Big Boy Restaurants Franchise Overview

About Big Boy Restaurants

Big Boy, an iconic American restaurant brand founded in 1936, celebrating it’s 84-anniversary in 2020, with a continued focus of shared family experiences around food and supporting communities. Big Boy Restaurant Group, LLC is based in Southfield, Michigan. The company operates and manages franchises of Big Boy, Bob’s Big Boy restaurants in Michigan, Ohio, California and North Dakota.

Franchise History

The Big Boy itself began with Bob Wian in Glendale, California. Bob sold his car for $350.00 and opened a small restaurant called Bob's Pantry. He set into operation a policy that persists today throughout all Big Boy restaurants ... the finest quality food and the best service. Members of an orchestra playing in the vicinity stopped in the restaurant and asked Bob Wian if he could dream up something different than just a plain hamburger. Why not, Wian mused. As if his hands were guided by an unseen force, he cut a regulation hamburger bun into three slices, and inserted not one but two hamburger patties into place. It was then garnished with a special and very delectable relish he had prepared. Wian handed the innovation to the players and anxiously awaited the decision. Wow, they chorused. This is it! and it was. Other customers saw him preparing it and asked for one. They agreed with the musicians. Wian had made a better hamburger. One day a chubby youngster walked into Wian's now flourishing restaurant. He was about six, Bob recalled, and rolls of fat protruded where his shirt and pants were designed to meet. I was so amused by the youngster -- jolly, healthy looking and obviously a lover of good things to eat, I called him Big Boy. So why not name the new hamburger Big Boy? Wian did. That was the birth of the first double-decker hamburger.