 2001 Frisch's became the perpetual owner of the Big Boy trademark in most of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee, and received $1.2 million to relinquish all other Big Boy territories to Big Boy Restaurants International, to whom Frisch's is no longer a franchisee or licensee. On August 24, 2015, Frisch's was sold to an Atlanta-based private equity fund, ending family ownership and control of the chain.
* JB's (Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, Wyoming, Washington, California, New Mexico, Nevada, Nebraska, Kansas, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut; 19611988, founded by Jack M. Broberg.) The first JB's Big Boy opened in 1961 in Provo, Utah. In the 1970s JB's expanded by acquiring neighboring Big Boy franchisees: Vip's, Leo's, Kebo's and Bud's. After Marriott refused granting additional territory, in 1984, JB's sued to leave Big Boy. The parties settled, JB's paying $7 million in exchange for additional territory, including central and northern California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Arizona where it operated as Bob's Big Boy; JB's also purchased 29 existing Bob's Big Boy restaurants from Marriott. Citing a lack of benefit except use of the Big Boy symbol for its over $1 million annual franchise fees, in 1988 JB's allowed its Big Boy franchise to expire, removing 110 units from the Big Boy system. As of December 2016, fifteen JB's Restaurants operate in five states.
*JB's (Canada - Ontario, Alberta and Quebec, 19691979, founded by John Bitove, Sr.
John Louis Nicholas Bitove Sr., (born Lazar Nikola Bitov, mk, Лазар Никола Битов; 19 March 1928 – 30 July 2015) was a Macedonian Canadian businessman.
Biography
Early life
Bitove was born Lazar Nikola Bitov, in Toronto to M ...
) Bitove, a well known Canadian businessman, was the franchisee for Canada generally, along with Roy Rogers Restaurants
Roy Rogers Franchise Company, LLC is a chain of fast food restaurants primarily located in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States. The chain originated as the rebranding of the ''RoBee's House of Beef'' chain of Fort Wayne, Indiana, acq ...
, both Marriott owned brands. JB's of Canada grew to 32 Big Boy restaurants before selling to Elias Brothers.
*Kebo's (Seattle and Tacoma, Washington area before JB's dba Bob's, ?1974, founded by W. Keith Grant.) "Kebo" came from the owners, Keith, Ed and Bob. Two units were sold to JB's in 1974.
*Ken's (Maryland, Washington DC,
front cover
archive
1963?, founded by Bill Bemis) named in honor of Bill Bemis' father Ken Bemis, who founded the White Log Coffee Shop chain. Three Maryland ''Ken's Big Boys'' operated in 1969. "Ken's" became "Bob's" in the early 1970s.
*Kip's (Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, 19581991, founded Fred Bell, Thomas W. Holman and James Reed) Bell owned and operated Kip's of Texas, while Holman and Reed owned and operated Kip's of Oklahoma and Kansas. Acquired by Frisch's in 1972. Kip's territory was transferred to Big Boy Restaurants International in 2001. Bell became an original member of the Big Boy Board of Directors.
*Lendy's (Western Virginia, 19551964, founded by Leonard Goldstein) Owned by Goldstein but operated as Shoney's 1955–1959. Territory proximity to Yoda's angered Goldstein and concurrent franchise with Kentucky Fried Chicken antagonized franchisor Alex Schoenbaum, prompting Lendy's to leave Big Boy. Renamed the "Big Boy" hamburger as the "Buddy Boy" and created a Buddy Boy mascot similar to Frisch's Big Boy character. Goldstein replaced the Big Boy statues with statues of Buddie Boy.
*Leo's (Spokane, Washington, Montana, 19661971, founded by Leo A. Hansen, Jr.) The first Leo's Big Boy opened in Great Falls, Montana
Great Falls is the third most populous city in the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Cascade County. The population was 60,442 according to the 2020 census. The city covers an area of and is the principal city of the Great Falls, M ...
in 1966. Grew to four units before being acquired by and renamed JB's in 1971, Hansen becoming a vice-president of JB's Big Boy.
*Manners (Northeastern Ohio (Cleveland TV market), 19541979, founded by Robert L. and Ramona Manners) Franchisee through Frisch's, used the Frisch styled mascot design. Like Frisch's, Manners was already established having opened Manners Drive-In in 1939, 15 years before becoming a Big Boy franchisee. Paid Frisch's $10 per month for each location. In 1968 Manners Big Boy was sold to Consolidated Foods (now known as Sara Lee Corporation
The Sara Lee Corporation was an American consumer-goods company based in Downers Grove, Illinois. It had operations in more than 40 countries and sold its products in over 180 countries. Its international operations were headquartered in Utrecht ...
). Marriott purchased the 39 units in 1974 and five years later dropped the name "Manners". Marriott sold 26 remaining restaurants to Elias Brothers in 1985.
*Marc's (Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, 19581995, founded by Ben Marcus and Gene Kilburg) Owned by the Marcus Corporation
The Marcus Corporation () is an American publicly held company headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The company operates two principal divisions: Marcus Theatres and Marcus Hotels and Resorts.
History
Marcus Corporation was founded on Novemb ...
, Marc's Big Boy debuted in Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...
in November 1958. The chain grew to 4 units by 1962, 22 units by 1970, doubling this number within 4 years and eventually operated as many as 64 Big Boys over a 4 state territory. Among these, acquiring Illinois Top's Big Boy restaurants by 1974—rebranding those in Chicago suburbs Marc's. In 1989, Marc's Big Boy Corporation was renamed Marc's Restaurants and a two-year experiment launched completely removing Big Boy at two of its stores, the test demonstrating no effect on business. In 1992, the Marc's format was upscaled and renamed ''Marc's Big Boy Cafe''s; in 1993 13 Big Boy Cafes were converted to ''Marc's Cafe and Coffee Mill''s, and the company launched 2 ''Big Boy Express'' drive-thru stores. The following year, the 13 Cafe and Coffee Mill restaurants were sold to a group of employees, with 3 remaining Big Boys and 2 Big Boy Express units offered for sale. In 1995, the company closed its last Big Boy operation. Some former units later operated as Annie's American Cafe and as Perkins Restaurant and Bakery, Perkins Restaurants. However, in 2017 the Marcus Corporation sold Big Boy hamburgers at the Kil@wat restaurant in its downtown Milwaukee hotel; in March 2017, the sandwich is priced at $11 on the lunch menu and $12 on the dinner menu both served with fries. [J] Now known as Aria Café and Bar at Saint Kate hotel, as of 2019 the Big Boy goes for $15. [J]
*Mark's (Hyattsville, Maryland, 19601962?) A single unit existed at 3050 East-West Parkway, Hyattsville, which was a Ken's Big Boy in 1964.
*McDowell's (North Dakota, 19541960 independently as "Big Boy Drive-Inn", 1960+ as franchise, founded by Harley McDowell) A trademark infringement suit against McDowell was filed by Wian in 1959 ultimately resulting in a franchise agreement. Operates exclusively as a drive through. McDowell's name was dropped and the remaining store is now called the Bismarck, North Dakota, Bismarck Big Boy. Along with Big Boy hamburgers, the single restaurant sells flying pizza-burgers and french fries by the pound with chicken gravy. [L]
*Mr. B's (New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, 19631969, founded by Manfred Bernhard) Operated a restaurant in Keene, New Hampshire and Brattleboro, Vermont.
* Shap's (Chattanooga, Tennessee, 19591964?, founded by I. Shapiro, Pem Cooley, and E. D. Latimer) Franchised by Shoney's. Shap's was abbreviated for Shapiro's. Operated two small units in Chattanooga. Latimer bought out the other partners and changed the name to its franchisor's, Shoney's.
* Shoney's
Shoney's is an American restaurant chain headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. It operates restaurants in 17 states, primarily in the Southern United States, South with additional locations in the Midwest and lower Mid-Atlantic states.
Founder ...
/Parkette (Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina, West Virginia, Maryland, Missouri, New York, Philadelphia, PA, 19521984, founded by Alex Schoenbaum), Originally called the Parkette, in 1952 it became Parkette Big Boy Shoppes. An unrelated "Parkette Drive-In" had opened in Kentucky so in 1954, a public contest for a new name resulted in Parkette becoming Shoney's, which was also a reference to founder Alex "Shoney" Schoenbaum. Shoney's also subfranchised to Arnold's, Becker's, Elby's, Lendy's, Shap's, Tune's, and Yoda's.,[ ''Note: This includes ]
photograph
of an early 1960s Shoney's menu cover, which lists then current Shoney's Big Boy restaurants including self-named subfranchises in Shoney's territory.'' and many using the Shoney's name. Ray Danner, the Nashville Shoney's franchisee purchased the company in 1971 and five years later dropped Big Boy from the company name. In April 1984 Shoney's—by then the largest Big Boy franchisee with 392 units—paid $13 million to break its contract with Big Boy, allowing expansion into Frisch's and other franchisees' Big Boy territories.[. . .
*
* ] Schoenbaum became a member of the Big Boy Board of Directors. [M][P]
*Ted's (Rhode Island, 1964–?, founded by Edmund D. Fuller III)
*TJ's (Rochester, New York, Rochester, Batavia, New York, Batavia and Syracuse, New York, Syracuse, New York, 1972?, founded by Anthony T. Kolinski, John Gazda and John Giamartino) Grew to 9 stores by 1986. TJ's was purchased by Big Boy (Elias Brothers). Elias closed 4 stores in 1992 and sold one Syracuse store to a local investor. It closed 3 more Syracuse restaurants in 1994.
*Tops (Illinois, 19561993, founded by Lucian Frejlach) Operated primarily in the Chicago metropolitan area, suburbs of Chicago.[ Lists eight locations; six are in the Chicago metropolitan area: Norton Grove, La Grange, Aurora, Glen Ellyn, Downer's Grove, Berwyn, and the other two: Springfield, Jacksonville, are in central Illinois.] By 1974, the Chicago area stores became Marc's Big Boys, while the central Illinois units remained Tops. [Q]
*Tote's (Missouri, 1964–197?, founded by Edward R. Todtenbier) Todtenbier was a Frisch's franchisee in Anderson, Indiana, and planned to open 33 Tote's Big Boys in Missouri, 9 in the St. Louis area. In 1972 the Missouri Big Boy territory was reassigned to Shoney's. [U]
*Tune's (Philadelphia and Levittown, Pennsylvania, 1956–1963, founded by Jack Engel) In the mid to late 1950s Alex Schoenbaum seeded various franchises including Tune's. Two drive-in restaurants opened. By the early 1960s, the Levittown unit closed and the other was rebranded as Shoney's.
*Vip's (New Mexico, Texas, Wyoming, 19621982. founded by Daniel T. Hogan and James O'Conner) Vip's refers to two distinct restaurant chains. The Big Boy franchisee relevant here, ''Vip's Big Boy of New Mexico'', was acquired by JB's Big Boy in 1972 but continued using the Vip's name until rebranded in 1982. The other, VIP's (restaurant), Vip's Restaurants of Salem, Oregon, was ''not'' a Big Boy franchisee but sold units to JB's Big Boy, which operated them as Bob's Big Boy. The non-Big Boy, Salem-based chain had 53 locations at its peak, all sold and rebranded, including 35 to Denny's in 1982 and 16 to JB's in 1984. [R]
*Yoda's (Western Virginia, founded by Jack Young and Bill Schroeder) Young was Leonard Goldstein's (Lendy's) brother-in-law. Merged with Lendy's.
Outside the United States
Mady's Big Boy of Windsor, Ontario, was ''not'' a franchisee, though sometimes identified as one and using a similar looking mascot. In 1965 Bob Wian sued Mady's for trademark infringement but failed because (his) Big Boy was judged not widely known in Canada. The case is considered important in Canadian and international trademark law. In 1973 Elias Brothers bought Mady's and established an Elias Big Boy on Mady's original site. John Bitove, Sr.
John Louis Nicholas Bitove Sr., (born Lazar Nikola Bitov, mk, Лазар Никола Битов; 19 March 1928 – 30 July 2015) was a Macedonian Canadian businessman.
Biography
Early life
Bitove was born Lazar Nikola Bitov, in Toronto to M ...
owned the rights to Big Boy for the remainder of Canada, which he sold to Elias Brothers in 1979. During the mid to late 1980's there was one in Nassau, Bahamas.
Big Boy also operated (or planned to open) restaurants in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Brazil, the Philippines and Thailand.
Japan
Outside of North America, Big Boy Japan owns and operates 274 Big Boy Hamburger Steak & Grill Restaurants in Japan. Founded in 1977, Big Boy Japan now also operates 45 Victoria Station (restaurant), Victoria Station restaurants in Japan and is a subsidiary of Zensho Holdings, Zénsho Holdings Co., Ltd. The Japanese Big Boy Restaurants do not offer the Big Boy hamburger or most other American Big Boy menu items, offering a distinct menu instead. They also offer beer and wine. Zensho had purchased Big Boy Japan from the ailing Daiei in 2002 for 8.65 billion yen. Like Frisch, Big Boy Japan operates independently of the Big Boy Restaurant Group.
Southeast Asia and Western Pacific
In 2019, Singapore-based Destination Eats signed a franchise agreement with the Big Boy Restaurant Group to initially open restaurants in Thailand, and later in Australia, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, and the Philippines. In May 2020, the first Thai Big Boy restaurant opened in Bangkok, operated as a delivery only service due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A second restaurant was opened in Pattaya in October 2020. The company is obligated to open 70 restaurants in its overall territory.
A previous franchise briefly operated at the beginning of the 21st century with three Big Boy restaurants in Bangkok and one in the southern beach town of Pattaya, but the business ultimately failed because the native Thai customers did not understand nor appreciate American-style food at that time. The restaurants adapted the menu to local tastes. Some Thai customers regarded the Big Boy statues as religious icons or had superstitions about them.
Big Boy Restaurants International
The previous Michigan-based owner of the Big Boy chain, which chiefly franchised previous Elias Brothers Big Boy restaurants in Michigan, has suffered a gradual loss of franchised restaurants. About 175 Big Boys existed in July 2006, compared to 76 in July 2019.
On April 16, 2017, the last Big Boy restaurant in the city of Detroit closed. The Big Boy in Fenton, Michigan, was expected to close in 2017. Both properties have been sold to developers. Likewise, in 2016, the Jackson, Michigan, Big Boy closed after the site was purchased by a developer.
Other franchisees simply left the Big Boy chain. In April 2017, the Danville, Illinois, Danville Big Boy, the only unit in Illinois, dropped Big Boy and rebranded as the Border Cafe. In 2016 both the Ann Arbor, Michigan, restaurant (on North Zeeb Road) and the restaurant in Houghton Lake, Michigan continued to operate but not as Big Boy restaurants.[. . .
*
* ] The Tecumseh, Michigan, Tecumseh and Alma, Michigan restaurants announced they will allow their franchise agreements to expire on November 1, 2017 and early 2018, respectively, and both will continue to operate independently. The Marine City, Michigan Big Boy closed in February 2018, to reopen independently by a new owner. However, in the same month, Big Boy added a new franchisee, an existing restaurant reopening as a Big Boy, in Woodhaven, Michigan. In April 2018, the Coldwater, Michigan location closed, media sources noting multiple health code violations and poor customer reviews.
Company-owned restaurants have also closed for under-performance.
Big Boy Restaurant Group
In 2018, Big Boy was sold to a group of Michigan investors and renamed Big Boy Restaurant Group.
In August 2020, a partnership was announced with Terrible Herbst to expand into Southern Nevada. On November 8, 2020, the first Big Boy restaurant opened in Indian Springs, Nevada. A second Big Boy opened in May 2022 in the Centennial Hills neighborhood of Las Vegas; called Big Boy Tavern, it includes a bar and small casino area. In June 2021, it was reported that a Big Boy restaurant will open on July 14, 2021 in Germantown, Wisconsin, a Milwaukee suburb. The franchisees will also operate two Big Boy food trucks and plan to open additional Big Boy restaurants in southeastern Wisconsin over a three year period. The grand opening was pushed back to July 21 due to equipment shipping delays.
Big Boy Restaurants International tried a new fast casual restaurant, fast casual concept known as Big Boy's Burgers and Shakes. The restaurant opened in 2016 in Mayfield Heights, Ohio, operated in strip mall instead of a larger traditional stand-alone building. The restaurant was closed by January 2020.
In November 2020, the Big Boy restaurant in Sandusky, Michigan was stripped of its franchise when it refused to comply with Michigan's COVID-19 in Michigan, COVID-19 restrictions. It now operates as Sandusky Family Diner.
See also
* List of hamburger restaurants
* List of casual dining restaurant chains
* List of franchises
Notes
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
; Official Big Boy company sites
Big Boy Restaurant Group
Frisch's Big Boy Restaurants
Big Boy (Restaurants) Japanpartial English translation by Google
Bob's Big Boy Restaurant, Burbank, CA
Bismarck Big Boy, Bismarck, ND
Wisconsin Big Boy, Germantown, WI
Big Boy Thailand
; Other sites
* The Elby's (Big Boy) Empire. Par
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[https://web.archive.org/web/20150104130417/http://www.googieart.com/Main03.htm for Azar's Big Boy
for Frisch's Big Boy
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