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BIG BOY: Conversion slatedFROM 1Janet Lowder, a Rancho Palos Verdes restaurant consultant.They may have another concept they’re looking at trying at those sites, she surmised.But Malanga said Tuesday that the company was firm in its plans to convert the restaurants to the Coco’s and Carrows family dining concepts. He said none of the sites would be sold to help pay for the deal. Restaurant Enterprises hasn’t finalized the financing for the transaction.Besides Coco’s and Carrows, the company operates several well-known chains in Southern California, including El Torito, Reuben’s and Charlie Brown’s, and such prominent Orange County restaurants as Las Brisas in Laguna Beach and Chanteclair in Irvine.How much Marriott will net from the deal, which involves the sale of the restaurant sites and their leaseholds, isn't clear. Officials of the Bethesda, Md.-based company couldn’t be reached after the deal was announced Tuesday afternoon.The most attention Bob’s Big Boy received in recent years came in 1985, when Marriott pulled off a hugely successful publicity stunt by asking patrons if it should to keep the famous Big Boy figures. About 3.8 million votes were cast during the campaign, and 87 percent voted to keep the chubby little fellow.Unsatisfied with Big Boy’s performance, Marriott later announced plans to convert Big Boy restaurants into a new concept called Allie’s, which offered Mexican, American and pasta dishes and was named after founder J.W. Marriott’s wife. Sixteen restaurants in San Diego were transformed into Allie’s, but that’s about as far as the program went.In late 1989, Marriott put Big Boy and all of its other restaurant holdings up for sale as part of a massive restructuring intended to refocus on its hotel operations and pare more than $3 billion in debt.It isn’t clear exactly when the Big Boy figures will disappear from the local landscape, or what will become of them. The deal is expected to close this summer.Among the food operations Marriott has since sold are the Roy Rogers chain, to Hardee’s for $365 million, and its airline food division to that unit’s managers, for $570 million.At least three other large chains, Los Angeles-based Sizzler Restaurants and the Ponderosa and Bonanza steakhouse chains owned by Metromedia Co., eyed Big Boy in the past 13 months, but decided to pass. That lengthy time on the market was reflected in the price the company ultimately received, Lowder said.In these difficult economic times, the price ($65 million) is probably on the low side, she said. Marriott didn’t get what it had hoped.”Wian formed Big Boy in 1936, selling his car for $350 to buy a tiny diner on Colorado Boulevard in Glendale. At the time, he sold a burger and shake for 60 cents.The company later became known for a double-decker hamburger it dubbed the Big Boy Burger. The sandwich was a favorite of Woodruff, the boy who cleaned the ice-cream machines. He died of kidney failure at 54 in 1986.Wian, who is 77 and lives in Newport Beach, couldn’t be reached Tuesday.After buying the diner, Wian added 21 more Big Boy restaurants during the next 30 years before selling the chain to Marriott in 1967 for $7 million. Marriott, in turn, turned Bob’s into a national chain of nearly 900 restaurants.The original Bob’s Big Boy in Glendale closed in October 1989 and was replaced by a minimall.
Newspaper Details
Santa Ana Orange County Register
Santa Ana, California, US
Wed, Jan 23, 1991
Page 18
Full Page
Clipped by
Robert T.
NY, USA 02 Jan 2018
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