Industry | Restaurant |
---|---|
Founded | c. 1969 |
Founder | Al Lapin Jr. |
Headquarters | United States |
Area served |
|
Services | Restaurant |
House of Pies is an American restaurant chain, started c. 1965 by Al Lapin Jr., an early franchise system designer and founder of International Industries Inc. who was also responsible for International House of Pancakes, Copper Penny Coffee Shops, Orange Julius, and others. [1] [2] [3]
Specializing in many different flavors of pie available for dessert, the chain was popular up through 1976 when it was sold by IHOP Corporation (International Industries successor), to Robert Herndon, who eventually downsized the chain's locations. By c. 1986 the franchise chain filed for bankruptcy and closed most of its locations, but some individually owned and operated restaurants kept the House of Pies name and logo. Seven restaurants remain: one in Los Angeles, California, and six in the Greater Houston, Texas, area. Another location in Los Angeles was scheduled to open in 2022, but has been delayed. [4]
The first House of Pies was launched in 1965 in California. The restaurant then opened its next location in Houston at 3112 Kirby Dr., followed by the second Houston location at 142 Westheimer Rd., both of which still exist today. House of Pies claims it first opened in Houston in 1967, but records from Houston Historic Retail and Houston Post archives show 1970 as the actual starting year (for both the Kirby and Westheimer locations). [3]
The chain, specializing in family dining, continued to expand and there were 32 locations in the greater Los Angeles area alone by 1971. The locations were known for their bright white building with pink trim and their circular sign which featured a house with the symbol for pi in it and the text "a unique coffee shop." The menu offered more than 60 varieties of pies. [2]
In 1971, eight franchisees filed a class action lawsuit against International Industries. They claimed anti-trust violations involving price fixing and restricting their source of supplies which International denied. However, the parent company eventually reached a private settlement with the franchisees and lost $62 million dollars in that year. [2]
In August of 1973, Lapin stepped down as CEO and president but remained as chairman of International Industries. Later that year, due to financial trouble, the company sold off House of Pies and other restaurants, including Copper Penny Family Coffee Shops and Wil Wright's Ice Cream Parlors. Franchisees were then left to operate independently or close, and several continued under the name House of Pies. By 1980, the Los Feliz location was the only one left operating under that name in Los Angeles. The Houston locations remained open and continued to grow. [2] [3]
In the late 1980s, the Khalaf family purchased the Houston locations from Dave Herndon and continues to operate the six locations in the Greater Houston area. They serve over 40 different pies and cakes at every restaurant, using the original recipes. They are known for the Bayou Goo pie, which has sweet cream cheese, crushed pecans, and a chocolate/vanilla custard topped with whipped cream, chocolate shavings, and powdered sugar. They also offer nationwide pie delivery. [5]
House of Pies is mentioned in the episode "Cowboys and Iranians" during Will & Grace 's eighth season in 2006. While reading the resume of a prospective employee from Iran, Grace Adler comments that she had "no idea they had House of Pies in Tehran".
The founders of Compaq are reported to have made initial plans on a placemat at a House of Pies in Houston. [6]
Natalie Portman shot scenes for the film No Strings Attached in the Los Angeles location 2010. [7]
Marie Callender's is an American restaurant chain. Its headquarters are in the Marie Callender's Corporate Support Center in Mission Viejo, Orange County, California. As of April 2024, the company operates 24 locations in California, Idaho, Nevada, and Utah.
Planet Hollywood International Inc. is a themed restaurant chain inspired by the popular portrayal of Hollywood. The company is owned by Earl Enterprises corporation. Earl Enterprises was founded by Robert Earl.
Graeter's is a regional ice cream chain based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1870 by Louis C. Graeter, the company has since expanded to 56 retail locations selling ice cream, candy and baked goods in the Midwestern United States. It further distributes its ice cream to 6,000 stores throughout the country. As of 2017, the company had 1,050 employees and $60 million in revenue.
The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is an American coffee chain founded in 1963. It is owned and operated by International Coffee & Tea, LLC, which has its corporate headquarters in Los Angeles, California.
Fosters Freeze is a chain of fast-food restaurants in California. Its first location, on La Brea Avenue in Inglewood, California, was opened by George Foster in 1946 and is still operating.
The Marriott Corporation was a hospitality company that operated from 1927 until 1993. It was founded by J. Willard Marriott and Frank J. Kimball as Hot Shoppes, Inc. In 1957, it opened its first hotel in Arlington County, Virginia, the Marriott Motor Hotel.
Bob's Big Boy is a casual dining restaurant chain founded by Bob Wian in Southern California in 1936, originally named Bob's Pantry. The chain's signature product is the Big Boy hamburger, which Wian created six months after opening his original location. Slicing a bun into three slices and adding two hamburger patties, Wian is credited with creating the original double-decker hamburger.
Dine Brands Global Inc. is a publicly traded food and beverage company based in Pasadena, California. Founded in 1958 as IHOP, it operates franchised and corporate owned full-service restaurants including three restaurant concepts, Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar, International House of Pancakes (IHOP), and Fuzzy's Taco Shop.
IHOP Restaurants LLC is an American multinational pancake house restaurant chain that specializes in American breakfast foods. It is owned by Dine Brands—a company formed after IHOP's purchase of Applebee's, with 99% of the restaurants run by independent franchisees.
Jollibee Foods Corporation is a Philippine multinational company headquartered in Pasig, Metro Manila, Philippines. JFC is the owner of the fast food brand Jollibee.
La Salsa is a chain of fast-casual Tex Mex restaurants founded in Los Angeles, California in 1979, headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona and is owned by Canadian franchisor MTY Food Group. The chain emphasizes fresh ingredients, and each restaurant features a self-serve salsa bar.
W.W. "Biff" Naylor is a retired restaurant owner in Los Angeles, California. He was born in Oakland, California in 1939 and graduated from Pennsylvania State University. His father W.W. “Tiny” Naylor started Tiny's Waffle Shops in Central California in the 1920s, and operated a chain of more than 40 Tiny Naylor's and Biff's restaurants in Southern California. Biff Naylor took over operations of Tiny Naylor's after his father's death in 1959 and was still operating at least one location in 1999. The Biff's restaurant chain of the 1940s was a "forerunner to all the modern coffee shops," Naylor told the San Jose Mercury News in 2016. Those restaurants employed modern architecture in the googie style, and innovations that would be adopted widely through the restaurant industry including open exhibition cooking kitchen, stainless steel counters, refrigerated pie cases, and plate "lowerators" that warmed or cooled plates as needed. In 2017 Los Angeles magazine food critic Patric Kuh called the longtime restaurant operator "Diner royalty". Saveur magazine wrote that Biff Naylor created "The best damn coffee shops ever" in their "Saveur 100" list
Lauretta Jean's is a bakery and pie shop with two locations in Portland, Oregon, United States. Baker and owner Kate McMillen started the business as a stall at the Portland Farmers Market, before opening a brick and mortar shop in downtown Portland in 2011. A second shop opened in southeast Portland's Richmond neighborhood in 2012. The business has garnered a positive reception and was included in Thrillist's 2021 list of the nation's 25 best pie shops.
General Porpoise is a chain of doughnut shops in the United States. The business has multiple locations in Seattle and previously operated in Los Angeles.
{{cite book}}
: |work=
ignored (help){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link)