Franchise Bits

Let’s Talk Franchising has an interesting look at the once dominant HoJo franchise.

From the article:

Remember the franchise chain? The iconic orange roof once welcomed a generation of travelers along the nation’s interstates. Founder Howard D. Johnson is credited with originating the concept of a franchised restaurant chain, where the food was predictably consistent, the staff always courteous and the facilities sparkling clean. The combination kept customers coming back.

He started in Quincy, Massachusetts in the late 1920s, before McDonald’s and the other restaurant empires that followed. Post-World War II, he foresaw the appeal of toll roads and interstates, and put his restaurants at stops along the highways. In the 1950s, he added motels to also service the ever-growing flow of mobile Americans.

In its heyday, the company had some 1,000 franchise restaurants, where “all you can eat” specials — fried clams, fried fish — and 28 flavors of ice cream beckoned. Johnson started out with a soda fountain that drew patrons with its hand-churned, high-butterfat ice cream, then began adding hot dogs and hamburgers.

Soon, the staples had Johnson signatures: hotdogs became “frankforts” and were grilled in butter and served in square buns in a paper boat; ice cream was heaped into cold metal dishes from pointed scoops that allowed a generous overflow bed, resembling a shock of clown hair that couldn’t be contained by its cap.

You can read the full article here.

It’s sad to see a franchise with this kind of history on the way out, but - like all things - time goes one and things change. Now there is a new generation of franchises out there, and one day they’ll be on the way out. It’s just a matter of time.