Bob's Big Boy

This article is about the original Southern California franchise of the larger Big Boy system. For the Big Boy chain as a whole, see Big Boy Restaurants.
Bob's Big Boy
FormerlyBob’s Pantry (1936-1938)
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryCasual dining restaurant
FoundedAugust 6, 1936; 88 years ago (1936-08-06) (as Bob's Pantry)
Glendale, California, U.S.[1]
FounderBob Wian
Area served
Products
ParentBig Boy Restaurants
Websitebobs.net

Bob's Big Boy is a casual dining restaurant chain founded by Bob Wian in Southern California in 1936, originally named Bob's Pantry.[2][3] The chain's signature product is the Big Boy hamburger, which Wian created six months after opening his original location. Slicing a bun into three slices and adding two hamburger patties, Wian is credited with creating the original double-decker (or "double-deck") hamburger.[4]

When Wian began franchising his restaurant across the United States in 1940s, he only required franchisees to use "Big Boy", and omit his name "Bob's". The chain then changed hands several times after Wian sold it in 1967. It was eventually purchased by a group of Michigan investors in 2018, renaming the chain's parent company Big Boy Restaurant Group.[5][6] At its peak in 1989, there were over 240 locations throughout the country that included "Bob's" name.[7] With the closing of the Calimesa, California restaurant in 2020, only four locations remain using the full "Bob's Big Boy" branding, all in the Los Angeles, California area. Among those restaurants, two are now protected historic landmarks: the Burbank location on Riverside Drive and the Downey location, previously known as Johnie's Broiler. The other two Bob's Big Boy restaurants are in Norco and Northridge. The other locations across the United States, either directly under the Big Boy Restaurant Group or operated independently by trademark co-registrant Frisch's Big Boy, continue to omit "Bob's".[8][9]

  1. ^ Slavin, Barbara (August 9, 1978). "Drive-ins and carhops are things of the past". The Day. New London, CT. The New York Times Service. p. 5. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  2. ^ "History of Big Boy". Big Boy Restaurants International LLC. Archived from the original on 2011-12-05. Retrieved 2011-11-27.
  3. ^ Chavez, Stephanie (October 17, 1989). "Big Boy Bowing Out: Original Glendale Diner Serves Its Last Burger After 51 Years". Los Angeles Times.
  4. ^ Chong, Jia-Rui (August 22, 2008). "Actually, it is your grandfather's Big Boy". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved September 13, 2016.
  5. ^ Frank, Annalise (July 15, 2019). "Radio entrepreneur, former Big Boy owner Robert Liggett dies". Crain's Detroit Business. Archived from the original on July 23, 2019. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
  6. ^ Frank, Annalise (August 11, 2019). "Big Boy looks to bounce back under new ownership". Crain's Detroit Business. Archived from the original on August 11, 2019. Retrieved August 12, 2019.
  7. ^ Jakle, John A.; Sculle, Keith A. (2002). Fast Food: Roadside Restaurants in the Automobile Age. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 78. ISBN 9780801869204.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Shaw 2007 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Grantham 1996 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).