tesg's guide to big chain road food consumption
CHAIN -- Big
Boy
Owner -- See story.
Primary Operating Region -- Midwest, California, Japan, and a few strays
here and there
Number of Locations -- 455 (2006)
As I pay the cashier, I spot the Big Boy statues in the display case.
"How much are the Big Boys?"
"The bobble heads?"
"No, the other ones."
"Oh. The banks. Um…"
"Those are banks?"
"Yeah. Ummmm…"
"Cool!"
"Geez, it was here somewhere…" He can't find the prices. About the time he looks at me and shrugs, he snaps his head back at the wall and says "Right in front of my face!"
I leave with a Big Boy bank. Five bucks and change. It holds more than that. It totally rules.
It's the original double-decker burger. It's an icon almost everybody knows immediately on sight. And it's alive and well, even if you thought otherwise.
Bob Wian created the sandwich in 1936 on a customer's challenge to come up with something different. He cut the bun into three pieces, placed a beef patty between each layer, and added his own thousand island dressing sauce. The brand name was inspired by Richard Woodruff, a chubby kid who swept in exchange for burgers. Ben Washam, who went on to be an animator on Chuck Jones cartoons at Warner Bros, sketched Woodruff on a napkin at the counter and gave it to Wian. It became the "Big Boy" character you know today. The diner known as Bob's Pantry became Bob's Big Boy.
Bob's Big Boy grew in California. Franchising started in the 1940's. Franchisees got the Big Boy sandwich itself and use of the "Big Boy" icon...The restaurant menu and format otherwise were up to the franchisee. Some franchisees actually franchised their version of the brand to others. The result was several different "Big Boy" operations over time in all sorts of formats. There are a number of family restaurant chains out there today who once sported the "Big Boy" brand. These include Shoney's and JB's.
Marriott bought the chain from Wian in 1967. They sold it to Elias Bros, a Michigan-based franchisee, in 1987. Today, there are two chains with exclusive ownership of certain territories. The chains are Michigan-based Big Boy Restaurants, LLC (formerly Elias Bros), and Ohio-based Frisch's. They do their own thing, they have their own separate menus...they don't even make the sandwich the same way.
Elias Bros
Fred, Louis, and John Elias started their Big Boy franchise in 1951, changing their existing diners to the Big Boy brand, then growing and franchising their version of the brand. They purchased the company from Marriott in 1987. They bought the Elby's Big Boy chain in the 1990's. In 1998, Big Boy purchased several restaurants from the troubled Shoney's chain, a former Big Boy franchisee, in Missouri. They converted several of these locations to Big Boy, but ultimately found themselves overextended. In 2000, Elias Bros filed for bankruptcy. The former Shoney's were closed (many of them are now Denny's), as were several underperforming stores (mostly Bob's and Elby's locations). The remains left the vast majority of the restaurants in Michigan, with a few in California (which continue using the "Bob's Big Boy" branding) and Ohio, and one or two locations scattered in a few states beyond.
Robert Liggett, fresh from selling his radio stations, bought out Elias Bros and formed "Big Boy Restaurants, LLC". A deal was done with Frisch's that gave them exclusive ownership of the Big Boy brand in their core market territories and gave Liggett ownership of the rest of the world, including former Frisch's territories they were no longer using.
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The Frisch family has been involved in the restaurant business since 1905. David Frisch took over his father's "Stag Lunch" restaurant upon his death in 1923. He sold it to two of his brothers in 1932 and opened a new restaurant in Oakley. He opened a second location, then went into bankruptcy in 1938. In 1939, Frisch and Fred Cornuelle opened Cincinnati's first drive-in restaurant, "The Mainliner", named after a tri-motor passenger plane that frequently flew over the drive-in on approach to the airport. Frisch met Bob Wian in 1946 and learned about the Big Boy sandwich. Frisch signed up to sell the sandwich in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Florida. The Mainliner stared selling the Big Boy immediately, using tartar sauce instead of thousand island...a distinction that continues today. His first Big Boy Drive-In opened in 1947. Frisch's Big Boy grew into a chain of 200 company and franchised restaurants in five states. (The company ultimately pulled out of Florida and Texas.) Today, there are 88 "Frisch's Big Boy" family-style restaurants (clearly identified with "Frisch's" on the logo) located in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. The company also operates several Golden Corral franchises. Frisch's is publicly traded (AMEX: FRS). The company is headed by Craig Maier, grandson of David Frisch. |
Frisch's had the opportunity to purchase Elias Bros out of bankruptcy completely, which would have given them complete ownership and control of the Big Boy brand. They decided it didn't make sense to do so. Instead, they made a deal with the new Big Boy Restaurants, LLC for exclusive ownership of the Big Boy trademark in Kentucky, Indiana, and most of Ohio and Tennessee. Frisch's also sold Big Boy Restaurants, LLC the rights they held in Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.
Big Boy Restaurants, LLC
Today's Big Boy has plans to franchise across the country (sans Frisch's territory, of course). A new lower-cost restaurant design that plays on the Big Boy heritage is being tinkered with. The menu itself doesn't seem to be an issue...the existing restaurant base is doing good business. Big Boy's problems were getting in too deep. Once the cash flow problems were handled, all appearances indicate a relatively healthy company.
The trademark sandwich doesn't appear to be any bigger than the burgers it inspired...McDonald's Big Mac, Burger Chef's Big Shef, or Arctic Circle's Ranch Burger. The basic beef is two small patties, though you can order it with two quarter-pound patties if you want. Remember when McDonald's used to offer that as the Mega-Mac? Yeah. Me too. It has the sauce, one slice of cheese, lettuce, and little else. If forced to choose between the original Big Boy version of the sandwich and Frisch's tartar sauce-based version, I'd go with Arctic Circle. HA HA HA HA HA HA! Okay, I'd go with the traditional. The Frisch's version has less flavor. Still, Frisch's tartar sauce must be popular...you can buy it in area supermarkets.
I suppose it's moot to discuss the food, since even units within Big Boy Restaurants, LLC have differences. So what I say primarily applies to Big Boy in Michigan.
The chili can be good if it's been stewing for a good while, but more often than not, it hasn't. It has beans, but about half as many as you'd expect in a bean chili bowl. Frisch's chili appears to be the same recipe. Actually, I suppose common menu items ARE the same recipe still.
Shakes...fine. Not terribly remarkable.
The menu is your basic family restaurant fare with a lean on burgers and sandwiches, and a slightly more extensive than normal seafood menu. There's a soup and salad bar you can get as a buffet. There's a breakfast buffet in the morning as well. The dessert line is extensive. Big Boy makes their own ice cream (not at the restaurants...at a commissary.)
Big Boy is an American icon. It deserves to go on. I certainly hope it will.
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