Big Boy

Bob Wian opened a small diner called Bob’s Pantry in Glendale, California, in 1936. A year later he invented a burger so tall it looked like a leaning tower, and when a chubby six-year-old named Richard Woodruff walked in, Wian greeted him with “Hello, Big Boy.” The name stuck, and the boy became one of America’s best-known restaurant mascots: pompadour, red-and-white checked overalls, burger held high.

Big Boy grew through regional franchisees who ran it under their own names, Bob’s, Frisch’s, Shoney’s, Elias Brothers, each adding dishes of its own. Since 2001 the trademark has been split between Big Boy Restaurants, based in Michigan, and Frisch’s Big Boy in parts of the Midwest. The chain is far smaller than at its peak, but it is where the double-decker burger began.

About 50 Big Boy restaurants in Michigan, Ohio, Nevada and North Dakota, four Bob’s Big Boys in California, Frisch’s Big Boy in the Cincinnati area, and a separate Big Boy chain in Japan.