No discussion of the history of American dining is complete without a major acknowledgment of the role that Childs played in developing the restaurant as we know it.
When the first Childs opened in 1889 in downtown New York, restaurants were either high-end affairs like Delmonico’s, or more everyman lunch counters and oyster houses.
Childs, with its emphasis on low-price, quality food, intelligent design, hygiene, good service, and expansion, set the stage for modern dining.
Childs was one of the first national dining chains, and by the time it reached its peak in the 1930s, there were about 125 locations in dozens of markets throughout the country.
Poor management (including an ill-conceived vegetarian push from co-founder William Childs) reduced that number to 53 by 1950, and in 1960 it was swallowed by the Riese Organization, which also owns Dunkin’ Donuts, KFC, Pizza Hut, T.G.I. Friday’s, and Houlihan’s, and was completely phased out.
This early chain, which began in Minneapolis in 1926 as a blatant White Castle knock-off (right down to the fake turrets), opened more than 120 locations before White Castle sued them in the early 1930s. White Tower settled by paying White Castle $82,000 and changing their look to Art Deco.
The chain stuck around for a while longer, peaking at 230 locations in the 1950s, before folks began to move away from the urban areas where they were located. The last one shut down in Toledo in 2004.
The first Chi-Chi’s Mexican Restaurant opened in downtown Minneapolis in 1975 and was one of the breakout restaurants of the year, pulling in $2 million. Founders Marno McDermott and Max McGee’s creation had basically no competition in the Midwest, and by 1986 a whopping 237 locations had been opened, with 42 openings in 1985 alone.
From there, unfortunately, it was all downhill. Attempts at expanding to New York City, New England, and the South failed, and increased competition, combined with baby boomers aging out of the chain’s target demographic and a decline in alcohol consumption, spelled its doom.
Locations fell to 144 by 2002, and a month after Chi-Chi’s filed for bankruptcy in 2003, green onions served at a Pittsburgh-area outpost set off the largest hepatitis-A outbreak in American history, sickening 660 and killing at least four.
The remaining 65 restaurants closed the following year, and today the brand exists in the United States only as a salsa product owned by Hormel, which licensed their name. Oddly enough, there are 11 Chi-Chi’s still open in Europe, eight of those in Belgium.
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Best hamburger ever. Better than McDonald's. Really miss this restaurant.
so do i so sad.
We still have a Howard Johnson's here in Arlington Texas as well. Right next door to Six Flags over Texas. The best burger you ever ate at Griff's. One name i was surprised to not see was Kip's Big Boy Restaurant. But they are still in Ky. and Ca. As of this writing.
Really nice restaurant. Good food.
Used to eat lunch there a lot. Also, dinner was great. Loved those Chicken Croquet s. They had great ice cream for after the ball games.
Too bad, so many folks put their hearts and souls into these restaurants, Then others opened with copy=cat deals and therefore lots of them couldn't stand the heat in the kitchen and simply gave up, sold out etc. Many dreams, hopes and cash flow was lost along with the broken hearts. Alas that's life in the business world, you gotta be strong and hard as nails to make it, make deals that break the bank , know when to hold em and know when to fold up your tent and go home, if you still have one. josie
no, burger chef lost out to mcdonalds becaue of freemason, mk ultra and mkdelta...your highly successful and stay highly successful because of who is "connected" and who follows the "nwo" agenda....
The Freemasons? MK Ultra? Why not the Illuminati? Does RB NG mean you are "ribbing" us or do you really believe what you wrote? About 50 years or so ago, I would've asked what you were on and could I have some. Well, if that was supposed to be funny, I got a little laugh out of it. Thanks for that.
Very nostalgic memories of going to Howard Johnson restaurants with my mother as a child. I loved the fried clam plate with a dessert. Very pleasant and easy going atmosphere. I really miss those days! Their Inn is still a favorite - would rather stay there than the up scale hotels and motels I've used, with it's contemporary, "Jetson"-like, orange, grey and white decor/furnishings and friendly, laid back staff.
Met my future wife at a Burger Chef in Dothan, Al in 1970. Fortunately, our franchise lasted longer than theirs. 49 years in April.
I worked for my uncle and aunt in their franchise Howard Johnson's Restaurant in New Hampshire in the spring and Summer's of the late 1950's and early 1960's during my high school summer vacations . Great memories and times at the HoJo providing food and ice cream to our customers. When you think of Howard Johnson's it is like apple pie and baseball true American fare. Unfortunately a time that has passed.
We used to go with all my cousins for the fish fry all you can eat.
Ho Jo was our scouting special on our camping trips
There was a Sambo’s near me in 1975 and we loved to go there with a quarter in our pocket and it would pay for 2 coffees with a 25% tip.