Remember when dining out meant something different? There was a time when families piled into wood-paneled station wagons and headed to restaurants that felt like special destinations. These weren’t the cookie-cutter chains we know today – they had personality, quirky mascots, and signature dishes that made them unforgettable. The 1960s and 1970s marked the golden age of American restaurant chains, with Howard Johnson’s being the largest restaurant chain in the U.S. throughout this period, reaching more than 1,000 locations by the mid-1970s.
The landscape of American dining was rapidly evolving during these decades. The culture shifted in America from eating at home to a fast food revolution, with parents enjoying the concept of these newfangled restaurants where they could feed the whole family a hearty, yet convenient meal, and with the cost of food skyrocketing, affordable fast food was a welcome option.
Howard Johnson’s: The Orange Roof That Welcomed America
Howard Johnson’s became synonymous with 1950s and ’60s dining, launched by entrepreneur Howard Johnson in the 1920s as a soda fountain and lunch counter, and by 1954 there were 400 outposts in 32 states. During the 1950s and 1960s, travelers loved to see the restaurant’s orange roof and steeple materializing in the distance, considering it boasted over 1,000 locations nationwide. This sight was filled with promises of comfort food like fried clam strips, frankfurters, chicken pot pies, and 28 different flavors of thick ice cream, including tastes like banana, fruit salad, caramel fudge, and peanut brittle, and after a filling meal, patrons could recover from their food coma in one of the company’s motor lodges. Howard Johnson’s popularity and large-scale footprint made it the largest restaurant chain of its time and America’s very first giant restaurant chain. The company peaked in the mid-1970s, but business fell off after that, as the business model of serving pre-made high-quality food in traditional dining rooms lost popularity amid the rise of fast-food chains like McDonald’s.
Burger Chef: The Fast Food Pioneer That Invented the Kids’ Meal
Burger Chef was an American fast-food restaurant chain that began operating in 1954 in Indianapolis, Indiana, expanded throughout the United States, and at its peak in 1973 had 1,050 locations. By the 1960s, they were only second to McDonald’s, and at their peak in 1973, Burger Chef had roughly 1,200 restaurants across the country. The chain introduced the Funmeal in 1973, the first kid’s meal that included a burger, french fries, a drink, a cookie, and a small toy, with expanded packaging that included stories about Burger Chef and Jeff’s adventures and friends. When McDonald’s introduced their Happy Meal in 1979, the chain sued, but ultimately lost. Tragically, their bigger public setback came after four employees were murdered on the night of November 17, 1978, when workers at the Speedway Burger Chef were kidnapped and found dead two days later. In 1982, General Foods sold Burger Chef to the Canadian company Imasco, which also owned Hardee’s, and the final restaurant to use Burger Chef’s branding and signage closed in 1996.
Sambo’s: The Pancake House That Couldn’t Overcome Its Name
Sambo’s was an American restaurant chain, started in 1957 by Sam Battistone Sr. and Newell Bohnett in Santa Barbara, California, and though the name was taken from portions of the names of its two founders, the chain also associated with The Story of Little Black Sambo. In 1979, Sambo’s had 1,117 outlets in 47 American states. By the time Jimmy Carter was inaugurated, Sambo’s was raking in $380 million a year – the equivalent of $1.6 billion today. In the late ’70s, protests and lawsuits challenging the Sambo’s name were occurring in Virginia, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Ohio and Michigan. Sambo’s finally realized the seriousness of the issue and attempted to “start an education process to convince consumers Sambo’s is anything but racist,” changing the name of some restaurants in the Northeast and Midwest to “No Place Like Sam’s” and “Jolly Tiger,” but it was not protests against the name but financial woes that led to Sambo’s filing for bankruptcy in 1981. By 1982 all except the original Sambo’s at 216 West Cabrillo Boulevard in Santa Barbara, California closed their doors.
Red Barn: Where Hungry Families Hit the Barn
They started sprouting in Dayton, Ohio, circa the 1960s, and when the hungry hit, people were encouraged to hit the Red Barn. This new competitor to hit the quick serve scene was housed in a stately red barn, with partners Don Six, Martin Lavine, and Jim Kirst opening the first Red Barn in Ohio in 1961, and designer Red Barn Systems held the patent in 1962 and granted franchisee licensing. The grub was your average fast food consisting of a salad bar, fried chicken, fish sandwiches, and the piece de resistance, juicy hamburgers and cheeseburgers, with the two biggest sellers including the double-decker, triple bun Big Barney and the Barnbuster. Plenty of folks were able to get their hands on these signature sandwiches during the mid to late 20th century, as the chain grew to over 300 locations across 19 states and even in parts of Canada and Australia. Its lineup of massive burgers, scrumptious fried chicken, and authentic fish sandwiches made it a popular place for hungry patrons, but Red Barn changed hands numerous times over the next 17 years, with United Servomation buying the chain late in the decade and merging with City Investing Company in 1978. The brand has since kicked the can, becoming utterly defunct after its last locations closed in 1988.
Henry’s Hamburgers: The Drive-In That Outpaced McDonald’s
Henry’s was founded in 1954 by the Bresler’s Ice Cream Company as a way to get into the fast food drive-in game, and they modeled the stores on McDonald’s, with 35 locations opened in the Chicago area by 1956, and there were more than 200 by the early 1960s. Henry’s performed quite well in this regard, at one time beating out McDonald’s with 200 locations in the early 1960s. We could really go for one of Henry’s Hamburgers’ Brown Bag Specials right about now, which was the 1960s-era chain’s version of a value meal featuring a double cheeseburger, fries, and a Pepsi, and during its time of operation, it was once responsible for 50% of the fast-food restaurant’s sales. Deep-fried shrimp and catfish, chili dogs, corn nuggets, fried mushrooms, mozzarella sticks, and milkshakes were also beloved favorites, all fitting into the joint’s mission to create “A Great Tradition of Better Taste”. By the 1970s, however, the company was on the decline, and it neglected to keep up with the times as competitors like McDonald’s and Burger King rolled out new menu additions, drive-thrus and national advertising. Sadly, the Golden Arches and other fast-food burger chains have bested it since, and now just one Henry’s Hamburgers lives on in its origin city of Benton Harbor, Michigan.
Horn & Hardart Automats: The Coin-Operated Restaurant Experience
The automat is a defunct restaurant concept, but in its day it was a reliable way to get a quick and tasty meal, with individual sandwiches, salads, pies, cakes and the like visible behind tiny glass doors, and guests would then insert some nickels into the slot, the door would open, and the dish would be yours. Horn and Hardart, which was founded in Philadelphia in 1888, was the undisputed king of the automat during its golden years from the 1920s through the 1950s, with more than 150 locations in Philadelphia and more than 50 in New York. The concept was revolutionary for its time – imagine walking into a restaurant where walls were lined with small glass compartments displaying everything from hot meals to fresh pie slices. Unfortunately, with the rise of fast food in the 1960s and ’70s, the chain took a major hit, and sadly, fast food took a toll on the automat tradition during the 1960s and 70s, causing many Horn & Hardart locations to close. The chain held on as long as it could until its final location, on 42nd Street and Third Avenue in New York City, going under in 1991.
Arthur Treacher’s Fish & Chips: The British Actor’s Seafood Empire
Arthur Treacher was a British actor who made a name in the U.S. as talk show host Merv Griffin’s sidekick in the mid-to-late 1960s, and Treacher cashed in on his fame by lending his name to this Ohio-based fast-food chain, which opened its first restaurant in Columbus in 1969. By the late 1970s, there were more than 800 locations nationwide, but the number tumbled to just two in 2021, and then one in 2022. The chain specialized in British-style fish and chips, bringing a taste of England to American strip malls and food courts across the nation. Arthur Treacher’s was a chain of seafood fast food restaurants named for English character actor Arthur Treacher, and of the 800 or so locations that were open across the US in the 1970s, only a few freestanding Arthur Treacher’s remain in business in Northeastern Ohio. Talk of reviving the brand as a ghost kitchen (a restaurant with no dining room that only exists for online pickup and delivery orders) faded in 2022.
VIP’s Restaurant: The 24-Hour Family Dining Pioneer
Similar to a modern day Denny’s or other late-night diner, VIP’s was one of the first 24-hour restaurant chains in the U.S., with the locations, which were usually near a major interstate, featuring a delicious blend of breakfast, lunch, and dinner classics. Customers could order char-broiled burgers, bar-b-que sandwiches, homemade soups, entrees like hickory smoked ham steak or clam strips, or eggs, pancakes, and French toast. VIP’s filled a crucial niche for travelers and shift workers who needed a reliable meal at any hour. The chain understood that America was becoming a 24-hour society, with more people working unconventional hours and needing dining options that matched their schedules. The restaurants typically featured that classic diner atmosphere with comfortable booths, friendly waitresses, and the kind of hearty portions that kept truckers and families coming back. Unfortunately, like many of its contemporaries, VIP’s couldn’t compete with the efficiency and marketing power of emerging fast-food giants and eventually faded into memory, leaving only nostalgic recollections of late-night coffee and comfort food.
