the big boy burger came out on february 1937.
when did the big boy burger come out?
february 1937
the novel hamburger started as a joke. in february 1937, members of an area big band, who were regular customers, visited bob's pantry, one asking, "how about something different, something "special"?" [emphasis added]. bob wian improvised, creating the first (then unnamed) big boy, intending the thing "look ridiculous, like a leaning tower". demand for "the special" soared but wian sought a "snappy" name, which became big boy. in 1938, the big boy hamburger cost 15¢ ($2.65 in 2018). the big boy costs $6.49 in michigan, in 2018.
big boy restaurants
after "big boy" was removed from the company name in 1976, the big boy was becoming less and less prominent at shoney's, disappearing completely from the company's 1983 annual report. once called "a meal in one on a double–deck bun", a company official now called the big boy hamburger, "a depression burger, a lot of bread and no meat". following the march 1984 federal court ruling favoring shoney's, marriott corporation, then owner of the big boy trademark, negotiated a settlement that would allow shoney's to buy out its big boy franchise agreement. and in april 1984, shoney's withdrew from the big boy system, paying marriott $13 million (equivalent to $ million in ). (in august 1984, elby's likewise dropped its remaining big boy affiliation in west virginia and pennsylvania.) at the time shoney's was the largest big boy franchise, with 392 shoney's big boy restaurants, representing more than a third of the national big boy chain. like the former "big boy" stores, the "towne and country" units were renamed simply "shoney's". additional shoney's restaurants opened in frisch's big boy territory, three in the cincinnati area, with plans to open three more annually until the market was saturated.
shoney's