🠈 Big Boys 🠊
Big Boy's
Big Boy Restaurant is a chain of burger restaurants that currently has 77 locations in the US and 279 restaurants in Japan.
The chain is extremely interesting in that it allowed co-branding and many of the co-branded restaurants became chains on their own right. Many of the franchises also had KFC franchises in the same building.
The Big Boy Franchise family included the following stores: Abdow's, Arnold's, Azar's, Becker's, Bob's, Bud's, Chez Chap, Don's, Eat'n Park, Elby's, Elias Brothers, Franklin's, Frejlach's, Frisch's, JB's, Kebo's, Ken's, Kip's, Lendy's, Leo's, Manner's, Marc's, McDowell's, Mr. B's, Shap's, Shoney's, Ted's, TJ's, Tops, Tote's, Tune's, Vip's and Yoda's. I don't have the time to review them all.
- 1936: Bob Wian opened Bob's Pantry in Glendale, California.
- 1936: Bob's introduced the Big Boy Hamburger and became franchising the hamburger.
- 1946: Frisch's Big Boy became the first Big Boy Franchise.
History of Frisch's
Frisch's Big Boy (frischs.com) became the first Big Boy's franchise. He was given a four state territory for $1 so that Big Boys could establish an national Trademark. Frisch's mascot and its recipe are different from the original.
- 1905: Samuel Frisch opened the Frisch Cafe in Cincinnati, Ohio.
- 2015:,National Restaurant Development (NRD) acquired Frisch's for approximately $175.
- 1956: Big Boy started the Adventures of Big Boy comic book.
- 1967: Marriott Corporation, which was the largest franchise holder acquired Big Boy.
- 1979: The chain had over a thousand restaurants.
- 1984: Shoney's, which had 392 restaurants, bought out its franchise agreement from Marriott for $13 million
Shoney's Restaurant History
Shoney's became the largest Big Boy franchise. It eventually dropped the franchise and continues on as an independent chain primarily in the South.
- 1947: Alex Schoenbaum opened the Parkette Drive-In next to his father’s bowling alley in Charleston, West Virginia.
- 1951: Company became a Big Boy Franchise.
- 1954: Company changed its name to Shoney's Big Boy.
- 1959: Ray Danner opened a Shoney's Big Boy Franchise in Nashville.
- 1969: Danner's group went public with the name Danner's Food.
- 1969: Danner started the Mr. D's chain of restaurants.
- 1971: Danner bought Shoney's.
- 1974: Danner changed Mr. D's to Captain D's (captainds.com) which sells fish and chips.
- 1975: Shoney's started a hotel chain.
- 1976: company changed its name to Shoney's, Inc. and began removing "Big Boy" from its properties.
- 1984: Shoney's bought out its franchise from Marriott.
- 1991: Shoney's sold it hotel chain.
- 1998: Shoney's had 1,300 franchised restaurants in 34 states.
- 2000: Shoney's filed chapter 11 and dropped to 292.
- 2000: David Davoudpour acquired the chain.
- 1987: Elias Brothers, purchased the chain from Marriott and began restricting use of the brand.
- 1988: JB Big Boys (est 1961) split from the brand and became JB's Restaurant.
- 1996: Big Boys stopped publishing the comic book.
References:
- Wikipedia - Shoney's (Drawn 10/8/2018)
- Wikipedia - Big Boy's (Drawn 10/8/2018)