| Big Boy | |
|---|---|
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| Type | Restaurant |
| Founded | 1936 |
| Headquarters | Warren, Michigan |
| Key people | Bob Wian, Founder Tony Michaels, CEO |
| Industry | casual dining restaurant |
| Website | www.bigboy.com |
Big Boy is a restaurant chain started in 1936 by Bob Wian in Glendale, California as Bob's Big Boy. Year 1936 ( MCMXXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Warren is a city in Macomb County in the US state of Michigan. Robert C "Bob" Wian ( 15 June 1914 - 31 March 1992) was the founder of the Big Boy restaurant chain. For other uses of this term see Industry (disambiguation An industry (from Latin industrius, "diligent industrious" There are various types of Restaurants. Restaurants fall into several industry classification based upon menu style preparation methods and pricing A restaurant is a retail establishment that serves prepared Food to Customers. A website (alternatively web site or Web site, a back-construction from the Proper noun World Wide Web) is a collection of Web pages Chain stores are Retail outlets that share a Brand and central management and usually have standardized business methods and practices Robert C "Bob" Wian ( 15 June 1914 - 31 March 1992) was the founder of the Big Boy restaurant chain. Glendale ( is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Marriott bought the chain in 1967. Marriott International Inc ( is a worldwide operator and Franchisor of a range of value and luxury Hotels and related Lodging facilities. One of the larger franchise operators, Elias Brothers, purchased the chain from Marriott, in 1987, moving the headquarters of the company to Warren, Michigan, and operating it until declaring bankruptcy, in 2000. Big Boy is a restaurant chain started in 1936 by Bob Wian in Glendale California, as Bob's Big Boy. Warren is a city in Macomb County in the US state of Michigan. Bankruptcy is a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organization to pay their Creditors Creditors may file a bankruptcy petition against Following the bankruptcy, the chain was sold to investor Robert Liggett Jr. See Investor AB for the Swedish investment company An investor is any party that makes an Investment. , the current company CEO, who renamed the company Big Boy Restaurants International, and kept the headquarters in Warren. Big Boy is a restaurant chain started in 1936 by Bob Wian in Glendale California, as Bob's Big Boy. The company is the franchiser for more than 455 Big Boy Restaurants in the United States and Canada. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page
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Origin
The chain is best-known for its trademark chubby boy in red-and white-checked pants with suspenders holding a double-decker cheeseburger. A cheeseburger is a Hamburger accompanied with melted Cheese. The inspiration for Big Boy's name, as well as the model for its mascot, was Richard Woodruff (1932-1986), of Glendale, California. Richard Woodruff may refer to Richard Woodruff (1784&ndash1872 Upper Canada merchant and politician Richard Woodruff, the inspiration Glendale ( is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. When he was six years old, he walked into the diner Bob's Pantry as Bob Wian was attempting to name his new hamburger. Wian said, "Hello, Big Boy" to Woodruff, and the name stuck. Warner Bros. animation artist Ben Washam sketched Richards' caricature, which became the character seen on the company logo. Warner Bros Entertainment Inc (or Warner Bros, Warner Bros Pictures) is one of the world's largest producers of Film and Ben Washam (1915-1984 was an American Animator who worked at Warner Bros A caricature is either a Portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness or in literature a description This character would eventually also be featured in The Adventures of Big Boy comic book, produced as a promotional giveaway for children visiting the restaurant. Since 1997, the comic book has been produced by Craig Yoe's Yoe Studio.
The Big Boy sandwich is quite similar to the later Big Mac: two thin beef patties are placed on a three layer sesame seed bun, with lettuce, a single slice of cheese, and a thousand island-like sauce added. The Big Mac is a hamburger sold by the international Fast-food chain McDonald's. The chain also offers other sandwich combinations, such as the Brawny Lad (a hamburger patty topped with butter and a slice of onion on a rye bun), along with salads, dinner combinations and various desserts.
Regional franchises
In addition to the Bob's Big Boy name, the "Big Boy" concept, menu, and mascot were originally franchised to a wide number of regional franchise holders, listed below (with approximate original territory in parentheses). Of these, only Frisch's still maintains franchise rights to the "Big Boy" name, and many of the other former franchise owners (Shoney's, for example) have expanded into areas that were once the territory of another franchise holder, and the current Big Boy Restaurants International has been expanding its Bob's Big Boy name into territories formerly held by franchisees.
Unlike most modern franchises, the various restaurants differed somewhat from one another in terms of pricing and menu offerings.
- Abdow's (Massachusetts, Connecticut)
- Azar's (Northern Indiana, Colorado)
- Big Boy of Florida (Exclusive rights to the Central Florida territory was acquired by Irv Lichtenwald from 2006 through 2011 with the right to extend this franchise for 6 additional years)
- Bob's (California, Arizona, Nevada, Washington, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Northeastern Ohio, New York, New Jersey, as well as Indiana and Pennsylvania turnpike and airport locations operated in several states by the Marriott Corp. )
- Eat'n Park (metro Pittsburgh) dropped Big Boy in 1976. Eat'n Park is a Restaurant chain with locations in Western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and northern West Virginia.
- Elby's (West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio) owned the Big Boy rights to northern West Virginia, originally through Shoney's and quickly expanded Big Boy into bordering Ohio counties, subfranchised through Frisch's, and later expanded through Pennsylvania. A trademark battle with Frisch's over Ohio operations caused Elby's to drop Big Boy affiliation, to be followed by Shoney's et al.
- Elias Brothers (Michigan, Northeastern Ohio, Ontario, Canada)
- Thumb Area Big Boy Restaurants Bad Axe, Caro, Sandusky, Michigan. The Thumb is a region and a peninsula of Michigan, so named because the Lower Peninsula is shaped like a Mitten; thus The Thumb is the area that looks
- Frisch's (Ohio, Kentucky, S. Frisch's Big Boy is a regional restaurant chain from the Big Boy franchise Indiana, Florida until the early 1990s) the Cincinnati restaurant chain and first franchisee, began serving Big Boy hamburgers in 1946; Frisch's now operates 88 Big Boys & franchises 32 Big Boys to others. A hamburger (or burger) is a Sandwich consisting of a cooked ground Meat Patty, usually Beef, placed in a sliced bun or between They also franchise Golden Corrals in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky.
- JB's (Utah, Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, Wyoming, Washington, New Mexico, Kansas, Rhode Island)
- JB's (Canada) (Ontario and Alberta in the 1970s)
- Kebo's (Seattle & Tacoma, Washington area, no longer exists)
- Ken's (Maryland - suburban Washington DC, became Bob's late 1960s)
- Kip's (Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas)
- Lendy's (Western Virginia)
- Mady's (Windsor, Ontario, Canada)
- Manners (Northeastern Ohio)
- Marc's (Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois) were owned by the Marcus Corporation. Lendy's was a restaurant chain that was opened in Salem Virginia on November 2 1955 by Leonard Goldstein. The Marcus Corporation (is a Publicly held company with two divisions Marcus Theatres and Marcus Hotels and Resorts Some were sold, others were converted to Marc's Café and later Annie's American Café. Most now operate as Perkins. Perkins Restaurant and Bakery is a North American Casual dining Restaurant chain
- McDowell's (North Dakota)
- Shoney's (Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, Florida, southwestern Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina, West Virginia, Ohio, Missouri), founded by and named after Alex Schoenbaum, no longer displays the Big Boy Statue, because it dropped its relationship with Big Boy in order to expand to other states where others owned the trademark, in 1984. Shoney's is a Restaurant chain, operating mostly in the Southern and Midwestern United States that once had a franchise with the Big Year 1984 ( MCMLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar) It was the second Big Boy franchisee and subfranchised to Elby's and Lendy's. Lendy's was a restaurant chain that was opened in Salem Virginia on November 2 1955 by Leonard Goldstein.
- TJ's (New York)
- Tops (Illinois)
- Vip's (New Mexico)
- Yoda's (Western Virginia)
Also, Big Boy Japan owns and operates 216 locations (as of September 2007) throughout Japan under four restaurant names: Big Boy (199 stores), Milky Way (50), Victoria Station (43), and Grill Dan (4).
Notable locations
- Bob's Big Boy Restaurant of Burbank, California (est. The Bob's Big Boy Restaurant at 4211 Riverside Drive in Burbank, California is the oldest remaining Bob's Big Boy in the United States. 1949), oldest remaining Bob's Big Boy in America and a designated California Point of Historical Interest. California Points of Historical Interest are sites buildings features or events that are of local (city or county significance and have anthropological cultural military political
- The first Phoenix, Arizona Bob's Big Boy (est. 1954), was a notable exception to the traditional architecture in California. The restaurant was located at Central Avenue and Thomas Road. Its quickly put two other nearby drive-in restaurants out of business. The building was very modern with horizontal overhanging roof lines and native stone at the entrance. Above was a large mural that resembled a Hopi sand painting of Kachinas, and a covered area to the east of the building for car hop service.
Popular culture mentions
- Destroy all Humans Big Willy Unleashed - the game spoofs Big Boy with Big Willy who looks similar and the restaurant serves hot dogs instead of hamburgers.
- The Austin Powers series features one of Dr. Evil's escape pods in the shape of the Big Boy mascot. Sir Austin Danger Powers, KBE, is a Fictional character from the Austin Powers series of films Dr Evil (born Douglas "Dougie" Powers) is a fictional character played by Mike Myers, in the Austin Powers Film series
- In the movie Midnight Madness, the blue team go to a Big Boy to find a clue for the race they are participating in. Midnight Madness is a 1980 cult Comedy film from Walt Disney Productions, starring David Naughton. After finding the clue, Harold, the blue teams overweight leader, takes out another teams vehicle. He is holding the hubcap when he notices his team laughing at him. He then realizes that the way he is standing holding the hubcap looks exactly like the Big Boy statue behind him.
References
- Hansen, Christian (2002). The Big Boy Story: "King of Them All". Haagen Printing. ISBN 0-9671943-6-9.
- Grandberry, Nikki (2006), Altamont Springs Opens March 29, <http://www.bigboy.com/RestaurantImages/Altamonte%20Springs%20Opens%20March%2029.pdf>
External links
- Craig Yoe interviewed on history of The Adventures of Big Boy comic book
- Big Boy
- Tribute to Big Boy's popular "Brawny Lad" sandwich