Posted on 02/16/2017 8:07:30 AM PST by 11th_VA
“DOES HoJo still serve fried clams?” asked a Howard Johnson’s patron, using the nickname for the restaurant chain. He recently ate there for the first time in nearly 40 years. Back then, “HoJo” could be found on almost every highway and byway and felt as ubiquitous as McDonald’s or Starbucks are today. At its height in the 1970s, Howard Johnson’s had more than 1,000 restaurants and was the biggest food chain in America. Only the army fed more people. Now, only one is left. The last one standing is in Lake George, a summer tourist spot in New York’s Adirondacks.
Howard Deering Johnson, the chain’s founder, started his food empire in 1925 with an ice-cream shop outside Boston. He was an early pioneer of franchising. At one point in the 1960s, a new restaurant opened every nine days. Growth coincided with the rise of the car, the highway system, the middle class and family holidays. Each franchise had to adhere to the “Howard Johnson’s Bible”, which dictated everything from decor to the amount of tartare sauce; and each had to use food prepared by central commissaries, which was delivered to the restaurants for final cooking. The large menu included 28 ice-cream flavours, tender sweet Ipswich fried clams and butter-grilled “frankforts”...
(Excerpt) Read more at economist.com ...
Great memories from everyone on this thread !!!
Bellyless clams. That is what they sold. Just goes to show that ANYTHING that can be breaded and fried will sell.
Most of the Stucky’s seemed to have morphed into cracker barrel resturants...the concept is the same!
Actually, RaysHill was bypassed...the other 2 you mentioned were “twinned” to allow 4 lane operation and are still open.
Not sure why you're comparing Shady Glen to the massive chain of Howard Johnson restaurants. Although when I was a child in the 1960s, I remember HoJo's food was similarly delicious.
Thankfully, Shady Glen's two wonderful restaurants live on in Manchester, CT. From what I've seen, they get REALLY crowded at times, so I have to assume the 2-restaurant "chain" is doing well.
I have many relatives who have moved out of CT (years ago). But when they visit family and friends in CT, they *always* make sure to stop at Shady Glen. I would do the same.
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