The Big Boy name, concept, menu, and mascot were originally licensed to a wide number of regional franchise holders. 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, 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 many others.
Each regional franchisee typically operated a central commissary, which prepared or processed foods and sauces to be shipped fresh to their restaurants. [1] [2] [3] [4] However, some items might be prepared at the restaurants daily, such as soups and breading of seafood and onion rings.
Through the 1950s and 1960s, the emphasis changed from drive-in restaurant 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 menus 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 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 and Burger King. Big Boy built its last drive-in in 1964, and by 1976, only 5 of the chain's 930 restaurants offered curb service. [5] 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 that offered a limited menu. Sometimes called drive-ins, these junior stores did not use carhops. [6] [7] [8] In 1993, Marc's Big Boy similarly developed Big Boy Express stores using dual drive-thrus and no interior dining area. [9] Two Express stores were built, offered for sale a year later and closed in 1995. [10] [11]
Several franchises also held Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises and sold that chicken in their Big Boy restaurants; these included Marc's, [12] McDowell's, [13] [14] 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 [15] or Country Cousin Chicken. [16] Franchises who resisted the change were forced to remove Kentucky Fried Chicken menu items and physically relocate those operations. [14] However, Marriott sold "Pappy Parker Fried Chicken" in Bob's Big Boys; [17] the Marriott owned brand was also sold in the company's Hot Shoppes and Roy Rogers Restaurants, [18] [19] and later Marriott Hotel Restaurants. [20]
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 that allowed not only additional drive-ins but also operators to build modern restaurants with large, pleasant dining rooms. Many of the early successful franchisees would 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. [21] 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 agreements 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. [22] 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, Elby's, Lendy's, Shap's, Tune's, and Yoda's. [23] [24] (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. 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 now owns the "Big Boy" name in a defined four-state region, and its franchisee Azar closed in 2020. Bob's is a 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, [25] only generally realized by Big Boy Restaurants International after 2000. [26] This was intended to strengthen the trademark but also prevent defections, such as happened with Shoney's Big Boy retaining identity as Shoney's. [27] [28] 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. [29]
Unlike most modern franchises, the historic Big Boy franchisees differed somewhat from one another in pricing 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. [30]
Big Boy restaurants were co-branded 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:
The parent franchisor company has changed over the system's lifetime: it was Bob's Big Boy from 1936 to 1967, first as an independent company, then under Marriott Corporation ownership after 1967; then Elias Brothers' Big Boy until 2000. Since 2001, control of the trademark in the U.S. has been split into two territories, between Big Boy Restaurants in most of the United States, and Frisch's Big Boy as an independent entity in a few states in the Midwest. Additionally, Big Boy Japan operates independently of the Big Boy Restaurant Group.
Bob's operated in 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. JB's Big Boy purchased Bob's in Nevada and Arizona. 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. [A]
Elias Brothers operated in Michigan, Northeastern Ohio, Ontario, Canada, 1952–2000, 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, which would become the first Elias Brothers Big Boy. Considered the "first official franchisee" because they were the first to apply to Bob Wian formally. [31] : 111 They 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. [32] [F]
As of April 2024, Big Boy Restaurant Group operates 55 total locations in the United States: 51 "Big Boy" branded restaurants in Michigan, Nevada, North Dakota, and Ohio; and four additional locations in California branded as "Bob's Big Boy". [33] One Big Boy location also operates in Thailand. [34]
Frisch's operates in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and owns rights to most of Tennessee. It operated in Florida until the early 1990s, 1947+, founded by David Frisch.
The Cincinnati 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 31 Big Boys, all of which are franchised. 11 are franchised to other owners, while the rest are franchised to either Don Short or Cheryl White, current managers of the company. 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. [35] On August 24, 2015, Frisch's was sold to an Atlanta-based private equity fund, ending family ownership and control of the chain. [36] [37] [X]
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 restaurants in Japan and is a subsidiary of Zénsho Holdings Co., Ltd. [38] [39] [40] 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. [41] They also offer beer and wine. [41] Zensho had purchased Big Boy Japan from the ailing Daiei in 2002 for 8.65 billion yen. [42] [43] Like Frisch, Big Boy Japan operates independently of the Big Boy Restaurant Group. [44]
Mady's Big Boy of Windsor, Ontario, was not a franchisee, though sometimes identified as one and using a similar looking mascot. [168] 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. [169] In 1973 Elias Brothers bought Mady's and established an Elias Big Boy on Mady's original site. [170] John Bitove Sr. owned the rights to Big Boy for the remainder of Canada, which he sold to Elias Brothers in 1979. [127] During the mid to late 1980's there was one in Nassau, Bahamas.
His original capital was $300...
That sense of pride fills the Frisch's Commissary, where workers prepare everything from pie crusts to sandwich spices and fresh hamburgers that will be shipped out to Frisch's 93 restaurants in Columbus, Dayton, Louisville, Lexington and of course, Cincinnati.
Then came the expansion outside West Virginia with franchised stores. Before 1956, Shoney's restaurants were operating in Richmond, Salem, Hampton, Norfolk and Newport News, Va., Rochester, N. Y., Philadelphia, Chattanooga, Charlotte and Wheeling [WV]... [I]n 1958, the expansion continued. Three openings were held in Roanoke, one in Lynchburg, and five in Nashville.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.
In West Virginia... Elby's of Wheeling - 2 locations, Elby's of Moundsville... In Virginia... Lendy's of Roanoke, Lendy's of Lynchburg, Yoda's of RoanokeNote: This includes a 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.
[T]he entire chain is being united under the Big Boy name, which means our Elby's name, as well as all other franchise names, will eventually be phased out...The chain is also moving toward a consistent core menu. This means that all Big Boys across the country will offer the same basic items, along with certain regional favorites.
The Elias Brothers sign at the corner of Grand Blanc Road and Saginaw Street in Grand Blanc comes down after more than 30 years. [T]he national Big Boy chain ... no longer wants to be referred to as Elias Brothers, and it wants all of its signs to have the same look.
[A]ll restaurants in the chain will operate under the Big Boy name with standardized menus across the nation. Individual franchise names will be phased out gradually.
(page 75) On a plane trip to Keene, New Hampshire ... to visit with [Big Boy] franchisee Manfred Bernhard, creator of the Big Boy Comic Book. ... Manfred greeted us at the plane in his car, loaded us in, and we drove in an opposite direction to his restaurant, Mr. 'B's'.
Toledo brothers Milton & David Bennett purchased the franchise rights to build and operate Frisch's Big Boy restaurants in Northwest Ohio. Bennett Enterprises owns and operates 13 family-style restaurants with drive-thru service under the name Frisch's Big Boy.
[T]he Abdows bought their Big Boy franchise in 1963... The Abdows are scheduled to open their 16th Big Boy restaurant and sixth in Connecticut on Route 44 in Avon on Monday.
Eat'n Park dropped the Big Boy franchise in 1975Part 1
[Elby's] includes 70 restaurants In West Virginia, Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and Maryland.
Then came the expansion outside West Virginia with franchised stores. Before 1956, Shoney's restaurants were operating in Richmond, Salem, Hampton, Norfolk and Newport News, Va., Rochester, N. Y., Philadelphia, Chattanooga, Charlotte and Wheeling [WV]... [I]n 1958, the expansion continued. Three openings were held in Roanoke, one in Lynchburg, and five in Nashville.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.
In West Virginia... Elby's of Wheeling - 2 locations, Elby's of Moundsville... In Virginia... Lendy's of Roanoke, Lendy's of Lynchburg, Yoda's of RoanokeNote: This includes a 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.
Shoney's, ironically, ... has never been in Columbus because of restrictions imposed by the Big Boy system, of which Shoney's was once a member. West Virginia-based Elby's also was once a Big Boy franchise.
The nine units consist of seven in Columbus and one each in Newark and Heath.
In May [Boury Enterprises] dropped the Shoney's franchise and converted six of the nine units to JT's Family Restaurants. It sold three closed restaurants to Shoney's.... Shoney's said that it plans to reopen in November, December and January the three stores it purchased.
In the late 1970s, Marvin Franklin changed 13 Elby's restaurants he owned in Pennsylvania and elsewhere on the East Coast into Franklin's Family Restaurants, with a menu similar to its predecessor.
Franklin's Family Restaurants (Formerly Elby's)
Several Elby's Restaurants have been changed to Franklin's Family Restaurants...
[A] court settlement ... resulted in cancellation of contracts between Elby's and Marvin Franklin... The U.S. District Court in Richmond, Va., has prohibited Franklin from using the registered trademarks "Elby's" and "Big Boy,".... In addition, Franklin's organization was directed to return all originals and copies of Elby's and Boury Inc.'s recipes, food formulas, manuals, bulletin books, advertising materials and other plan's to Elby's, .... Franklin's organization also agreed not to produce food products from Elby's and Boury Inc.'s recipes without substantial variation. Franklin and his organization agreed to pay "a substantial sum of money" to the Bourys as part of the Settlement.
... receive a coupon redeemable at any future date for a free "Big Ben" double decker hamburger at any Franklin's ...
Marvin Franklin Enterprises, Inc. ... alleges that ... a new Elby's Big Boy restaurant next to Franklin's in Chinchilla would hurt the appearance of Franklin's and damage employee morale. Marvin Franklin, ... testified that construction of a new and shiny restaurant and building next to us would make us look bad.
JB's Big JB's Big Boy Restaurants ... is licensed to operate in Utah, Idaho, Montana, Washington, South Dakota, Nevada, Nebraska, New Mexico, New Jersey, and in parts of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
In New Mexico, JB's operates as Vip's Big Boy and in Nevada as Bob's Big Boy, the same as Arizona.
A free Coca-Cola with every food order during our opening week. Just clip the Marc's symbol from this ad and turn it in with your order.[ permanent dead link ]
Joe Smiley opened the Parkette [Drive-In] on November 11, 1951.... Joe created his own version of the Double-Decker hamburger called the 'Poor Boy'. Joe brought this burger idea with him from West Virginia.
Our company is quite diversified within the food service business ... We believe the new name is less restrictive and more appropriate to the broader operations we have developed
Shoney's started expanding outside of its franchise territory in 1982 by opening coffee shops without Big Boy markings in neighboring states. A fellow Big Boy franchisee sued to stop the move, but after Shoney's won a favorable court ruling in March, Marriott quickly agreed to scrap the franchise agreement for $13 million in cash.
...briefly known as Adler's Big Boy (Abe Adler of Lynchburg sold the business to Leonard Goldstein of Roanoke within a year or so of building and opening the restaurant).
Azar's was started in Fort Wayne in 1953...
Since the first Big Boy opened in Fort Wayne in May of 1954, Azar's Restaurants and their chubby little mascot with the checkered pants have become a familiar sight in Northern Indiana and Colorado.
975 Ridge Rd. East, 1280 Buffalo Rd.... 814 Brown St., 2947 Monroe Ave.
The Johnson family continued to run the business until 1959 ... When the Johnson's left the business, they sold out to the Becker family of Rochester who owned the "Big Boy" franchise restaurants. They had successful restaurants in Buffalo, but for whatever reason, they never re-opened the former drive-in at the circle. It is believed that they tried to expand too fast and fell on hard financial times.
The restaurant was constructed in the early 1970s, according to city building records. For a time, it was a Bud's Big Boy restaurant before becoming JB's.
Designed for the chain of coffee shops started by Kenneth Bemis
The first California-style drive-in in the Cleveland area, Manners Drive In, opened in 1939 (17655 Lake Shore Blvd.). It operated 7 days a week, 24 hours a day and was opened by Robert L. and Mona Manners. Manners introduced the double-decker hamburger in 1954. By 1964 there were 30 Manners Big Boy Restaurants in northeast Ohio ... In 1968 Manners merged with Consolidated Food Corp. of Chicago. In 1974 Marriott purchased 39 Manners Drive Ins from Consolidated Foods.... In 1995 the Big Boy Corp. was operating under the Elias Big Boy name.
Elias Brothers Restaurants Inc.... has agreed to purchase the 26 Bob's Big Boy outlets in Northeast Ohio from owner and Big Boy franchiser Mariott Corp.... Mariott purchased the Northeast Ohio Big Boy outlets, then under the name of Manners Big Boy Restaurants, from Chicago- based Consolidated Foods Corp. in the mid-1970s.
Manford Bernhard, [is] owner of the franchise for the Big Boy restaurants in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.
...he opened Ted's Big Boy Restaurants in 1964. He ran them until he bought Gregg's in Warwick in 1972.
...Rhode Island's own Ted Fuller was opening a spanking new BIG BOY Restaurant in Cranston, R. I.
Big Boys at 1405 E. Ridge Road, Irondequoit, and 1601 Penfield Road, Penfield, are closed ... Elias Brothers' Big Boy Division also closed two stores in the Syracuse area.
Alex Schoenbaum ... was in to look over the 50th unit in his chain of Shoney's restaurant drive-in at Cottman Ave. and Roosevelt Blvd. Shoney's first move in linking forces with local operator Jack Engel was a remodeling and expansion of the dining room facilities.
...Shoney's Restaurant (formerly Tunes Big Boy) Roosevelt Blvd. at Cottman
VIP's Big Boy restaurants of New Mexico, Inc. today announced a merger with the Big Boy restaurant organization in El Paso, which will serve as headquarters for expansion throughout West Texas. ... The firm has taken over a restaurant at 8409 Dyer Street formerly known as Kip's Big Boy Restaurant.
Commenting on the name change from Vip's Big Boy to JB's Big Boy, Clark D. Jones, president of the Salt Lake City-based restaurant chain, said it was done with several new changes in the restaurants and to add more cohesiveness to the operation of the company.