Frisch's Big Boy is a regional restaurant chain from the Big Boy

Big Boy (restaurant)

Big Boy is a restaurant chain with its headquarters in Warren, Michigan.Big Boy was started in 1936 by Bob Wian, in partnership with Arnold Peterson in Glendale, California, USA. Marriott Corporation bought the chain in 1967...

 franchise. Today there are over ninety restaurants in Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

, Kentucky

Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

, and Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

. Frisch's also owns numerous Golden Corral

Golden Corral

Golden Corral is an American family-style restaurant chain that features a large buffet and grill offering numerous hot and cold items, a carving station and their Brass Bell Bakery...

 restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, and West Virginia

West Virginia

West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...

. Frisch's is one of the longest surviving Big Boy franchises.

History

In 1905, Samuel Frisch opened the Frisch Cafe in Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...

. He continued to operate the cafe until his death in 1923. Three of Samuel's sons, David, Reuben and Irving, continued operating their father's cafe after his death. It was not until 1939 that expansion occurred with the opening of the Mainliner on Wooster Pike

U.S. Route 50 in Ohio

U.S. Route 50 runs east–west across the southern part of the U.S. state of Ohio, passing through Cincinnati, Chillicothe, and Athens. It is mainly a two-lane road except for the easternmost part...

 in Fairfax

Fairfax, Ohio

Fairfax is a village in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,938 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Fairfax is located at ....

. Cincinnati's first year-round drive-in

Drive-in

A drive-in is a facility such as a bank, restaurant, or movie theater where one can literally drive in with an automobile for service. It is usually distinguished from a drive-through. At a drive-in restaurant, for example, customers park their vehicles and are usually served by staff who walk out...

, it was named after a passenger airplane flying overhead into nearby Lunken Airport.

Becoming a Big Boy franchise

In 1932, Dave Frisch visited one of Bob Wian's Big Boy restaurants in California. Dave was impressed with the double-decker sandwich, although he decided to change the primary condiment from Thousand Island dressing to a homemade tartar sauce. This made Frisch's stand out from the rest of the Big Boy restaurants. Frisch's tartar sauce became the signature sauce in other meals, as well. In 1948, the first Frisch's Big Boy restaurant, "Big Boy One," opened on Central Parkway a short drive north of downtown Cincinnati. Although the look has changed, Frisch's still operates in that location today.

Expansion

In 1949, Frisch's opened its first restaurant in Kentucky, and, over the next decade, it expanded throughout southern Ohio and into Indiana. Early restaurants built during this time offered carhop

Carhop

A carhop is a waiter or waitress who brings food to people in their cars at drive-in restaurants. Usually car hops work on foot but sometimes use rollerskates. The popularity of movies such as American Graffiti and shows like Happy Days created a misconception of carhops as exclusively roller...

 services. With many opportunities, franchisees opened restaurants throughout the tri-state area

Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky metropolitan area

The Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky metropolitan area is a metropolitan area that includes counties in the U.S. states of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, centered around the city of Cincinnati, Ohio. The United States Census defines the metropolitan area as the Cincinnati-Middletown Metropolitan...

, which helped Frisch's grow and expand (eventually reaching as far north as Columbus

Columbus, Ohio

Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...

 and Toledo

Toledo, Ohio

Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...

, as far east as Athens

Athens, Ohio

Athens is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Athens County, Ohio, United States. It is located along the Hocking River in the southeastern part of Ohio. A historic college town, Athens is home to Ohio University and is the principal city of the Athens, Ohio Micropolitan Statistical Area. ...

 and Lancaster, Ohio

Lancaster, Ohio

Lancaster is a city in Fairfield County, Ohio, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 38,780. It is located near the Hocking River, approximately southeast of Columbus, Ohio. It is the county seat of Fairfield County...

 and as far south as Florida). Frisch's released its famous tartar sauce to local grocery stores in 1960. However, times were changing. Frisch's faced competition from numerous restaurants, both national and local. McDonald's

McDonald's

McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...

 introduced the Filet-O-Fish

Filet-O-Fish

The Filet-O-Fish is a fish sandwich sold by the international fast food chain store McDonald's.-Product description:...

 in 1963 in an aggressive campaign against Frisch's. Some Frisch's restaurants did close in the 1970s and 1980s, but the company persevered in the remaining market and avoided extinction. Dave Frisch passed away in 1970, but he had already retired from the day-to-day activities of the business which had been taken up by his family. That's how it remains today.

Present

In 1982, Frisch's began to reinvent itself by adding drive-thru service at many restaurants. It introduced the soup and salad bar, which had begun to be implemented by many fast-food eateries. With these introductions, Frisch's had to remodel older restaurants or tear them down and rebuild from the ground up to stay competitive. As a result, carhops were no longer a fixture at Frisch's, but were retained at a few Cincinnati locations to cater to diners seeking the nostalgic dining experience. While other Big Boy franchises died off, became separate eateries, or filed for bankruptcy, Frisch's Big Boy developed new concepts, including the introduction of a retro theme in newer restaurants. However, Frisch's closed their locations in Florida by the 1990s.

In 2000, Frisch's had the opportunity to purchase the national Big Boy chain, which was in bankruptcy, but declined the offer. As of June 2003, Frisch's operates restaurants and franchises another thirty-two to other Big Boy operations. Restaurants in the Toledo, Ohio, area are owned and operated by Bennett Enterprises under the Frisch's name.

Frisch's Big Boy Hamburger

It is constructed as follows, from top to bottom:

• Toasted plain top bun
• 1/8 lb beef patty
• Shredded lettuce
• Frisch's Tartar Sauce
• Toasted plain center bun
• Slice of American cheese
• 1/8 lb beef patty
• Pickles
• Toasted plain bottom bun

Commercials and slogans

Radio and TV commercials for Frisch's (which operates Big Boy in the Cincinnati, Ohio, area) are considered by many locals to be a source of humor, even though many of these advertisements were intended to be serious. A notable example is an advertising jingle from the "Gotta be Frisch's Big Boy" campaign of the early 1980s.

The Frisch's slogan being used in commercials today is What's your favorite thing?

A classic Frisch's jingle used on both Radio & TV in the 1960s went:

Drive in for a Big, Big. Big Boy.
Drive in for an eat-in treat.
A meal in one on a double-deck bun
What a joy. Big Boy.

The Frisch's adaptation of the Big Boy characture of the 1960s has bigger cartoon-like eyes and slightly cherub-like youthful facial features and wears striped pants instead of the traditional checkered bib overall-type pants used by other Big Boy franchises. Today the Frisch's mascot now sports the checkered pants more often in advertising but its facial features remain the same as it did in the 1960s.