I can recall that long family trips in the early fifties involved packing lunches in the Scotch cooler
because the diners had such horrible food. Gristle laden burgers, stale bread on the sandwiches, and so on.
The Ho Jo's were attractive because they were all clean, especially the rest rooms, had cheerful staff, decent meals at decent prices, kids menus, and consistent from one restaurant to the next. They also had those kids placemats with drawings, bits of history and simple puzzles to keep kids busy and quiet.