Roy Rogers Restaurants


Roy Rogers Franchise Company, LLC is a chain of fast food restaurants primarily located in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States. The chain originated as the rebranding of the RoBee's House of Beef chain of Fort Wayne, Indiana acquired by the Marriott Corporation in February 1968. However, Marriott first used the Roy Rogers Roast Beef name on conversions of the company's Junior Hot Shoppes in the Washington D.C. area in April 1968, then the existing RoBee's stores. An aggressive nationwide franchising campaign was launched. At its peak, the chain included over 600 locations. As of August 2019, the chain has 48 locations.
The Roy Rogers chain was sold in 1990 to Imasco, then the parent company of Hardee's, and experienced severe decline as many locations were converted to Hardee's stores. In 2002, the trademark was purchased by Plamondon Companies.
Roy Rogers' menu consists primarily of hamburgers, roast beef sandwiches, fried chicken, nine side items, and beverages. Many locations also serve breakfast.

History

1967–1968: RoBee's and Marriott

In 1967 the Azar's Big Boy restaurant franchise started RoBee's House of Beef restaurants in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. The Marriott Corp., which had acquired Bob's Big Boy and the Big Boy trademark in 1967, acquired RoBee's in February 1968 with plans to expand nationwide. RoBee's franchises would first be offered to Big Boy franchisees to coincide with their existing Big Boy territory. At the time there were 13 RoBee's restaurants in six states.
During the acquisition, in January 1968, the competing roast beef chain Arby's sued RoBee's for trademark infringement and unfair competition. Because "RoBee's" sounded too much like "Arby's" the settlement required a new brand name and Marriott wanted something recognizable. Big Boy founder Bob Wian, then sitting on Marriott's board of directors, was friends with Roy Rogers' agent and suggested that the company approach Rogers about the use of his name. Already interested in associating with a chain restaurant, Rogers was in similar discussions with another company when Marriott called. Nonetheless, he accepted Marriott's offer: Rogers would receive a licensing fee for use of his name and also be paid for personal appearances at the restaurants. The restaurants would be called "Roy Rogers Roast Beef Sandwich" restaurants, and despite Arby's complaints, it retained RoBee's building design and covered wagon logo design.
Several major Big Boy franchisees accepted Marriott's offer and became Roy Rogers regional franchisees, including Abdow's, Frisch's, Elias Brothers, Marc's, and Shoney's which together covered much of the Northeastern, Midwest and Southern US. Pittsburgh franchisee Eat'n Park rejected the offer and took public offense at paying fees to Rogers. In the Pittsburgh area and elsewhere, other regional franchisees were sought who would also subfranchise to smaller operators, and by January 1969 Marriott claimed regional franchises for every state but Alaska. Roy Rogers' restaurants also opened in Canada, franchised to that nation's Big Boy franchisee, JB's of Canada.
Marriott divided the United States into 33 franchise regions and required regional franchisees open a set number of restaurants in a four-year period. Regional franchisees would pay Marriott a 2% royalty, and subfranchisees typically pay the regional franchisee 3%, who would keep the additional 1%. A restaurant required a $35,000 cash investment upfront, including $7,500 paid to Marriott. Additionally, the cost of the building and equipment, with seating for 42 persons, cost about $100,000 in 1968, excluding the cost of land. Marriott offered financing but charged an interest rate of 12% on land and 17% for the building. The prototype restaurant seated 40 to 45 persons with additional outdoor seating on an optional patio in front of the building, but actual restaurants varied, one franchisee's dining area accommodating 75 persons.
The first Roy Rogers restaurant opened in April 1968 in the Bailey's Crossroads section of Falls Church, Virginia, on the corner of Leesburg Pike and Carlin Springs Road. Another opened at 5214 River Road, in Bethesda, Maryland. The area was selected because Marriott was headquartered in metropolitan Washington, D.C., the River Road unit located directly across the street. These first locations were conversions of Jr. Hot Shoppes, Marriott's existing fast food chain. In May 1968, RoBee's units began to open as Roy Rogers. Rogers made a four state tour of namesake restaurants in the Southern U.S., appearing at each location for an hour, shaking hands and handing out signed photographs. Filming for the first television commercials advertising Roy Rogers Restaurants took place in the Apple Valley, California area where Rogers lived with his family. In 1968 and 1969, Rogers and friends, Earl Bascom and Mel Marion, were filmed at various locations including the historic Las Flores Ranch in Summit Valley and the Campbell Ranch in Victorville.
Rapid growth began in 1968 and Marriott made optimistic projections. In October 1968, there were reportedly 38 units open and 65 under construction, and by December, 56 open and 39 under construction. Marriott projected 700 or more Roy Rogers restaurants in four years. By June 1969, 105 units were open with a new projection of 870 in four years. A February 1970 newspaper article reported that over 160 units were in operation. However, growth halted in 1970, when Marriott suspended Roy Rogers franchising, due to financial losses from closings of failing locations. The following year, the Texas–based regional franchise, Ram-Hart Systems, filed for Chapter 11 protection, asking to terminate leases found unprofitable, which were making the entire chain unprofitable. After franchising resumed, only 172 restaurants were open by September 1972, a quarter of the 700 stores projected four years earlier.
In 1982, Marriott bought the Gino's restaurant chain for $48.6 million. The company converted 180 of the 313 restaurants to Roy Rogers to expand in the Baltimore/Washington area.

1990: Hardee's

In 1990, Marriott sold the chain for $365 million to Imasco, the parent company of Hardee's, a Southern chain seeking further expansion into the Mid-Atlantic market. The remaining non-franchised Roy Rogers locations were converted into Hardee's restaurants, although many of the converted Hardee's continued to offer Roy Rogers' fried chicken. The conversion of the Roy Rogers chain caused a customer revolt and the units returned the Roy Rogers' brand. The restaurants promoted new flame-broiled hamburgers, but they were not the same as the original Roy Rogers products and later failed.
Hardee's finally sold the remaining Roy Rogers locations to McDonald's, Wendy's, and Boston Market between 1994 and 1996. This left 13 Roy Rogers franchisees, with two dozen free-standing locations, in addition to locations owned by HMSHost in travel plazas along highways in the Northeast.
Prior to the Hardee's acquisition, Roy Rogers cooked its fries in a blend of beef tallow and vegetable oil. Hardee's, which had already replaced tallow with all vegetable shortening, implemented the same procedure for Roy Rogers.

2002: Plamondon Companies

In 1997, CKE Restaurants acquired Hardee's from Imasco, but Imasco retained the Roy Rogers trademark and franchise system, finally selling Roy Rogers to Plamondon Enterprises in 2002, after three years of negotiation. Roy Rogers was relaunched as Roy Rogers Franchise Company, LLC. Plamondon had already opened the first new Roy Rogers restaurant in Frederick, Maryland in 2000. At the time of the sale, there were 63 existing Roy Rogers franchises in nine states.
Plamondon Companies, which opened its first franchised Roy Rogers restaurant in 1980, took the lead among franchisees in developing products, hosting training sessions and shooting new food photography for their stores. The company is run by Jim Plamondon and Peter Plamondon, Jr., the two sons of Peter Plamondon, Sr., head of the restaurant division at Marriott when the Roy Rogers brand was created. Based in Frederick, Maryland, Plamondon is a privately held company.

Key dates

Though standard Roy Rogers locations serve food in a typical fast-food fashion, some locations and the franchises located throughout Mid-Atlantic highway rest-stops serve the food in a cafeteria-style. An exception is the Allentown service plaza on the Pennsylvania Turnpike's Northeast Extension, which serves its customers in the typical fast-food fashion since it reopened in May 2008.
In the cafeteria-style restaurants, customers push their trays on rails past stations stocked with pre-wrapped packages of hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and roast-beef sandwiches. A feature of this chain in any of the locations is the Fixin's Bar which features numerous condiments. Due to this feature, sandwich items are delivered without any of the customary garnishes. After selecting and paying for these items, patrons can garnish them to their own taste at the Fixin's Bar with such items as ketchup, BBQ sauce, mayonnaise, horseradish sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and onions. Numerous locations offer hand-dipped milkshakes made with Edy's Ice Cream.
Popular items on the menu are roast beef sandwiches and fried chicken, which was advertised by Roy Rogers under the "Pappy Parker" name beginning in the 1970s using a cartoon prospector. Other signature items at Roy Rogers are the Gold Rush chicken sandwich and the Double-R Bar Burger. The side items featured at Roy Rogers are french fries, baked potatoes, mashed potatoes with gravy, and baked beans.

Locations

As of July 2020, there are 49 total Roy Rogers Restaurants in six states:
Aside from having locations in Washington D.C. most locations are located in suburban or small-town locations; there are none in New York City, though there were in the past.