Ray Roberts

Cups from Carl

The primary purpose of my adventures is to experience and document the remnants of diminished brands. However, since making the acquaintance of my good friend Carl Poncherello, my secondary purpose has been to collect any branded cups, wrappers, or napkins I can get my hands on.

Hey, remember the old header? 

Carl initially contacted me a few months ago after finding my blog when it still had its previous header image consisting of a row of disposable fast food cups that I had collected in my various wacky adventures. Like myself, Carl is a collector of what he and others like us (There are dozens of us!) call restaurant ephemera, basically items such as tray liners, disposable cups, or paper napkins, essentially anything that has branding and isn’t designed to be used more than once. (Ephemera, in my opinion, is not a descriptive enough name. I prefer to call it treasure garbage, because when 99.9% of something is thrown out, the remainder is rare enough to be considered a modern-day treasure.) Thanks to our shared interests, Carl’s initial message to me turned into regular correspondence and an offer to meet up and trade cups.

Our first meeting was early this year, when I met Carl and his wife Lorelai and brought with me a shoe box full of paper, plastic, and Styrofoam cups branded with the logos of the restaurants I had encountered on the previous month’s trip from Michigan to Tennessee via Minnesota. Carl reciprocated my offering of no more than ten cups with two sizable boxes of all his duplicate cups, totaling around 120, some of which appeared to be more than 50 years old.

Carl collects ephemera from all chains, new and old, broken or thriving and approaches collecting with a “Gotta catch ‘em all!” mentality. Having been blown away by his generosity in providing me such a massive collection of rare and interesting specimens, I’ve tried to reciprocate by collecting treasure garbage when I visit places he’s likely to find interesting. For instance, I’m writing this on a plane on a return trip from New Orleans with a carry-on bag full of branded disposable cups from gulf coast chains to bring to my next meetup with Carl and Lorelai. You’ll be hearing more about my New Orleans trip in the near future, but today, I’d like to discuss the setting of our most recent meeting.

The main reason restaurant ephemera is so appealing to me is its anachronistic nature. As restaurant chains evolve, and grow, their aesthetic also must change to adapt to changing consumer demographics and market trends. As such, logos, color palettes, and materials of the ephemeral cups, food wrappers, and napkins changes every few years, as do more concrete aspects of a chain’s corporate image, like menu boards and even the buildings themselves. More often than not, efforts are made to scrub the old corporate image from marketing, and indeed the collective consciousness, but bits and pieces of the previous incarnations of various brands can shine through the decades when one encounters a half century old paper cup. It’s a feeling akin what I feel when I encounter a Red Barn or Burger Chef holdout still doing business as usual in an old building with a new name. It’s a feeling I imagine time travelers having, if they have ever existed, or will ever exist.

If you live near a McDonald’s in North America, chances are it has lost its bright red mansard roof and yellow fluorescent light bars in the past few years and has transformed into a structure that has a neutral-colored, boxy, understated look. With a few notable exceptions, this toning down of fast food buildings is an industry-wide trend aimed at giving fast food a more upmarket appearance and better complying with various local zoning laws where new locations are being built.

Roy Rogers is a chain that has been slowly mounting a comeback over the past 20 years, and makes efforts to remain modern and relevant while also providing meaningful nods to their brand's legacy. It can be tough for a chain named for a long-dead actor known for cheesy cowboy films to feel modern, but my visit to the Cumberland, Maryland Roy Rogers last summer showed that they had been successful in modernizing their corporate image while still acknowledging their roots. 

The Cumberland, Maryland Roy Rogers as it looked last summer

A few months after my visit there, my suspicion that the Cumberland Roy Rogers was a new build was confirmed by a reader. (Thanks Marc!) An older Roy Rogers building had previously been located next door to the current one, and the building was just as much of a time capsule as an old Roy Rogers cup. 

And the old Cumberland Roy Rogers before its 2016 demolition

The original building’s trapezoidal roofline and stone corners were typical of Roy Rogers locations built in the ‘60s and ‘70s. The building also spotted a prominent solarium, a touch that many fast food buildings had in the ‘80s, likely inspired by Rax. Sadly, the building’s lack of a drive thru sealed its fate, and it was demolished and replaced with a shiny new building next door in 2016. The current building with its faux-retro signage and bright colors is quite distinctive by modern standards, but still lacks the character of the old location. I realize buildings don’t last forever, but I still hate to see Plamondon Company, Roy Rogers’ corporate parent, turning their back on their classic buildings.

For years, the world’s westernmost Roy Rogers location was at 474 Roney Lane in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 2012, the restaurant’s owner, son of the original franchisee, left the Roy Rogers chain in 2012 when he was unwilling to make changes to the menu and building that Plamondon Company had mandated. What followed was a strategic de-branding of the location. The restaurant's name was changed to Roney’s, which was both the name of the street they were located on and happened to be an easy word to use when modifying 1969-vintage covered wagon Roy Rogers neon sign. Trademarked menu items, such as the Double R Bar Burger, changed names as well, but the food itself, and business in general was very much as it was in the Roy Rogers days. Sadly, a lease dispute forced Roney’s closure in 2014. A used car lot occupies the old Roy Rogers/Roney’s building today, but that’s not where the story ends.

A year after the old Roney’s in Cincinnati closed, the owners packed up their yellow covered wagon sign and moved it four miles north to an all new building in the Cincinnati suburb of Milford, Ohio. Unlike the new Roy Rogers in Cumberland, Maryland, the new Roney’s in Milford bears a strong resemblance to Roy Rogers’ original architecture, with the same trapezoidal roofline and stone corners. The classically-styled structure also contains an operating drive thru, accomplishing what Plamondon failed to in Cumberland. Impressively, this single-restaurant operator appears to have paid an architect to design a modern fast food building that nearly perfectly captures the classic Roy Rogers aesthetic that Plamondon Companies has all but abandoned. A lesser small business owner would have tried to relocate on the cheap to a strip mall slot or empty Long John Silver’s rather than erecting a working monument to fast food history. I applaud the effort. 

Roney's as it appears today, more Roy Rogersy than Roy Rogers (Photo courtesy of Al Coleman)

After Carl casually mentioned Roney’s in his weekly email to me, I was obsessed. A newly-constructed architectural and culinary tribute to Roy Rogers was too enticing to keep me away for long, I routed my recent trip to Evansville, Indiana home via Cincinnati, and arranged to meet Carl and Lorelai for a cup exchange and lunch at Roney’s. We arrived within five minutes of each other on a Sunday morning, shortly before the restaurant’s 11 AM open time. The building was just as impressive in person as it was in the pictures I had seen. I would have sworn it was a 1970’s or earlier vintage Roy Rogers had I not known it was new construction. The modified covered wagon sign out front had clearly been altered as part of the name change, but it was in great shape. As we concluded our cup exchange and general geeking out about where we were, we noticed the first patrons of the day were walking into the building, and quickly followed suit. 

Classic fast food architecture, re-imagined for the 21st century

While Roney's couldn’t use the Roy Rogers restaurant brand, they weren’t shy about using images of Roy Rogers the person, and his costars inside. Seeming every vertical surface was covered in Roy Rogers movie posters and memorabilia. This not-Roy Rogers had more Roy Rogers in it than an official Roy Rogers. There were also a few other nods to the buisiness’ history, including the original stained glass dividers from the old building on the backs of the booths, and sign font that was reminiscent of the font on the Roy Rogers logo.

Roney's menu and order counter

Roy Rogers and pals; I'd be remiss in not pointing out Gabby Hayes on the lower left. 

As we got in line to order, I studied the menu, and found it relatively simple compared to Roy Rogers’ current menu. The burgers, roast beef, and fried chicken were all still present, but the later Roy Rogers menu additions like hand-scooped ice cream and specialty sandwiches like the Gold Rush chicken were missing. Additionally, sides were limited to fries and coleslaw, while Roy Rogers offers those plus mashed potatoes, beans, macaroni and cheese, and baked apples. Maybe these were the menu modifications that caused the initial schism between Roney’s owner and Plamondon. 

Vintage Roy Rogers stained glass sunset

When our turn to order came, Carl and Lorelai each ordered a roast beef sandwich, while I ordered a Lucky R Burger (Roney’s version of Roy Rogers’ ham-topped Double R Bar Burger), fries, coleslaw, a chicken leg, and a curious individual apple crisp topped with shredded cheese in an attempt to sample as much of the menu as possible. After ordering, we filled our drinks. Sadly, the birch beer I encountered at Roy Rogers was nowhere to be found at the drink station, but our order came up quickly, shortly after we had found a table. 

Y'all git...

...yer fixin's!

Just as they would have under the Roy Rogers banner, Roney’s prepares all sandwiches plain and allows patrons to dress them themselves from a topping bar (known as a Fixin’s Bar in Roy Rogers parlance) in the dining room. We proceeded to top our sandwiches and returned to our table to enjoy our meal. 

Lucky R Burger, undressed...

...and dressed.

Cup 'o slaw

While I didn’t sample the roast beef, the sandwiches Carl and Lorelai had looked very similar to the sandwich I had eaten at Roy Rogers last summer. The meat looked to be authentic slices of a real cut of beef rather than the processed mystery meat you’ll find on an Arby’s or Rax roast beef. My Lucky R Burger was a little undercooked by modern fast food standards. The thin quarter pound patty was still pink in the middle, but I didn’t mind as I prefer a burger on the rare side. Just as it would be at Roy Rogers, the ham on top had been warmed up on the grill. The sandwich didn’t taste quite as beefy as its Roy Rogers counterpart, but it was still pretty tasty. Everything else I had ordered was a new experience for me. 

The burger was definitely not overcooked. Ignore my ugly thumb. 

Slightly soggy, but still fresh fried chicken leg

Fries and apple cheese crisp

I’ve never tasted Roy Rogers, fries, coleslaw, or fried chicken, so I have no idea how the remainder of my order compares to the real thing. Likewise, the apple cheese crisp appears to only exist at Roney’s, though it may have existed at Roy Rogers at some point in the past. What I do know is that the sides were perfectly decent. The fries were fresh and had a size and shape similar to McDonald’s fries. The coleslaw was finely chopped and creamy, with a flavor profile similar to KFC coleslaw. The chicken leg, curiously came wrapped in foil, which trapped steam and made the breading a little soggy, but it was still a perfectly decent piece of chicken. The breading was similar in flavor and texture to what you’d find on an Outback Steakhouse Bloomin’ Onion. I occasionally enjoy a little cheese with my apple pie, and the apple cheese crisp was well-balanced, with just enough of the orange shreds mixed in with the crumb topping to provide a salty undertone. I’d rate all of it as above average for a fast food meal, as I would the food at Roy Rogers. After the massive meal, I resolved not to eat anything else that day, and was mostly successful in adhering to that plan.

Now that I’ve tried Roney’s chicken, coleslaw and fries, I’m going to have to take a trip back out to Roy Rogers' operating region in the Midatlantic and see how they compare. Unsurprisingly, I’m looking forward to it, but not as much as I’m looking forward to my next stop at Roney’s the next time I’m rolling down I-75. It’s throwback architecture and signage plus its underdog narrative have made this bootleg Roy Rogers my favorite Roy Rogers.

Broken Chains on Facebook

Broken Chains Store

Your Chain of Chains

In 1908 the Sunshine Biscuit Company introduced a new cookie consisting of two round chocolate wafers, each embossed with a decorative pattern, sandwiching a layer of sweet white cream filling. They named their product Hydrox after the constituent atoms of a water molecule to signify purity. Four years later, their competitor, the National Biscuit Company introduced a blatant knockoff of the Hydrox cookie with drastically similar round chocolate wafers and cream filling. National Biscuit Company, later known as Nabisco, called their Hydrox knockoff the Oreo, and with it, proceeded to dominate the market. Today, Hydrox cookies barely even manage to have a cult following. They go in and out of production sporadically, depending on which conglomerate owns the rights to the name. Even when they’re being made, they can be tough to find in stores and even online. The few people who are even aware of the Hydrox cookie today would likely consider it to be an Oreo imitator, even though it was actually the Hydrox that inspired the Oreo. The Hydrox cookie shows us that being first to market with a new product does not guarantee success or marketplace domination, especially when competitors are lurking in the shadows ready to imitate your good ideas, and learn from your missteps. This kind of thing happens constantly in the chain restaurant industry. Wendy’s is a prime example. They got their start shamelessly imitating Kewpee just as Kewpee was fading into obscurity, and eventually emulated Rax with their in-store salad and hot food bars in the ‘80s and ‘90s. However, Wendy’s culinary plagiarism seems insignificant when you realize that the most famous burger from the world’s most prolific burger joint, is nothing more than a cheap copy.

Ask the average person who invented the double deck hamburger, and they’re likely to say it was McDonald’s with the Big Mac. It’s easy to see why someone would assume this. The Big Mac with its two beef patties, special sauce, and three piece sesame seed bun is ubiquitous in North America. It’s perhaps the best known menu item from the 14,000 U.S. location-strong cultural icon. The truth is, McDonald’s wasn’t the first to serve a double deck burger. Bob Wian pioneered the concept at his Glendale, California restaurant, Bob’s Pantry in 1937. Seeking to wow, and perhaps flabbergast his customers who requested something new and spectacular, Wian constructed the burger that would become known as the Big Boy, a sandwich Bob Wian constructed to look like a ridiculous tower of bread and meat. His depression-era customers, used to skimpy single-patty burgers, and decades from today’s Thickburgers, Baconators, and Double Downs were floored by his creation. The hamburger that Wian built as little more than a joke between him and his regular customers became an overnight sensation. Wian would eventually name his creation the Big Boy, after a nickname he had given to Richard Woodruff a six-year-old customer at his restaurant. Likewise, a restaurant mascot was designed based on young Woodruff’s likeness. These were the humble beginnings of the Big Boy brand.

At this point, those of you reading from Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Southern California, and perhaps even Japan are exclaiming something to the effect of “Zap, Big Boy isn’t a broken chain! They’re everywhere!” I generally assumed the same for a long time, having lived in Big Boy country for most of my life, but once you’re more than 100 miles from the I-75 corridor, or south of the Tennessee/Kentucky state line, the fiberglass Big Boy statues suddenly disappear. This proves that Big Boy is far from a national brand, as it occupies only a relatively small specific region of the US. But how did a brand born in California end up with such a large presence on the other side of the country with only a few token locations on the west coast? Large gaps in operating territory are a hallmark of a broken chain, and a good indication that there’s a story of former greatness.

Bob Wian’s single restaurant had grown to a local chain by the early fifties when he began franchising the Big Boy sandwich, mascot, and name to other existing restaurant operators, who would add the Big Boy elements to their menus and restaurants. Some of Wian’s earliest franchisees were Dave Frisch from Cincinatti and brothers Fred, John, and Louis Elias from Detroit, who began operating their existing restaurants as Frisch’s Big Boy and Elias Brothers' Big Boy respectively. This practice of franchising a brand to already-established restaurants spawned a series of Big Boy chains with different names in different markets, effectively creating a large national chain, composed of smaller regional sub-chains. Individual Big Boy franchisees had significant differences in their restaurants and menus, aside from the double deck burger and Big Boy signs and statues. In fact, even the burger bun and toppings varied depending on which Big Boy chain was serving it. For instance Bob Wian’s Big Boy was topped with red relish, a mixture of ketchup and pickle relish, whereas David Frisch’s Big Boy used tartar sauce, and the Elias Brothers used a thousand island-based sauce. These differences persist to this day. All told, there were around 29 separate regional Big Boy chains with names spanning the alphabet from Abdow’s Big Boy to Yoda’s Big Boy. This loose affiliation of regional Big Boy franchisees effectively made Big Boy a national brand, with each regional franchisee paying fees back to Bob Wian’s Wian Enterprises. In 1967 Wian Enterprises was purchased by Marriott, who at the time was looking to expand their restaurant business. Around this time, all Marriott-owned locations adopted the Bob’s Big Boy name. The chain grew through the seventies to somewhere north of 1000 locations in 1979. It was around this time, though when things started to fall apart. As the initial 25 year franchise agreements began to lapse, regional franchisees left the Big Boy chain to become separate, entirely independent chains. Southern franchisees Shoney’s, and Pittsburgh-area franchisees Eat ‘n Park, and Elby’s all left Big Boy at around the same time. By the late ‘80s Marriott wanted out of the restaurant business, and sold the Big Boy name, and all remaining corporate locations to Elias Brothers in 1987. Elias Bros would go on to declare bankruptcy in 2000 and be acquired by Robert Ligget Junior’s Liggett Restaurant Enterprises. At the same time, Frisch’s became a completely separate corporate entity, linked only to the other Big Boy chain by name, and confined to Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana.

Big Boy came into existence, established itself as a drive-in restaurant chain, and later a sit down chain, just as the fast food industry as we know it today was finding footing. Seemingly every fast food burger chain had an imitation of the Big Boy sandwich, and I’ve sampled quite a few of them for Broken Chains. In addition to the Big Mac, the Burger Shef Big Shef, the Dog n Suds Texas Burger, the Frostop Orbit Burger, and the Jerry’s J-Boy were all Big Boy imitators. In fact, Jerry’s in particular seemed to be a pretty blatant copy of Frisch’s entire operation. None of the triple bun wonders had the staying power of the Big Mac, though. McDonald’s thrived with the Big Mac on their menu while Big Boy quite literally fell apart, firmly cementing the Big Boy as the Hydrox of hamburgers.

Big Boy today is a literal broken chain, fractured into multiple, barely related pieces, with Big Boy Restaurants International LLC, a descendant of Liggett Restaurant Enterprises operating 77 US locations, mostly in Michigan, simply called “Big Boy,” plus five surviving Southern California Bob’s Big Boys. It’s estranged cousin, Frisch’s Big Boy, as of 2015 a subsidiary of parent company NRD Capital, operates 121 locations in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. Both chains have significantly shrunk recently closing multiple locations. Big Boy and Frisch’s Big Boy locations I’ve visited in the past couple of years have deteriorated noticeably in terms of overall appearance as well as quality of food and service. Additionally, several former Big Boy franchisees still exist today as separate regional chains. There’s quite a bit to unpack and experience with regard to the Big Boy brand and its remnants. In order to explore the modern legacy of Big Boy fully, I’m going to declare November 2018 Big Boy Month. All my blog posts this month will be about my experiences at locations chains related to the fallen Big Boy empire, so pull on your red and white checkerboard overalls, hoist your burger tray high, and embark with me on a journey through chain restaurant history.

We Like Roy! We Like Roy!

In discussing the history of the businesses I visit, I often find myself penning long-winded, soporific paragraphs about the mergers and acquisitions of the companies involved with the inception and decline of each restaurant and retail brand about which I see fit to write. One name seems to come up more often than others in these piles of plain prose. That name is Hardee’s.

Under the guidance of both Hardee’s Food Systems and later parent company Imasco, The Hardee’s operating territory was expanded by buying out and fully converting other fast food chains to the Hardee’s brand. Hardee’s strategy of acquiring and assimilating struggling regional chains is the reason you’re hard pressed to find anything resembling an operating Sandy’s, Burger Chef, or Dee’s Drive In today. Hardee’s assimilation strategy would come to an end in 1997 with their acquisition from Imasco by Carl’s Jr parent company CKE. Until then, every brand Hardee’s acquired was completely swallowed up, except for the one brand that Hardee’s regurgitated.

Like Hardee’s, Roy Rogers was made up of an amalgam of brands, and spent the first couple decades of its life under the Marriott corporate umbrella. The brand evolved from RoBee’s, a roast beef sandwich chain started by a group of Big Boy Franchisees in 1967, the same year Marriott acquired Big Boy. They would go on to acquire RoBee’s the following year. The name change came as the result of legal pressure from Arby’s citing similarities between the two restaurants. Big Boy founder and Marriott board member Bob Wian knew Roy Rogers personally and was able to convince the prolific western film actor to lend his name to the new, east coast-based enterprise. The first Roy Rogers opened in Falls Church, Virginia in 1968. The brand would expand its footprint along the way with the acquisition of the Baltimore-based Gino’s chain. When Roy Rogers absorbed Pappy Parker’s, in the early ‘70s their menu gained Pappy’s fried chicken and burgers making them competitive with the dominant fast food genres of the day. The chain would peak somewhere north of 600 locations thanks in part to a fiercely loyal clientele

Hardee’s, ever megalomaniacal, and seeking to expand their footprint into the Midatlantic region acquired Roy Rogers from Marriott in 1990, and converted company-owned locations to Hardee’s. Many converted locations retained fried chicken on their menus. The pre-Thickburger era Hardee’s Burgers that replaced the Roy Rogers burger line were not well received by customers, and Hardee’s failed to thrive in former Roy Rogers locations. Many of the Roy Rogers-Turned-Hardee's locations were hastily sold off to other brands in the ‘90s, leaving just 24 free standing Roy Rogers locations plus a handful of travel plaza locations in operation, all of which were owned by franchisees.

Pete Plamondon Sr. was one of those franchisees. He was previously a Marriott executive heavily involved with the Roy Rogers Brand before leaving the company and opening his own Roy Rogers in 1980. Having purchased Hardee’s and It’s legacy brands from Imasco in 1997, CKE restaurants had little interest in developing Roy Rogers, and sold the brand to Plamondon in 2002. Plamondon and later his sons Pete Jr. and Jim have been slowly expanding the brand’s presence ever since. Today, there are a total of 55 or so Roy Rogers locations in six states. I ate at the Cumberland, Maryland location a couple weeks back.

I had been on the road since 5:00 that morning, with nothing other than an orange scone from an Ohio Turnpike Panera to eat all day when I darkened the doorway of the Cumberland Roy Rogers at lunchtime. This was mostly by design. I had perused the Roy Rogers menu via their website a couple days before and marveled at the bounty of entrees and sides they had to offer. I wanted to be able to sample as much of the menu as possible, as this would be my only Roy Rogers stop. Since Roy Rogers began as a roast beef chain, I wanted to try the sandwich that started it all. I was also intrigued by the Double R Bar Burger, a cheeseburger topped with ham. There’s also a wide array of unique sides. I went with baked apples and macaroni and cheese. The uniqueness continued at the drink fountain where I was intrigued by Fanta Birch Beer on tap, the first non-fruit Fanta I’d encountered. It was lunchtime on a Sunday, and the place was packed, but the staff was more than capable of handling the crowd. The line moved quickly, and I had my order within a few minutes. 

Roast beef sandwich and Double R Bar Burger before fixin's...

Y'all git yer fixin's!

...and after

Since the early eighties, all Roy Rogers sandwiches are prepared with meat and cheese only. Patrons then dress their sandwiches with vegetables and condiments from “Roy’s Fixin's Bar.” (Burger Chef implemented a similar system around the same time, but instructed customers to order sandwiches “with or without,” either with the default toppings or plain to be dressed from the Burger Chef Works Bar.) Roy’s Fixins Bar has the typical burger toppings, plus a few unconventional selections like pico de gallo and banana peppers. The normal burger condiments are there too, plus the roast beef ones, sauces similar to, but presumably legally distinct from Arby’s Sauce and Horsey Sauce. I load my sandwiches with my preferred accoutrements, and sit down to eat. Both sandwiches seem to be high quality. Unlike Arby’s and Rax processed mystery meat, my roast beef sandwich is actually made from intact pieces of cow, sliced off an actual roast. It reminds me of the sandwiches I’d make out of leftover Sunday roasts when I was a kid. Likewise, the burger has a pleasant steaky quality, but it kind of overwhelms the ham. The sides were perfectly adequate and novel, if a bit incongruous with the sandwiches. I’ll have to order chicken and some more of the sides on my next trip. I want to experience the bulk of the menu here eventually. 

Shiny new building exterior

Thoroughly modern menu

Seasonal limited time menu item

The building appears to be a newer construction, and feels like a modern fast food joint with up to date signage and menu boards. A color palate with a blend of reds and oranges coupled with modern architecture gives the place a modern feel with nods the the brand’s late 1960s heritage. There are posters from Roy Rogers movies all over the walls, and various western themed elements to acknowledge the chain’s original spokesman. Somewhat bizarrely, there’s a lifesize cardboard cutout of longtime Baltimore Oriole Cal Ripken Jr. in the lobby, plus a few posters of him scattered around the property. He’s apparently Roy Rogers spokesman these days, which is a bit confusing, but somewhat necessary considering Roy Rogers, the person, has been dead for two decades. Still, there’s a plaque with a likeness of Roy Rogers by the order counter with some corporate ad copy about great tasting food and service with a smile. Although the place is busy, the lobby is clean and is a perfectly pleasant place to be despite the crowds. I have no idea if all the surviving Roy Rogers locations are this well run, but I’m inclined to think they are considering this is my first every Roy Rogers experience. Everything about this location has left me intrigued and wanting to experience more. I may have to plan a Ponderosa-esque trek through the Tidewater to experience several meals at different Roy Rogers locations one of these days. 

Now here's Roy...

...and his buddy Cal

Being swallowed up by Hardee’s meant certain death for every other fast food brand that met that fate, but Roy Rogers was able to escape the fate of complete assimilation by the Hardee’s hivemind and come out the other side with a fast food concept that feels both novel and still thoroughly modern despite minimal changes over the years. Whether you chalk up the survival of the brand to Roy Rogers fans not accepting Hardee’s moving in on their territory, the dedication of the Plamondon family, Hardee’s spreading themselves too thin, or some combination thereof, I’m excited that Roy Rogers still exists and seems to be thriving within its regional market. In fact, it really only has broken chain status because the chain is a tenth of its former size. All other indicators show that the Roy Rogers chain is anything but broken. It would be great to see a few more of my beloved endangered fast food brands enjoy similar resurgences, and I’d be overjoyed to be telling a similar story about the comeback of my beloved G.D. Ritzy’s in a few years.

Speaking of, the new Ritzy’s in Columbus is set to open any day now, run by chain founder Graydon Webb and his sons Corey and Bryan. I’ll be making regular trips there once they’re open. If Roy Rogers is any indication, a father-sons team reviving a beloved family fast food business is a winning combination that has the potential to be a regional hit with both old and new fans. I sincerely hope that my acquaintances, the Webbs, have all the success and more with Ritzy’s that the Plamondons have had with Roy Rogers. Like Roy Rogers, G.D. Ritzy’s offers a unique, high quality experience at a reasonable price and is just as deserving of a successful revival, with or without Cal Ripken tagging along.