Big Boy Restaurants

Big Boy

Big Boy logo
Company type	Restaurant
Industry	casual dining restaurant
Founded	1936
Headquarters	Glendale, California
Key people	Bob Wian, Founder
Website	www.bigboy.com

Big Boy is a restaurant chain started in 1936 by Bob Wian in Glendale, California as Bob's Big Boy. Marriott bought the chain in 1967. One of the larger franchise operators, Elias Brothers, purchased the chain from Marriott in 1987, moving the headquarters of the company to Livonia, Michigan, and operating it until declaring bankruptcy in 2000. Following the bankruptcy, the chain was sold to investor Robert Liggett Jr., the current company CEO, who renamed the company to Big Boy Restaurants International, now headquartered in Warren, Michigan. The company is the franchiser for more than 455 Big Boy Restaurants in the United States, Canada and Japan.

The chain is best known for its trademark chubby boy in red and white with suspenders holding a double decker hamburger. The inspiration for Big Boy's name, as well as the model for its mascot was Richard Woodruff. When he was 6 years old, he walked into the diner as Bob Wian was attempting to name his new hamburger. Wian said "Hello Big Boy" to Woodruff, and the name stuck.

Children attending some restaurants often received a free comic book chronicling the adventures of Big Boy. Advertisements in the comic book implored readers to join the Big Boy Kids Club, and passages were sometimes written in the club's "secret code", a substitution cipher, whose key appeared on the back of membership cards. Members would receive tokens for a free Big Boy on their birthday.

Besides its namesake Big Boy hamburger, other distinctive offerings were "Slim Jim" sandwiches, "Brawny Lad" burgers, Hot Fudge Cake and Strawberry Pie.

File:Bobs-big-boy-34.4.jpg

Bob's Big Boy mascot sign.

The Big Boy Hamburger

Big Boy's signature meal is the double-decker Big Boy hamburger (a predecessor of the Big Mac). It is constructed as follows, from top to bottom:

• Dill pickle & wooden pick
• Toasted sesame seed top bun
• Big Boy Sauce (green relish combined with ketchup & mayonnaise)
• Sprinkle of sea salt
• 1/8 (or 1/10) lb beef patty
• Toasted sesame seed center bun
• Big Boy Sauce
• 1/8 (or 1/10) lb beef patty
• Slice of American cheese
• Shredded lettuce
• Big Boy Sauce
• Toasted sesame seed bottom bun

Frisch's Big Boy Hamburger

It is constructed as follows, from top to bottom:

• Toasted plain top bun
• Shredded lettuce
• Frisch's Tartar Sauce
• 1/8 lb beef patty
• Toasted plain center bun
• Frisch's Tartar Sauce
• Slice of American cheese
• 1/8 lb beef patty
• Pickles
• Toasted plain bottom bun

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 now expanded into areas that used to be regional territory for another franchise holder, and the current Big Boy Restaurants International has been expanding it's Bob's Big Boy name into territories formally held by franchisees.

Unlike most modern franchises, the various restaurants differed somewhat from one another in terms of price level and menu offerings.

• Abdow's (Massachuetts, Connecticut)
• Azar's (Colorado, N. Indiana)
• Bob's (California, Arizona)
• Eat'n Park (metro Pittsburgh) dropped Big Boy in 1976.
• Elias Brothers (Michigan, Ontario)
• Elby's (West Virginia, E. Ohio, Pennsylvania) 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.)
• Franklin's (Northern Pennsylvania)
• Frisch's (Ohio, Kentucky, S. Indiana, Florida) 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. They also franchise Golden Corrals in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky.
• JB's (Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, Rhode Island, Arizona, New Mexico, Washington)
• Kip's (Texas, Oklahoma)
• Lendy's (western Virginia)
• McDowell's (South Dakota)
• Manner's (Northeastern Ohio)
• Marc's (Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota)
• Shoney's (Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, Florida, southwestern Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina, West Virginia), 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 other's owned the trademark, in 1984. It was the second Big Boy franchisee and subfranchised to Elby's, Lendy's and Yoda's).
• TJ's (New York)
• Top's (Illinois --used Big Boy food but not Big Boy name)
• VIP's (New Mexico)
• Yoda's (western Virginia)

Trivia

• Filmmaker David Lynch ate lunch at Bob's every day for 7 years. He has said the combination of caffeine and sugar from the chocolate shakes and coffee he ordered gave him many ideas for his films.
• In the movie Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Dr. Evil and his cat Mr. Bigglesworth make their escape in a cryogenic rocket that is the shape of a statue of Big Boy.
• Syndicated radio personalities Rick and Bubba have a Big Boy statue outside their studio, located on a mountain overlooking Birmingham, Alabama. In on-air and Internet promotions, the site is referred to as "Big Boy Bluff." (Ironically, such statues haven't been seen in Alabama for more than two decades because of Shoney's disaffiliation with the trademark.)
• In December of 1993, syndicated Los Angeles radio personalities Mark & Brian attempted to launch a (borrowed) Bob's Big Boy statue, painted with an Evel Knievel jumpsuit and dubbed "Elvis Bob", over the fountain at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. The launch device was a spring tension contraption looking much like a green steel bedframe. The attempt fell about 10 feet short and into the water, sending Caesar's general manager into an obscenity-laced tirade, as Elvis Bob broke part of the fountain. "Elvis Bob" has been used over the years for various other events throughout the L.A. basin, repainted as Vegas Elvis, complete with chains and shades. [1]
• Big Boy was parodied by Frank Miller in his Give Me Liberty comic book series as the Fat Boy restaurant chain, a fast-food franchise that had grown so powerful that it was at war with the United States government.
• The Nicktoon character Jimmy Neutron kind of resembles Big Boy.
• Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield, MI has a Big Boy Statue done in mosaic on display.
• "Lard Lad Donuts" on The Simpsons is a parody of Bob's Big Boy.

External links

• Big Boy Restaurants, official site
• Bob's Big Boy restaurant, Burbank, California, site of oldest remaining Big Boy restaurant. Includes historical information.
• Lendy's Web Page, Lendy's Web Page

References

• Hansen, Christian (2002). The Big Boy Story: "King of Them All". Haagen Printing. ISBN 0-9671943-6-9.