JB's Family Restaurants was a chain of

restaurants A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

located in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...

and

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

. The company was based in

Tempe, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Vale of Tempe , image_skyline = Tempeskyline3.jpg , imagesize = 260px , image_caption = Tempe skyline as se ...

and had 104 JB's branded restaurants at its height in 1995.

History

Big Boy beginnings

JB's Family Restaurants was founded in 1961 by Jack M. Broberg as JB's Big Boy, a

Big Boy restaurants Big Boy Restaurant Group, LLC is an American restaurant chain store, chain headquartered in Warren, Michigan, Warren, Michigan. Frisch's Big Boy Restaurants is a restaurant chain with its headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Big Boy name, desi ...

affiliate, in Provo, Utah. The first JB's Big Boy opened there on November 21, 1961. Broberg chose the location because many students at

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...

in Provo came from Southern California where Big Boy was popular, as well as the need for a family restaurant in the Provo area. In 1963, the holding company was renamed JB's Big Boy Family Restaurants, Inc. The company became public in July 1971 and its stock quickly sold out at its first offering. In the 1970s JB's expanded by acquiring neighboring Big Boy franchisees: Vip's, Leo's, Kebo's, and Bud's; and the subfranchisee: Bob's Big Boy of Arizona. In 1970 JB's became the Big Boy franchisor in New Jersey and built five restaurants in the state, but in 1975 it sold the territory and stores to the Marriott Corp. who

rebranded Rebranding is a marketing strategy in which a new name, term, symbol, design, concept or combination thereof is created for an established brand with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investors ...

them 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 ...

s. The sale funded expansion in the

western US The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

. By the 1980s JB's sought additional franchise territory in the western US. After the Marriott Corp. – then owner of the Big Boy system – 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, and Oregon, where (as in Washington, Nevada and Arizona) it operated as

; JB's also purchased 29 existing Bob's Big Boy restaurants from Marriott. Citing the sale of Big Boy to Elias Brothers, in 1988 JB's allowed its Big Boy franchise to expire, removing 110 units from the Big Boy system.

Diversification and later separation from Big Boy

In 1984, JB's purchased 16 restaurants from the Salem, Oregon-based VIP's chain. At that time, JB's Restaurants was based in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

and had 80 restaurants, excluding the new acquisitions. In 1988 JB's dropped Big Boy, allowing its franchise agreement to lapse after Marriott sold the Big Boy chain. In 1995, the holding company changed its name to Summit Family Restaurants Inc. just before selling itself to

CKE Restaurants CKE Restaurants Holdings (an acronym from Carl Karcher Enterprises) is an American fast food corporation and is the parent organization for the Carl's Jr., Hardee's, Green Burrito, and Red Burrito brands. CKE Restaurants is a subsidiary of the pr ...

for $34.5 million in cash and stock. At the time of the sale, Summit had operated or franchised 104 JB's family-style restaurants, six Galaxy Diners and 16 HomeTown Buffet restaurants. In 1998, CKE sold JB's Family Restaurants Inc., to Santa Barbara Restaurant Group for one million shares of Santa Barbara's common stock. In March 2000,

Santa Barbara Restaurant Group Santa Barbara Restaurant Group was a restaurant holding company and was the parent company for the ''Green Burrito'', ''La Salsa'', ''JB's Restaurants'', and the '' Timber Lodge Steakhouse'' restaurant chain. The ''Santa Barbara Restaurant Group' ...

sold JB's Family Restaurants to a group led by Lynn Whiteford, the chief operating officer for JB's. The sale includes 52 company-owned JB's as well as 29 franchised units. On March 9, 2011, JB's Family Restaurants filed for bankruptcy. At the time of the bankruptcy filing, JB's Family Restaurants had operated seven corporate restaurants and had 15 franchised restaurants in six Western states after closing 26 other locations. In 2019, JB's Family Restaurants again declared bankruptcy, leading to the closure of its last remaining Galaxy Diner in Flagstaff, Arizona. JB's subsequently sold Galaxy to the diner's manager, Will Pillen, and the diner reopened in August 2020. In June 2019, the company abruptly closed the doors of all of its restaurants and deactivated its website. Other than the Galaxy Diner, no evidence can be found if any of the JB's restaurants had reopened after the 2019 bankruptcy filing. The last two remaining JB's currently operate in Salt Lake City, Utah at 102 W S Temple, and in Rexburg, Idaho at 150 W. Main Street.

Notes

References

External links