Big Boy Restaurants facts for kids
"It's your Big Boy"
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Trade name
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Big Boy |
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| Limited liability company | |
| Industry | Casual dining restaurant |
| Predecessors | Big Boy Restaurants International, LLC Bob's Pantry Elias Brothers Restaurants, Inc. Marriott Corporation Robert C. Wian Enterprises |
| Founded | August 6, 1936 (as Bob's Pantry) Glendale, California, U.S. |
| Founder | Bob Wian |
| Headquarters | Warren, Michigan, United States |
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Big Boy is a well-known American restaurant chain. It's famous for its double-decker Big Boy hamburger and its friendly mascot, a chubby boy in checkered overalls. The company that owns most Big Boy restaurants today is called Big Boy Restaurant Group, LLC, and it's based in Warren, Michigan.
Another big part of the Big Boy family is Frisch's Big Boy Restaurants, located in Cincinnati, Ohio. For a long time, many different companies had licenses to use the Big Boy name and menu in their own regions.
The first Big Boy restaurant started in 1936 as "Bob's Pantry" in Glendale, California. It was founded by a man named Bob Wian. His restaurants became known as "Bob's" or "Bob's Big Boy." Over time, the Big Boy name grew across the country through special agreements with other restaurant owners.
In 1967, a large company called Marriott bought Big Boy. Later, in 1987, Elias Brothers, one of the biggest Big Boy partners, bought the chain. They moved the main office to Warren, Michigan. After some financial trouble in 2000, an investor named Robert Liggett, Jr. bought the company. He changed its name to Big Boy Restaurants International. In 2018, a new group of investors from Michigan bought Big Boy and renamed it Big Boy Restaurant Group. Today, this group runs or licenses 66 Big Boy restaurants in the United States and two in Thailand.
Frisch's Restaurants, another original Big Boy partner, now owns the Big Boy trademarks in Kentucky, Indiana, and parts of Ohio and Tennessee. This means Frisch's is no longer just a partner; they are independent owners of the Big Boy name in their areas. Frisch's runs or licenses 84 Big Boy restaurants in the United States.
There's also Big Boy Japan, which is separate from the main Big Boy group. They operate 274 restaurants in Japan.
Contents
The Story of Big Boy
How the Big Boy Mascot Came to Be
The Big Boy chain is famous for its mascot: a happy, chubby boy with a cool pompadour hairstyle. He wears red-and-white checkered overalls and holds a Big Boy sandwich.
The idea for the mascot came from a real boy named Richard Woodruff. In 1938, when Richard was six years old, he walked into Bob Wian's diner. Bob was trying to think of a name for his new hamburger. When he saw Richard, Bob said, "Hello, Big Boy!" The name stuck, and Richard became the model for the mascot.
An artist from Warner Bros. Cartoons, Ben Washam, drew Richard's cartoon picture. This drawing became the first Big Boy mascot.
Over the years, the Big Boy mascot changed a bit. In 1955, a designer named Manfred Bernhard updated the "West Coast Big Boy" mascot. He made it look cleaner and more friendly. This led to the fiberglass statues you see outside many restaurants.
Around the same time, in 1951, Dave Frisch (who ran Frisch's Big Boy) created his own version of the mascot. This "East Coast Big Boy" was a bit slimmer, wore a different hat, and was shown running. For a while, there were two different Big Boy mascots! In the late 1960s, both characters were redrawn to look more similar, combining features from both designs.
Big Boy Statues Around Town
| A. | 1937. The first Big Boy (left) was derived from a sketch by Warner Brothers animation artist Bennie Washam in 1937. A frequent customer, Washam doodled the character on a napkin for Bob Wian for a free lunch. The logo, redrawn holding a hamburger (right), was typically used by Wian and several early franchisees: Parkette (Shoney's), Elias Brothers and Frejlach's. The orientation was also reversed. |
| B. | 1952. Wian's first franchisee, David Frisch, developed his own Big Boy character. Dated 1952, the design was copyrighted in 1951 and became known as the East Coast Big Boy. He was the model for fiberglass statues used by Frisch's, and subfranchises Azar's and Manners. This Big Boy varied between blond and reddish blond hair. Unlike West Coast designs (A) and (C), he held the hamburger in both hands and was always running to his left. |
| C. | 1956. This scheme introduced the modern Big Boy character and is the model for the iconic fiberglass statues. It replaced Wian's original figure (A), and was actually seen in 1955 Shoney's advertisements. Typically drawn with the hamburger atop his right arm, occasionally the hamburger was raised atop his left arm. Shown is a common version of the several renderings used. By 2009, a new styled version is sometimes being used again. |
| D. | 1969. Revised East Coast Big Boy. |
| E. | 1969. Revised West Coast Big Boy. |
| Differences between the East and West Coast designs, including the statues, created confusion along the Ohio-Michigan border where Frisch's and Elias Brothers operated. This motivated a common Big Boy mark, derived with elements of both predecessors, (B) and (C). He retained the look of the West Coast figure (C) but assumed the running pose and orientation of the East Coast figure (B). Nonetheless similar West and East Coast versions were realized, maintaining the facial style of the previous marks, respectively. Frisch's continued to use (D) through 2016. | |
| F. | 1981. To emphasize a full menu the hamburger was removed from the West Coast design. |
| G. | 1988. After buying Big Boy, Elias Brothers lowered the left arm completely. |
The Big Boy statues are a famous part of the restaurants. Early statues were huge, up to 16 feet tall! Later ones were smaller, around 4 feet. Some statues held the Big Boy hamburger, while others had both arms holding his suspenders.
Sometimes, these statues have caused funny situations with local rules. In one town, a Big Boy statue was almost removed because it was considered a "second sign." The restaurant argued it was a sculpture, not a sign! In another town, Norco, California, known as Horsetown USA, the statue now wears a cowboy hat and boots to fit the town's theme.
You can also find unique Big Boy statues. In Cincinnati, a Frisch's Big Boy statue wears a 1970s Cincinnati Reds baseball uniform. In Michigan, some Big Boy restaurants display full-size moose statues dressed in Big Boy overalls!
The Adventures of the Big Boy Comic Book
- Top row (left to right): No. 1, July 1956, West Coast and East Coast versions; No. 13, July 1957, West Coast and East Coast versions.
- Bottom row: No. 155, June 1969, West Coast and East Coast versions; No. 156, July 1969, combined version; No. 1, Shoney's version, 1976 (month unknown).
For many years, Big Boy gave out a free comic book called Adventures of the Big Boy to kids visiting the restaurants. The idea was to give kids something fun to do while waiting for their food.
The comic books told stories about Big Boy, his girlfriend Dolly, and his dog Nugget. Kids could also join the Big Boy Club through the comics. This club offered free Big Boy hamburgers, special decoder cards, and buttons. It was a very popular giveaway!
Famous comic book creators like Stan Lee (who helped create Spider-Man and other Marvel heroes) and Bill Everett (who created Daredevil) even worked on the Big Boy comics in the early years. The comic book ran for 39 years and had 466 issues before it was replaced by a magazine in 1996.
Delicious Food at Big Boy
The Famous Big Boy Hamburger
The most famous item on the Big Boy menu is the original double-decker hamburger. It's called the Big Boy hamburger!
The idea for this special burger started as a joke in 1937. Some musicians who often ate at Bob's Pantry asked for "something different, something special." Bob Wian quickly put together a burger that looked "ridiculous, like a leaning tower." People loved it, and demand for "the special" grew. Bob needed a catchy name, and that's when "Big Boy" stuck.
In 1938, a Big Boy hamburger cost only 15 cents! Today, it costs more, but it's still a favorite. The Big Boy hamburger even inspired other famous double-decker burgers, like McDonald's Big Mac.
The Big Boy hamburger has two thin beef patties, a three-layer bun, lettuce, a slice of American cheese, and a special sauce. Some Big Boy restaurants use a red relish sauce, while others (like Frisch's) use tartar sauce. Bob Wian originally used a sesame seed bun, but Frisch's used a plain bun and added pickles.
Other Popular Menu Items
Besides the Big Boy hamburger, many other tasty items became popular across the chain. Frisch's introduced the "Brawny Lad" and "Swiss Miss" hamburgers. Shoney's added the "Slim Jim" sandwich and the Hot Fudge Ice Cream Cake. The delicious Strawberry pie was first offered by Eat'n Park.
Today, Hot Fudge Cake and Strawberry Pie are still popular desserts at Big Boy restaurants everywhere. The menu also includes breakfast, other burgers and sandwiches, salads, and dinner plates.
How Big Boy Restaurants Operate
Bob Wian had clear ideas about how Big Boy restaurants should be run. He believed in serving the best quality food at fair prices in very clean places, always with kindness. He famously said, "the customer is always right." If a customer wasn't happy with their food, employees were told to cheerfully replace it and apologize.
Bob Wian also had five main rules for growing his business: be a good place to work, sell to, buy from, and invest in. And, be a good neighbor in the community. He wanted employees to feel good about their jobs. Big Boy was one of the first restaurant chains to offer health insurance and profit-sharing to its employees.
Over the years, Big Boy changed from mostly drive-in restaurants to more sit-down family restaurants. They couldn't compete with fast-food places like McDonald's, so they focused on being a full-service restaurant.
Big Boy Around the World
Big Boy grew by allowing many different companies to open restaurants using the Big Boy name. These were called "franchisees." Each franchisee often added their own name to "Big Boy," like "Bob's Big Boy" in California or "Frisch's Big Boy" in Ohio. This is why people often knew Big Boy by the name of the local franchise.
Many of these early franchisees already owned restaurants. They simply added the Big Boy hamburger to their menus and the Big Boy name to their signs.
Today, Big Boy Restaurant Group continues to offer franchises. Frisch's Big Boy also offers franchises in its special areas.
Big Boy in Other Countries
Big Boy is not just in the United States!
Big Boy Japan
Outside of North America, Big Boy Japan runs 274 Big Boy Hamburger Steak & Grill Restaurants in Japan. This company started in 1977. The Japanese Big Boy restaurants have a different menu from the American ones. They don't usually serve the Big Boy hamburger, but offer other dishes like hamburger steaks. They also serve beer and wine. Big Boy Japan operates independently, just like Frisch's.
Big Boy in Southeast Asia
In 2019, a company from Singapore signed a deal to open Big Boy restaurants in Thailand. The first Thai Big Boy restaurant opened in Bangkok in 2020. Another one opened in Pattaya. The company plans to open many more Big Boy restaurants in countries like Australia, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, and the Philippines.
Before this, there was another attempt to open Big Boy restaurants in Thailand in the early 2000s. However, it didn't work out because Thai customers at the time weren't used to American-style food. Some Thai people even thought the Big Boy statues were religious symbols!
Recent Changes and New Ideas
The number of Big Boy restaurants has changed over the years. Some older locations have closed, and some franchisees have left the Big Boy chain. For example, the last Big Boy restaurant in Detroit closed in 2017.
However, Big Boy is also growing in new ways. In 2020, Big Boy partnered with another company to open new restaurants in Southern Nevada. The first one opened in Indian Springs, Nevada, in late 2020. A second one, called Big Boy Tavern, opened in Las Vegas in 2022 and even includes a bar and a small casino area.
Big Boy is also trying new ideas, like "Big Boy's Burgers and Shakes." This is a faster, more casual restaurant style, often located in shopping centers instead of big stand-alone buildings.
Images for kids
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Big Boy logo used until 2020, featuring the Big Boy mascot and still seen at many locations
See also
In Spanish: Big Boy (restaurante) para niños
