Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank, California in 1958.
The legacy of the Big Boy Restaurants started in 1936 when Bob Wian began a small enterprise on Colorado Street in Glendale, California. He sold his car for $350 and opened up a small, 10-seat diner called Bob’s Pantry.
According to the history of the original restaurant, the famous Big Boy hamburger was created one day when members of an orchestra stopped in and asked if Wian could come up with something different from the usual hamburger. What Wian created was a “Double-Deck Cheeseburger” with two beef patties and a special sauce. They loved the burger and other customers that were there that day asked if they could try this new burger too.
The name “Big Boy” came about when Bob Wian had a chubby young boy come into his restaurant one day. “He was about six and rolls of fat protruded where his shirt and pants were designed to meet. I was so amused by the youngster—jolly, healthy-looking and obviously a lover of good things to eat, I called him Big Boy.” Wian decided to name his new hamburger Big Boy, after the boy. Due to the burger’s success, he was inspired to rename his diner “Bob’s Big Boy”.
The restaurants became so successful, they captured the attention of the Marriott Corporation, who bought the Big Boy chain in 1967. In 1987, one of the largest franchise operators, the Elias Brothers, purchased the chain from Marriott and moved the headquarters to Warren, Michigan. The Elias Brothers operated the restaurants until they declared bankruptcy in 2000. It has since been owned by several entities and operated by multiple franchise groups. The different names under which these franchises run include Abdow’s, Bob’s, Shoney’s, and many more.
Although the name Big Boy was originally applied to the famous double-decker hamburger, the Big Boy restaurants are also noted for their signature food items like onion rings, shakes and strawberry pie.
Today, there are 69 Big Boy affiliated restaurants operating in the United States. The oldest remaining Bob’s Big Boy in America is in Burbank, California. It was established in 1949 and was designed as a drive-in where carhops brought the food out on trays.
There were 81 locations left when I put this together in 2018, but now they are down to 69.
I don’t understand it because their restaurants have always been busy when we visited.
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