somewhat different than the Big Boy, about a decade after leaving. Big Boy offers breakfast, burgers and sandwiches, salads, dinner combinations, and various desserts. Philosophy and practices Bob Wian developed rules and philosophies about how Big Boy should operate. Besides the Big Boy hamburger and its construction, he attributed most of his success and that of his franchisees to following these rules. His fundamental restaurant principles were: "serve the best quality food, at moderate prices, in spotless surroundings, with courtesy and hospitality." He believed "the customer is always right" and instructed employees that, "if any food item is not satisfactory, return it cheerfully and apologize for the error". Wian said he had five basic rules for building his business: "be a good place to work for, sell to, buy from, and invest in. And be a good neighbor in the community." He also attributed the growth to, "capable management and a conservative policy of not trying to seat more people than can be served or opening more restaurants than can be serviced." If some disruption occurred at a restaurant, such as a new manager or renovation, Wian would postpone advertising until operations would return to his standards. Typical of Big Boy restaurants, Elby's Big Boy used a nine-step process waiting on dining room customers: Greet customers within one minute of being seated, serving water and taking beverage orders. Serve beverages and take meal orders. Call in meal orders to kitchen. Place setups (e.g., silverware) and condiments, serve salad items. Watch kitchen (number panel) for completed order and promptly serve meals to table.(The kitchen should complete orders within 8 minutes, 10 minutes for steaks.) Check back with customers within a few minutes: "Is everything OK?" Return and place check on the table: "I'll return shortly." Suggest dessert and take dessert orders. Serve desserts or deliver final check, remove empty dishes. Bob Wian was discerning of employees, hiring wait staff—which he considered a profession—by appearance, intelligence and enthusiasm. He preferred employees with little or no restaurant experience which afforded training in the Big Boy tradition. Wian said that he "conned [employees] into believing in themselves ... I put my cooks in chef's outfits, even though they couldn't boil an egg". Other than wait staff, employees typically started as dishwashers and busboys, and advanced to short-order cooks, and then possibly to management. Bob's Big Boy was one of the first restaurant chains to