How Big Boy Began

The Big Boy itself began with Bob Wian in Glendale, California.

Bob sold his car for $350.00 and opened a small restaurant called

Bob’s Pantry.  He set into operation a policy that persists today

throughout all Big Boy restaurants... the finest quality food and the best

service.

Members of an orchestra playing in the vicinity stopped in the

restaurant and asked Bob Wian if he could dream up something

different than just a plain hamburger. “Why not”, Wian mused.

As if his hands were guided by an unseen force, he cut a regulation

hamburger bun into three slices, and inserted not one but two

hamburger patties into place.  It was then garnished with a special

and very delectable relish he had prepared.  Wian handed the

innovation to the players and anxiously awaited the decision.

“Wow”, they chorused.  “This is it!” and it was. Other customers

saw him preparing it and asked for one.  They agreed with the

musicians. Wian had made a better hamburger.

One day a chubby youngster walked into Wian’s now flourishing

restaurant.  “He was about six,” Bob recalled, “and rolls of fat

protruded where his shirt and pants were designed to meet. I was so

amused by the youngster - jolly, healthy looking and obviously a

lover of good things to eat, I called him Big Boy.”  So why not name

the new hamburger Big Boy? Wian did. That was the birth of the

first double-deck hamburger.

Big Boy is a registered trademark of Big Boy Restaurants International, L.L.C.