page_title: Big Boy Restaurants
section_title: Outside the United States
hierarchical_section_title: Big Boy Restaurants / Regional franchises / Outside the United States
caption_attribution_description: English: This Big Boy Restaurant is in Chofu, Tokyo, Japan. I took the photo and contribute my rights in this file to the public domain; individuals and organizations retain rights to images in it. 日本語: 日本の東京都調布市にあるレストランのビッグボーイ。撮影者の有する著作権は放棄されている。
context_page_description: Big Boy Restaurant Group, LLC is an American restaurant chain headquartered in Warren, Michigan, in Metro Detroit. Frisch's Big Boy Restaurants is a restaurant chain with its headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Big Boy name, design aesthetic, and menu were previously licensed to a number of regional franchisees.
  Big Boy was started as Bob's Pantry in 1936 by Bob Wian in Glendale, California. The restaurants became known as "Bob's", "Bob's Drive-Ins", "Bob's, Home of the Big Boy Hamburger", and Bob's Big Boy. It became a local chain under that name and nationally under the Big Boy name, franchised by Robert C. Wian Enterprises. Marriott Corporation bought Big Boy in 1967. One of the larger franchise operators, Elias Brothers, purchased the chain from Marriott in 1987, moved the headquarters of the company to Warren, Michigan, and operated it until bankruptcy was declared in 2000. During the bankruptcy, the chain was sold to investor Robert Liggett, Jr., who took over as Chairman, renamed the company Big Boy Restaurants International and maintained the headquarters in Warren. In 2018, Big Boy was sold to a group of Michigan investors and renamed Big Boy Restaurant Group.
context_section_description: Mady's Big Boy of Windsor, Ontario, was not a franchisee, though sometimes identified as one and using a similar looking mascot. In 1965 Bob Wian sued Mady's for trademark infringement but failed because (his) Big Boy was judged not widely known in Canada. The case is considered important in Canadian and international trademark law. In 1973 Elias Brothers bought Mady's and established an Elias Big Boy on Mady's original site. John Bitove, Sr. owned the rights to Big Boy for the remainder of Canada, which he sold to Elias Brothers in 1979.
  Outside of North America, Big Boy Japan owns and operates 274 Big Boy Hamburger Steak & Grill Restaurants in Japan. Founded in 1977, Big Boy Japan now also operates 45 Victoria Station restaurants in Japan and is a subsidiary of Zénsho Holdings Co., Ltd. The Japanese Big Boy Restaurants do not offer the Big Boy hamburger or most other American Big Boy menu items, offering a distinct menu instead. They also offer beer and wine. Zensho had purchased Big Boy Japan from the ailing Daiei in 2002 for 8.65 billion yen.
  Big Boy also operated (or planned to open) restaurants in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Brazil, the Philippines and Thailand.
caption: A Big Boy Restaurant in Chōfu, Tokyo, Japan.
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