Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The last Howard Johnson’s restaurant is for sale - How HoJo lost its mojo
economist.com ^ | Feb 16th 2017 | LAKE GEORGE, NEW YORK

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 ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News; US: New York
KEYWORDS: howardjohnsons
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-65 next last
Great memories as a kid going there ...
1 posted on 02/16/2017 8:07:30 AM PST by 11th_VA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: 11th_VA

Remember Stucky’s? Loved those places too.


2 posted on 02/16/2017 8:12:02 AM PST by Dogbert41 (Jerusalem is the city of The Great King! Forgive my misspelling when on my tablet.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 11th_VA

3 posted on 02/16/2017 8:12:48 AM PST by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 11th_VA

You can probably buy fried clams as good as I used to buy at Howard Johnson’s. When I find out where I can buy them I’ll let everybody know.


4 posted on 02/16/2017 8:14:35 AM PST by InterceptPoint (Ted, you finally endorsed. About time.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 11th_VA

Loved the beans and franks....


5 posted on 02/16/2017 8:14:51 AM PST by GSWarrior
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 11th_VA

I think they started going downhill when Consumer Reports(?) showed on National TV that HoJo’s was cheating their customers with a ‘Large’ soft drink and ‘Small’ soft drink having the same amount, but served in different glasses that made it appear one was larger than the other................


6 posted on 02/16/2017 8:15:13 AM PST by Red Badger (If "Majority Rule" was so important in South Africa, why isn't it that way here?.......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 11th_VA
> Great memories as a kid going there ... <

Yes, indeed. Breakfast with Simple Simon.


7 posted on 02/16/2017 8:16:54 AM PST by Leaning Right (I have already previewed or do not wish to preview this composition.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dogbert41
I remember getting a free log roll with each fillup, so on long trips I'd beg my dad to buy gas at Stuckey's.

They're still in business, btw.

8 posted on 02/16/2017 8:17:09 AM PST by Yo-Yo ( Is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

Is that Blazing Saddles?


9 posted on 02/16/2017 8:17:32 AM PST by 11th_VA (#notmyappealscourt)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: 11th_VA


10 posted on 02/16/2017 8:17:47 AM PST by Puppage (You may disagree with what I have to say, but I shall defend to your death my right to say it)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 11th_VA

Yes.


11 posted on 02/16/2017 8:17:57 AM PST by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: InterceptPoint

back when I was a young business traveler, I would go in there on all-you-can-eat fried clam night. If I eat that much fried food now, I am up all night — aging ain’t always fun.


12 posted on 02/16/2017 8:18:18 AM PST by KC Burke (If all the world is a stage, I would like to request my lighting be adjusted.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: 11th_VA

By the mid-seventies there was nobody insuring that bathrooms were kept clean across the chain.

My memories growing up were that whether you were in Little Rock or Denver, the food would be merely okay and the men’s room would be filthy.

The chain lacked uniform quality control.


13 posted on 02/16/2017 8:19:01 AM PST by MrEdd (MrEdd)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dogbert41

I used to get pecan logs at Stuckeys.

I think Howard Johnson was done when they started using HoJo. Sounded like an inner city hang out for whores.


14 posted on 02/16/2017 8:21:00 AM PST by yarddog (Romans 8:38-39, For I am persuaded.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: InterceptPoint

The last time I ate at Howard Johnsons, I got the fried clams.

I was sick for 3 days.


15 posted on 02/16/2017 8:22:27 AM PST by Fresh Wind (Hillary: Go to jail. Go directly to jail. Do not pass GO. Do not collect 2 billion dollars.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: 11th_VA

I loved HOJO’s fried clams when I was a kid. Every rode trip we ever took included at least one stop at a HOJO’s.


16 posted on 02/16/2017 8:23:52 AM PST by pgkdan (The Silent Majority Stands With TRUMP!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Puppage

Love the nostalgia! Those prices are a hoot.


17 posted on 02/16/2017 8:24:01 AM PST by GnuThere
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: 11th_VA

As a kid, we’d help my friend’s older brother deliver his Sunday newspapers (he was 18, we were 11 and I learned later, he’d be hungover from partying the night before) , and he’d take us for pancakes at HoJo’s


18 posted on 02/16/2017 8:24:18 AM PST by PGR88
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 11th_VA

They never served fried clams. Clam strips, which almost sacrilege. The bellies are what make the fried clam a fried clam.


19 posted on 02/16/2017 8:24:19 AM PST by SamAdams76
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: InterceptPoint

GFS stores have the clams you are looking for.


20 posted on 02/16/2017 8:25:21 AM PST by Farmer Dean (168 grains of instant conflict resolution)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-65 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson