Frisch's

Origins and early restaurants

In 1905, Samuel Frisch opened the Frisch Cafe in Cincinnati, Ohio. Five years later he closed the café, moved to the Norwood suburb of Cincinnati, and opened another café. Success brought a new building in 1915 for the restaurant then known as Frisch's Stag Lunch. When the elder Frisch died in 1923, three of his sons, David, Reuben and Irving, continued operating the cafe; twenty-year-old Dave took his father's lead role.^[5]

In 1932, Dave Frisch sold his interest in Stag Lunch and opened his own Frisch's Café. Frisch's Café was a success and in 1938 a second location opened, this one across from the Stag Lunch in Norwood. Frisch could not meet the expenses of the Norwood restaurant; facing bankruptcy, both cafés closed in 1938. Fred Cornuelle, a local businessman, counseled Frisch and provided money for a new restaurant. In 1939 the Mainliner opened on Wooster Pike in Fairfax, Ohio. Cincinnati's first year-round drive-in restaurant, it was named after a passenger airplane that flew into nearby Lunken Airport. By 1944 a second Frisch's restaurant opened, designed to resemble George Washington's Mount Vernon home.^[5]

Big Boy affiliation

Immediately after World War II, Dave Frisch visited one of Bob Wian's Big Boy restaurants in California. Although he did not meet Wian on this trip, Frisch was struck by the double-deck Big Boy hamburger and saw advantages in cooking two thinner beef patties rather than a single thicker one.

Wian was concerned that drive-in operators outside California were using the Big Boy name and hamburger without permission. To maintain national trademark protection he needed authorised Big Boy restaurants in other regions, so when the two men later met Wian offered Frisch a low-fee licensing agreement of $1 per year for a four-state territory. The territory included the Cincinnati tri-state region of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana and added Florida to increase Big Boy's national span. Frisch accepted and became the first Big Boy franchisee.

As the first franchisee, Frisch operated under an ad hoc arrangement that gave him unusual latitude. His double-deck Big Boy hamburger differed slightly from Wian's. Dave Frisch also created his own Big Boy character: a thinner boy with reddish or blond hair, wearing striped rather than checkered overalls, presented in a running or skipping pose. Known as the East Coast Big Boy, this mark represented Frisch's and its licensees Manners and Azar's through 1969. Most Frisch's Big Boy restaurants still display statues from this design, albeit usually repainted with brown hair and checkered overalls. In 2017 a redesigned statue resembling the West Coast Big Boy was introduced.

Dave Frisch began selling Big Boy hamburgers in 1946 at Frisch's Mainliner Drive-In. After signing a licensing agreement with Wian in 1947, the first Frisch's Big Boy Drive-In restaurant, Big Boy One, opened on Central Parkway north of downtown Cincinnati.^[6]

An "East Coast" Big Boy statue exclusive to many Frisch's restaurants.

"West Coast" Big Boy statues are displayed at some Frisch's restaurants.

"East Coast" and "West Coast" Big Boy statues
A revamped statue with a West Coast style will gradually replace existing models.

Expansion and franchise territories (1949–1991)

David Frisch opened three more Big Boy Drive-In Restaurants in 1949^[7] – including the first in Kentucky – and opened his fifth drive-in the following year.^{[8][note 1]} By 1954 Frisch's operated 20 units in Greater Cincinnati and was subfranchising Big Boys elsewhere.^[7] In 1953 and 1954 Frisch's subfranchised Azar's Big Boy in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, and Manners Big Boy in the Cleveland, Ohio TV market. In 1955, Frisch's subfranchised northwest Ohio to Toledo brothers Milton and David Bennett, to operate under the Frisch's Big Boy name.^[9] By the fall of 1961 upwards of 150 drive-ins were in service by Frisch's and its franchisees.^[8]

Separation from Big Boy Restaurants (2000–2015)

In 2000, Frisch's had the opportunity to purchase the national Big Boy chain, which was in bankruptcy, but declined the offer. Instead Robert Liggett purchased the national chain. Early the following year, Liggett's operation, renamed Big Boy Restaurants International made a deal with Frisch's, paying $1.2 million for Frisch's territories in Florida, Georgia, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, and granting Frisch's perpetual ownership of the Big Boy mark in remaining territories. The bankruptcy threatened Frisch's right to operate and franchise Big Boy restaurants but was forever resolved by the separation.^[18] The separation also relieved tensions for Big Boy, who charged other franchisees royalties and licensing fees that Frisch's was exempt from. Frisch's franchise agreement with Bob Wian, which had no expiration, required a trivial $1 per year licensing fee.^[19]

Frisch's sold the former Kip's territory as well as Georgia and Florida to Big Boy Restaurants International in 2001. Frisch's also remodeled, demolished or rebuilt older units around this time.

In December 2013, Frisch's switched from Coca-Cola to Pepsi products, citing a better supplier deal. The change drew complaints from customers attached to the chain's "cherry" and "vanilla" Coke offerings.^[20] In 2018, Coca-Cola returned to Frisch's restaurants under chief executive Jason Vaughn; Cincinnati Reds catcher Tucker Barnhart poured the first Coca-Cola at the Mainliner location on July 27, 2018.^[21]

NRD Capital ownership (2015–2024)

Frisch's previously owned and operated numerous Golden Corral franchise restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia; after closing six under-performing stores in 2011, the company sold its remaining 29 Golden Corral units in March 2012.^[22][23]

On August 24, 2015, Frisch's was sold to an Atlanta-based private equity fund. The new owner, an affiliate of National Restaurant Development (NRD) Partners,^{[note 3]} paid approximately $175 million to purchase outstanding shares of Frisch's stock. On September 4, 2015, Frisch's Restaurants, Inc. ceased to be a listed, publicly traded company. Aziz Hashim, CEO of NRD Partners, assumed Craig Maier's position as Frisch's president. In April 2016, Jason Vaughn was hired as CEO. (NRD had previously made a tentative bid in 2012 to acquire Frisch's remaining 29 Golden Corral units, before that sale was blocked by Golden Corral itself.)^[28][29]

The sale ended family ownership of the chain. Craig Maier, the chief executive, and his sister Karen Maier, vice-president of marketing—both grandchildren of founder David Frisch—retired from the company. However, both remain active as franchisees, operating individual Frisch's Big Boy Restaurants.^{[note 4]} Other family members were either uninvolved in the business or too young, and none expressed interest in continuing the family's role at Frisch's.^[30][31]

NRD Partners planned to expand Frisch's presence in existing and smaller markets, including expanding statewide in Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio outside of Greater Cleveland (which is served by Big Boy Restaurants International) while enjoying its Big Boy rights in Tennessee by expanding into that state, including Nashville.^[32][33][34]

In March 2017, Frisch's unveiled a redesigned statue resembling the original West Coast Big Boy with pompadour hair, striped overalls and modern footwear. The first new statue, in a Cincinnati Reds uniform, was placed at Great American Ball Park; a second was installed at the Dry Ridge, Kentucky, location, the chain's last newly built standalone restaurant.^[35]

Absent since closing its last downtown Cincinnati restaurant in 2004, Frisch's returned in June 2018, opening a Big Boy restaurant on the ground floor of the Carew Tower; it closed in 2020.^[36][37]

2024 management acquisition and trademark dispute

On November 18, 2024, a group of senior managers led by Don Short and Cheryl White acquired several Frisch's locations and the Frisch's brand rights, including the right to use the Big Boy name. The new corporate structure retained NRD-era leadership including chief executive Darren White and chairman Aziz Hashem, with most restaurants operating as franchises. By 2025, the corporate office moved from Cincinnati to Atlanta.^[3][4][55]

Following the restructuring, Frisch's became involved in a trademark dispute with Big Boy Restaurant Group over the use of the Big Boy name in former Frisch's locations. In February 2025, Frisch's alleged that Big Boy Restaurant Group's plans to reopen restaurants in its territory violated earlier trademark agreements.^[56] Big Boy Restaurant Group subsequently opened several former Frisch's sites under the Dolly's Burgers and Shakes name while the dispute proceeded.^[57] The Dolly's locations closed in October 2025,^[55] and Frisch's later sought confirmation of an arbitration award in its favour.

In early 2026, real-estate developer Lee Greer of Greer Properties acquired 11 former Frisch's locations from landlord NNN Reit for $20 million, with the possibility of reopening some sites as Frisch's restaurants.^[58]

Menu and signature items

The Frisch's Big Boy differs from versions at other Big Boy restaurants. Where Bob Wian's original used mayonnaise and red relish, Frisch substituted tartar sauce and dill pickles, applied in a different order.^[59] The wider Big Boy system later adopted a single combined dressing for the hamburger, known as thousand island dressing.

Branding and advertising

In earlier years, Frisch's adaptation of the Big Boy caricature was slimmer, had blond hair topped with a cook's cap and striped pants instead of the traditional checkered bib overall-type pants used by Bob's Big Boy. In the late 1960s both characters were redrawn incorporating common elements such as checkered pants and brown hair. This Frisch's Big Boy graphic was drawn with the pompadour and lost the cook's cap but otherwise the facial features remain the same as in the 1950s. This allowed Frisch's existing fiberglass statues to continue in use, with hair and overalls repainted. It is the typical statue displayed at Frisch's today, though several units use the West Coast Bob's Big Boy statue. In 2016 and 2017 a new design and statue were introduced.

During the 1970s, Frisch's used the slogan "Frisch's Has So Much More", which it also applied at its Kip's Big Boy chain in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.

In the mid-1980s, Marriott planned to retire the Big Boy character. As a publicity exercise, Marriott launched a "Should Big Boy Stay or Go?" campaign, asking customers at Frisch's and other Big Boy franchises to vote on whether the character should be retained. Customers overwhelmingly voted that Big Boy should stay.

Frisch's slogans have included "Frisch's Has So Much More" (1970s, also used by the broader Big Boy chain), "Frisch's starts with better stuff" (1990s), "What's Your Favorite Thing?" (1998–2016), and "Home of Burgers, Breakfast, & Big Boy." (2019–2023).

A Frisch's radio and television jingle from the 1960s ran:^[60]

Stop and enjoy a big Big Boy,
a double-deck hamburger treat,
A national favorite, coast to coast,
So stop and enjoy a big Big Boy.

Relationship with the Cincinnati Reds

Frisch's has had a long-running business relationship with the Cincinnati Reds. From 1983 to 1998, Frisch's was a part owner of the ball club as a silent partner to majority owner Marge Schott,^[61] including during the team's World Series win in 1990.

Two Frisch's Big Boy concession stands opened in 2013 at Cincinnati's Great American Ball Park.^[62][63] An East Coast Big Boy statue repainted in a Cincinnati Reds uniform was placed near one stand, and in March 2017, the first of the redesigned Frisch's statues, likewise in Reds uniform, was added.^[64]