Roy Rogers

Roy Rogers is a chain of fast food restaurants that has locations in Fairfax County. The chain is named for cowboy movie actor Roy Rogers.

The chain was founded by the Marriott Corporation in response to the proliferation of McDonald's fast food restaurants, which were cutting into their own restaurant business.[1] In addition to opening its own chain of Jr. Hot Shoppes restaurants in February of 1965, Marriott purchased Fort Wayne, Indiana-based RoBees Roast Beef early in 1968.[2][3][4]

Marriott decided that rather than going forward with RoBees name, a cowboy theme with a more nationally recognizable name would be better, and licensed Roy Rogers' name at the suggestion of Bob's Big Boy founder Bob Wian.[1][5]

The first Roy Rogers Western Roast Beef Sandwich restaurant officially opened on April 6, 1968 at what is now 5603 Leesburg Pike at the intersection of Leesburg Pike and South Carlyn Springs Road in the Bailey's Crossroads region of Falls Church.[6] The menu combined hamburgers, Marriott's Pappy Parker Fried Chicken from their Hot Shoppes restaurant and roast beef sandwiches from the RoBees chain.

The concept proved very popular: a number of Marriott's Jr. Hot Shoppes restaurants were converted to Roy's through the 1970s.[7] In 1980, Marriot purchased a dozen Burger Chef stores in the Washington, D.C. area and converted seven of them to Roy Rogers.[8][9]

Marriott purchased the Gino's chain of restaurants for $48.6 million in February 1982, and converted 28 of the 62 D.C. area locations into Roy Rogers', selling the rest.[9][10][11]

In December 1989, Marriott decided to exit the restaurant business, selling its 363 corporately-owned Roy Rogers, including 153 in the D.C. area, to the Hardee's subsidiary of Imasco Ltd.[12][13] Hardee's began converting Roy's locations to Hardee's, and added Pappy Parker Fried Chicken to its menu.[14]

However, customers didn't like the change, and within two years Hardee's reversed course, eventually converting all its locations to Roy Rogers, even those that had previously been Hardee's.[15][16]

The ill-advised conversion had severely damaged the brand, however, and he chain limped along for the next few years, but in December 1995, bleeding cash, Hardee's decided to sell its area locations to McDonald's.[17][18]

McDonald's had no interest in retaining the Roy Rogers brands and either converted or sold off all of the restaurants it had purchased. Four of the franchised restaurants in Fairfax County owned by James B. Todd's Todd Restaurants, all in the Alexandria area, continued operating.[19]

In December 2013, Hunter Bright Restaurants purchased the three locations.[20]

Locations in Fairfax County

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Marriott, Bill. "Tasting Success With Roy Rogers." Blog post. Marriott on the Move. Marriott, 30 Dec. 2013. Web. 24 Jan. 2017.
  2. ↑ Armon, Glenn. "The Business Front: Thriving Drive-Ins." Barron's National Business and Financial Weekly (1942-Current file): 11. May 17 1965. ProQuest. Web. 24 Jan. 2017.
  3. ↑ Goodman, S. Oliver. "Mariott Plans To Buy Robee's." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): 1. Jan 11 1968. ProQuest. Web. 24 Jan. 2017 .
  4. ↑ "Marriott Buys Ro Bee Restaurant Franchise." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): 1. Feb 09 1968. ProQuest. Web. 24 Jan. 2017.
  5. ↑ Cohen, Richard M. "The Spread of the Marriott Empire." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 2. Dec 23 1974. ProQuest. Web. 24 Jan. 2017 .
  6. ↑ Goodman, S. Oliver. "First Rogers Restaurant." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): 1. Apr 04 1968. ProQuest. Web. 24 Jan. 2017.
  7. ↑ Jones, William H. "Marriott Hires Bugs Bunny." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): 1. Oct 19 1973. ProQuest. Web. 24 Jan. 2017.
  8. ↑ Jones, William H. "Marriott Corp. to Buy Area Burger Chefs." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Oct 23 1979. ProQuest. Web. 24 Jan. 2017 .
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 O'Neill, Alison. "Roy Rogers Roping in Gino's." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. May 17 1982. ProQuest. Web. 24 Jan. 2017.
  10. ↑ "Marriott Offers to Buy Gino's." New York Times (1923-Current file): 1. Jan 05 1982. ProQuest. Web. 24 Jan. 2017.
  11. ↑ "Marriott Gets 90% of Gino's." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Feb 06 1982. ProQuest. Web. 24 Jan. 2017.
  12. ↑ Winans, Christopher. "Marriott Sells One Unit, Puts Others on Block --- Airline Catering Division Acquired by Managers; Roy Rogers Unit for Sale." Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition ed.: 1. Dec 19 1989. ProQuest. Web. 24 Jan. 2017.
  13. ↑ Farhi, Paul. "Marriott to Sell its Roy Rogers Chain to Hardee's." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 2. Jan 31 1990. ProQuest. Web. 24 Jan. 2017.
  14. ↑ Goad, G. Pierre. "Roy Rogers Fried Chicken is Migrating to Hardee's, but Banner is to be Plucked." Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition ed.: PAGE B5. Apr 16 1990. ProQuest. Web. 25 Jan. 2017.
  15. ↑ Farhi, Paul. "Roy Rogers to the Rescue of Hardee's; Fast-Food Chain Revives Old Name." The Washington Post (pre-1997 Fulltext): f01. Feb 21 1992. ProQuest. Web. 25 Jan. 2017.
  16. ↑ Farhi, Paul. "Roy Rogers Name, Menu Will Return; Hardee's to Convert 225 Area Outlets." The Washington Post (pre-1997 Fulltext): c01. Mar 17 1992. ProQuest. Web. 25 Jan. 2017.
  17. ↑ Faiola, Anthony. "Hardee's to Sell Off Roy Rogers Division." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 2. Dec 16 1995. ProQuest. Web. 25 Jan. 2017.
  18. ↑ Faiola, Anthony. "Hardee's Sells 184 Roy Rogers to McDonald's for $74 Million." The Washington Post (pre-1997 Fulltext)Aug 03 1996. ProQuest. Web. 25 Jan. 2017.
  19. ↑ Evans, Sandra. "Roy Rogers Owners Hope for Happy Trails." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 5. Aug 04 1997. ProQuest. Web. 25 Jan. 2017.
  20. ↑ "Roy Rogers Restaurant Welcomes New Franchisee – Hunter Bright Restaurants, LLC." Restaurant Magazine. RestaurantMagazine.com, 3 Dec. 2013. Web. 25 Jan. 2017.

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