Toddle House

Toddle Housewas a nationalquick service restaurantchainin theUnited States, which specialized in breakfast but was open24/7. Lunch and dinnerentréesincluded soups and salads and various sandwiches.Much of their business wastakeout.
The precursor to Toddle House was started in the late 1920s, by J. C. Stedman, a lumberman fromHouston, Texas, seeking to use leftover building supplies.Stedman persuaded the owners ofBritling Cafeterias, a restaurant chain that started a few years earlier, to build his restaurants. Shortly thereafter, Stedman was approached by a successful Memphis businessman named James Frederick "Fred" Smith, who was looking for a new investment since the Greyhound Corporation had bought a controlling interest in the Smith Motor Coach Company he founded 1931, and was renamed as theDixie Greyhound Lines. (Smith was the father ofFrederick Wallace Smith, who later foundedFedEx.)
In 1932, Smith became the president of the National Toddle House System, Inc. By the 1950s, Toddle House had more than 200 locations in almost 90 cities.
In 1962, Toddle House was purchased by Dobbs Houses, a competitor that also operated Steak 'n Egg Kitchen,and the franchise was allowed to decline.In 1980,Carson Pirie Scottborrowed $108 million to buy Dobbs Houses.  In January 1988, Carson Pirie Scott sold Steak 'n Egg Kitchen and Toddle House to Diversified Hospitality Group ofMilford, Connecticut.As of April 2024, the company operates one Steak 'N Egg Diner inWashington, D.C..
Each outlet was built to the same plan, having the appearance of a small brick cottage, painted white with a blue roof.Inside, diners found no tables — just a row of 10 stools at a stainless-steel counter. Customers paid on the honor system, depositing their checks with the correct amount in a glass box by the door on  their way out.
At its peak there were more than 300 of the first version,however, they disappeared in 1962 when they were converted to Dobbs Houses and then Steak N' Eggs. (Note that there is at least one news report that puts the total over 1,000.)
Joe Rogers Sr., a regional manager of the Toddle House chain, left Toddle House to found the similarWaffle House.  
William Cecil Davis, also a regional manager for the Toddle House, founded the Pitt Grill with his brother, Leonard, while still working for the Toddle House, prior to the Waffle House founding in 1955.
During thesegregationera, the company also operated aparallelchain of similar restaurants forAfrican-Americanscalled "Harlem House".
In 1981 Carson Pirie Scott, the retail/food giant, sold Steak N' Eggs and began to build a "new" Toddle House chain. By 1987 there were 40 Toddle Houses open, with five of them inTampaand at least one inOrlando. There were ambitious plans that called for 500 by 1991, with 50 of them in Florida.
The "new" Toddle Houses were bigger, with 64 seats, although still situated around a counter. The menu still featured breakfast along with old standbys of burgers andblack bottom pie, but was modestly updated, addingpork chopsandcountry-fried steakandfajitas.
However, Carson came on hard times and sold its restaurants in 1988.
Many defunct Toddle House locations lived on for decades as other quick service restaurants, such ashot dog standsand othershort-orderformats.