Bill Gray's is a chain of restaurants based in

Webster, New York Webster is a town in the northeastern corner of Monroe County, New York, United States. The town is named after orator and statesman Daniel Webster. The population was 42,641 at the 2010 census. The town's motto is "Where Life Is Worth Living." ...

(a suburb of

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

) that currently has 14 restaurants in the Rochester area in

western New York Western New York (WNY) is the westernmost region of the U.S. state of New York. The eastern boundary of the region is not consistently defined by state agencies or those who call themselves "Western New Yorkers". Almost all sources agree WNY in ...

, including seven tap room-style restaurants, and one tavern-style grill named Flaherty's. Ten of these locations also sell

Abbott's Frozen Custard Abbott's Frozen Custard is a frozen custard franchise founded and based in Rochester, New York. The franchise has stores throughout New York state, and has expanded to other states including Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts,Elizabeth Navisky"Co ...

History

In 1938, Bill and Alberta Gray began selling

hot dog A hot dog (uncommonly spelled hotdog) is a food consisting of a grilled or steamed sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced Hot dog bun, bun. The term hot dog can refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener (Vienna sausag ...

s in Webster. Within a few years, Bill Gray's expanded and added multiple items to its menu. Local businessman Bruce Hegedorn became a partner with Bill Gray in the early 1960s. With Bill as the head of operations and store management and Bruce as the financial person and location expert, they continued to expand and build the restaurant chain. They acquired competitor

Tom Wahl's Tom Wahl's is a chain of fast-food restaurants based in the Rochester, New York area that currently has several restaurants around the Finger Lakes region. USA Today named it one of "51 great burger joints across the USA" in 2010. The restaura ...

in 1986.

Restaurants

Bill Gray's mostly operates stand-alone restaurants in

Monroe County, New York Monroe County is a county in the Finger Lakes region of the State of New York. The county is along Lake Ontario's southern shore. At the 2020 census, Monroe County's population was 759,443, an increase since the 2010 census. Its county seat an ...

and

Erie County, New York Erie County is a county along the shore of Lake Erie in western New York State. As of the 2020 census, the population was 954,236. The county seat is Buffalo, which makes up about 28% of the county's population. Both the county and Lake Erie w ...

. Exceptions are the facility in the

Strong National Museum of Play The Strong National Museum of Play (known as just The Strong Museum or simply the Strong) is part of The Strong in Rochester, New York, United States. Established in 1969 and based initially on the personal collection of Rochester native Margaret ...

(Bill Gray's at the Skyliner), and the combined restaurant and sports bar in

Bill Gray's Regional Iceplex Bill Gray's Regional Iceplex is a non-profit indoor athletics facility in the Rochester, New York suburb of Brighton. Located on the campus of Monroe Community College, the arena was built in 1998. It is home to four regulation-size ice rinks ...

. File:Bill Gray's flagship location.jpg, Bill Gray's restaurant in

Henrietta, New York Henrietta is a town in Monroe County, New York, United States and a suburb of Rochester. The population of Henrietta is 47,096, according to the 2020 United States Census. Henrietta is home to the Rochester Institute of Technology and to one of t ...

Image:Bill Gray's typical fare.JPG, A Bill Gray's 1/4 pound

white hot The white hot is a variation on the hot dog found primarily in the Rochester, NY area, as well as other parts of Western New York and Central New York. It is composed of a combination of uncured and unsmoked pork, beef, and veal; the lack of sm ...

served "Bill's Favorite"-style

References

External links

Official website
*http://rocwiki.org/Bill_Gray's {{City of Rochester, NY Companies based in Monroe County, New York Western New York Fast-food chains of the United States Regional restaurant chains in the United States Restaurants established in 1938 1938 establishments in New York (state)