Talk:Big Boy

Big Boy Restaurant descriptors

Writing concise, accurate descriptors for the Big Boy restaurant entries is difficult. There are several reasons.

First is that Big Boy is actually a chain of regional chains or franchises.

Second is that Big Boy Restaurants, the primary article, must define both the current owner, Big Boy Restaurants International, and Big Boy historically, which had many more restaurants and covered much more of the US and Canada.

Another complicating factor is the franchise names and relationships. When Elias Brothers bought the Big Boy parent from Marriott, there were intentions to phase out franchise names. When Liggett (the current owner aka Big Boy Restaurants International) bought out Elias Brothers, all the Elias Brothers Big Boys simply became Big Boy. Other franchises resisted.

The other complication has to do with Frisch's. Frisch's made a deal to operate exclusively and independently of Liggett. It isn't apparent to the general public as both continue to use the same trademark, offer common menu items and maintain exclusive territories. However there are no franchise fees or royalties, no licensing, no franchisor/franchisee relationship. This creates terrible confusion. It isn't true or fair to say Big Boy Restaurants = Big Boy Restaurants International and ignore Frisch's. So I choose to say "Frisch's is a Big Boy franchise" in a common sense but not (no longer) a franchisee.

Lastly, comes Bob's Big Boy. Bob's was the original Big Boy, the original parent in a sense. Now it is a franchisee (or actually a collection of franchised owner/operators sharing the regional name). The Bob's name is so strong that Liggett these California units to remain as Bob's Big Boy (and offer a somewhat distinct menu).

The point is that over time the relationships have changed dramatically, and descriptions must be fuzzy to accommodate this.

A new issue... One must consider whether operating restaurant chains that were at one time affiliated with Big Boy, which have existing Wikipedia articles, should be listed here. Namely Shoney's Big Boy and Eat'n Park Big Boy. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Box73 (talk • contribs) 23:22, 9 May 2013 (UTC)