Ramada is a large American multinational hotel chain owned by Wyndham Hotels & Resorts . As of December 31, 2022, it operates 851 hotels with 120,344 rooms across 63 countries under the Ramada brand.
66-516: Ramada International is the company that owns, operates, and franchises hotels using the Ramada brand name outside of the United States and Canada. Ramada International was formerly owned by Marriott International , a competitor of Cendant , which owned Ramada in the United States and Canada. In 2004, however, Cendant purchased Ramada International from Marriott, which gives Cendant worldwide rights to
132-445: A "Rise 'N' Dine" continental breakfast at some economy-limited service locations. The chain abolished the multiple price tiers by 2015. Despite the hotel chain surviving into the 21st century, its number of locations have significantly dropped in recent years (there are fewer than 140 Howard Johnson hotels left in the United States, where the chain originated). As of May 2024, there are combined 280 Howard Johnson branded properties with
198-611: A Howard Johnson eatery in Dover, Delaware , refused service to Komla Agbeli Gbedemah , the finance minister of Ghana , prompting a public apology from President Dwight D. Eisenhower . The Congress of Racial Equality , or CORE, was instrumental in organizing protests and sit-ins at Howard Johnson locations in multiple states. The city of Durham, North Carolina , became notable as a focus for action against segregated restaurants and hotels, including Howard Johnson's. On 12 August 1962, attorney and civil rights activist Floyd McKissick initiated
264-682: A Howard Johnson's location in Cicero, Illinois , during his time as a student activist for CORE. By 7 December 1962, the Howard Johnson Company issued a statement to the press opposing racial segregation in its restaurants, citing its corporate policy against discrimination: "Where it has been possible to change the operation of our company-operated restaurants in the South to conform to our national policy of service without discrimination, this has been done." The letter, written in conjunction with CORE and
330-498: A company executive who closed them. In 1969, Johnson again tried a new restaurant concept, Ground Round . It was successful. Although not a Howard Johnson's restaurant, the Ground Round chain was company-owned and franchised, thus increasing the Howard Johnson Company profit. The 28 flavors of ice cream and piggybank-sensitive meal prices made it possible to lure families. The company also started some child-friendly promotions. One
396-488: A neighborhood in Quincy, Massachusetts . Johnson was surprised to find it easy to pay back the money lent to him after discovering his recently installed soda fountain had become the busiest part of his drugstore. Eager to ensure that his store would remain successful, Johnson decided to devise a new ice cream recipe. Some sources say the recipe was based on his mother's homemade ice creams and desserts, while others say that it
462-513: A new company called Aztar Corporation . In the original deal for the gaming business, Ramada shareholders were to get $ 7 in cash per share plus half a share of the new Aztar Corporation. However, this changed quickly to a new deal where shareholders would receive $ 1 per share plus one share of Aztar Corporation. In the late 1990s, Ramada was sold to Cendant Corporation of New York City . Under Cendant's ownership, Ramada franchises Ramada Inn , Ramada Limited , Ramada Plaza , and Ramada Suites in
528-510: A new restaurant or expanded the chain. In 1990, an existing restaurant in Canton, Massachusetts , was remodeled as a prototype for a new era of Howard Johnson's restaurants, but the concept failed, and after less than a decade of operation, the prototype restaurant closed in the spring of 2000. The chain revamped 25% of the menu and created new signage, but the chain continued to lose ground to mass-market fast food operations. When Cendant acquired
594-498: A produce operator from Chicago dubbed "The Tomato King"; Chicago attorneys Ezra Ressman and Mort Levin; and Frank Lichtenstein and Robert Rosow of San Antonio, Texas . Early in 1952, Marion W. Isbell received a phone call from his brother-in-law, Bill Helsing. Bill informed him of a hotel deal in Flagstaff, AZ that he was going to invest in and wanted to know if Marion would be interested in joining him. This first investment resulted in
660-554: A property in the New Orleans Central Business District within 18 months of one another. The first was a July 1971 fire, set by two irate guests who had been ejected from the hotel, which killed six people. The second, in January 1973, was a harrowing day-long siege. Former Black Panther Mark Essex used the hotel's roof as a sniper's perch, killing three police officers, including Deputy Superintendent Louis Sirgo,
726-694: A rapid return on capital. Ramada opened its first hotel, a 60-room facility, on U.S. Route 66 at Flagstaff, Arizona in 1954 and set up its headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona , where the chain built the Sahara Hotel on North 1st Street downtown in 1956 (which later became the Ramada Inn Downtown) and a 300-room Ramada Inn in the 3800 block of East Van Buren in 1958 that would become the chain's flagship property and headquarters. Like his contemporary, Holiday Inn hotel-chain founder Kemmons Wilson , Isbell devised
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#1732854808288792-548: A subsidiary of "Hospitality Franchise Systems Incorporated," which eventually merged with other companies to form Cendant . In 2006, Cendant split itself into Wyndham Worldwide and three other companies. Wyndham operated the Howard Johnson brand under several "tiers" based on price, level of amenities, and services offered. Under Cendant/Wyndham, the chain became a parking place for franchise conversions, which were existing independent motels which had been renovated and added to
858-425: A substantial restaurant chain in the decades that followed. By the 1950s, the company expanded operations by opening hotels, then known as Howard Johnson's Motor Lodges, which were often located next to restaurants. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, it had become the largest restaurant chain in the U.S., with its combined company-owned and franchised outlets. Howard Johnson's restaurants were franchised separately from
924-457: A teenager. By 2013, only two original restaurants remained open, but the Bangor location no longer had the distinctive orange roof. While the hotel franchise’s HoJo Hotel Plaza locations did include a restaurant, there was no requirement that these replicate menus, format or branding of the former Howard Johnson restaurant chain. With La Mancha Group LLC no longer active, Wyndham Hotel Group acquired
990-628: A tremendous boost in 1929, owing to an unusual set of circumstances: Malcolm Nichols , the mayor of nearby Boston , banned the production of Eugene O'Neill 's play, Strange Interlude in Boston. Rather than fight the mayor, the Theatre Guild moved the production to the Wollaston Theatre in Quincy. The five-hour play was presented in two parts with a dinner break. The first Howard Johnson's restaurant
1056-466: A turnaround, Imperial reversed course and sold the company. Having declined to entertain Hostage's proposal to lead a leveraged buyout, Imperial employed Goldman Sachs who, with Hostage's assistance, sold the company to Marriott in 1986. In a contemporaneous transaction, Marriott sold the motor lodge business and the Howard Johnson trademark to Prime Motor Inns, a New Jersey company. Marriott was interested in
1122-542: A variety of menus that kept the kids entertained. Some were maps of the United States, one was a guide to the metric system. Another menu could be converted to a mask if string was added at home. Howard Johnson’s also held contests. If a person submitted proof via a check-off coupon that they had sampled all 28 flavors of ice cream, the next ice cream cone was free. By 1975, the Howard Johnson Company had more than 1,000 restaurants and more than 500 motor lodges in 42 states and Canada. The company reached its peak that year, but
1188-472: A year. Johnson’s success gave him the added opportunity to capitalize on getting his name around. When wealthy socialite Dorothy May Kinnicutt Parish (known as Sister Parish ) began her decorating business in the 1930s, Johnson hired her to decorate the restaurant he built in Somerville, New Jersey . She told a reporter from The New York Times , “I dressed the waitresses in aqua, did the walls in aqua, I made
1254-462: Is an American hotel brand with over 200 hotels in 15 countries. It was also formerly a restaurant chain, which at one time was the largest in the U.S., with more than 1,000 locations. Since 2006, all hotels and company trademarks, including those of the defunct restaurant chain, have been owned by Wyndham Hotels and Resorts . Howard Johnson's restaurants originally started as a single location opened by Howard Deering Johnson in 1925 and grew into
1320-577: The NAACP , praised the organizations and aligned company policy with their outlook that segregation was "not defensible." Howard Johnson's restaurants by the 1960s were known to be accommodating to members of the LGBTQ community , particularly in metropolitan New York. On April 21, 1966, at the Howard Johnson's in the Greenwich Village neighborhood, Dick Leitsch , Craig Rodwell , and John Timmins, all members of
1386-610: The Pennsylvania Turnpike (1940), and later the Ohio Turnpike , New Jersey Turnpike and Connecticut Turnpike were built, Johnson bid for and won exclusive rights to serve drivers at service station turnoffs through the turnpike systems. In the process of recovering from these losses, in 1947 the Howard Johnson Company began construction of 200 new restaurants throughout the American Southeast and Midwest . By 1951,
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#17328548082881452-549: The United States and Canada . Ramada itself no longer directly or indirectly owns or operates any of the Ramada hotels. Outside of the U.S. and Canada, Ramada hotels are owned and operated or franchised by Ramada International , which was owned by Marriott International . However, in 2004, Ramada International was purchased by Cendant , giving Cendant the worldwide rights to the Ramada brand. Ramada International remains separate from
1518-469: The "foot" of hard-shelled sea clams. They became popular to eat in this fashion throughout the country. In 1954, the company opened the first Howard Johnson's motor lodge in Savannah, Georgia . The company employed architects Rufus Nims and Karl Koch to oversee the design of the rooms and gate lodge. Nims had previously worked with the company, designing restaurants. The restaurant's trademark Simple Simon and
1584-408: The 1950s until around 1976, Ramada's logo featured a friendly bald innkeeper, dubbed "Uncle Ben". He sported an apron (later a suit and tie) and held a top hat in one hand; in the other hand was a red trumpeted banner that read "Ramada Inn Roadside Hotels". From 1976 to 1982, the chain's logo was a simple rounded rectangle that read "Ramada Inn" in the original design's gothic Western-style lettering. of
1650-457: The 1960s and 1970s with 100 Ramada Inns in operation by 1964, which grew to 250 in 1970 and nearly 650 by 1976. By the late 1970s, Ramada ranked as the second-largest hotel chain in the U.S. behind industry leader Holiday Inn. Also during the 1970s, Ramada expanded into worldwide operation by opening new hotels in various European nations and on other continents. Marion W. Isbell served as president and CEO of Ramada until 1970 when he resigned from
1716-513: The Howard Johnson's motor lodges, they offered to work together with FAI to ensure the expansion of the restaurant chain. By March 1995, FAI's official directory listed just 84 restaurants remaining in the US and Canada. By 2005, there were fewer than eight surviving restaurants. FAI ceased operations in 2005, the same year that the Springfield, Vermont , location and the last New York City restaurant in
1782-612: The New York chapter of the Mattachine Society , an early American gay rights group, patronized the restaurant as part of a 'Sip-In' demonstration in protest of New York liquor laws that prevented serving gay customers. The men were served drinks without incident at the restaurant; they later visited Julius' Bar where they were denied service, eventually leading to changes in the laws. In the late 1960s, gay liberation activist and self-identified drag queen Marsha P. Johnson decided on
1848-536: The Pieman was now joined by a lamplighter character in the firm's marketing of its motels. According to cultural historians, the chain became synonymous with travel among American motorists and vacationers in part because of Johnson's ubiquitous outdoor advertising displays. In 1959, Howard Deering Johnson, who had founded and managed the company since 1925, turned control over to his son, then 26-year-old Howard Brennan Johnson. The elder Johnson observed his son's running of
1914-721: The Ramada name. Despite now being under the same ownership, Ramada and Ramada International remained separate entities. In 2006, the hotels and hospitality divisions of Cendant were spun off into Wyndham Worldwide . This article about a hotel or resort is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Ramada The Ramada name derives from the Spanish term rama (meaning " branch "). Temporary open-air structures called "ramadas" (meaning "porch" or "arbor"), made of brush or branches (similar to an arbor ) were popular in Arizona during harvest time. Company websites commonly refer to
1980-933: The Ramada operations in the United States and Canada. In 2006, Cendant spun off its hotel operations, including Ramada, to Wyndham Worldwide . The chain offers different hotel brands or "tiers" based on price and services offered. In the United Kingdom, Jarvis Hotels Limited were the largest franchisee of the Ramada brand. They operated corporately as Ramada Jarvis . Six of the properties were bannered as Country Collection hotels; they are properties that were historic buildings that had been owned by local business magnates and in beautiful landscaped gardens. Ramada Jarvis went into liquidation in September 2011, ceasing trade on every hotel formerly franchised from Ramada. Ramada's United Kingdom operations came to an end. Shortly after, selected Days Hotels were rebranded as Ramada hotels, bringing
2046-545: The beachfront property along the coast of Massachusetts . The stands sold soft drinks, hot dogs, and ice cream. Each stand was successful. With his success becoming more noticeable every year, Johnson convinced local bankers to lend him funds to operate a family-style restaurant. Negotiations were made and, toward the end of the decade, the first Howard Johnson's restaurant opened in Quincy. It featured fried clams , baked beans, chicken pot pies, frankfurters, ice cream, and soft drinks. The first Howard Johnson's restaurant received
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2112-592: The brand back to the United Kingdom. In Australia , Ramada Inn Parkville is being operated by company. Previously it was a traditional motel in Parkville, Melbourne affiliated with the Australian "Golden Chain" group of hotels and motels. It underwent extensive renovation at one point but was known locally for its use of the Uncle Ben vintage logo and idiosyncratic abbreviation of the word "kilometre" on its signage. The motel
2178-748: The chain closed. Cendant acquired the rights to operate and maintain the remaining Howard Johnson's restaurants. In 2006, Cendant sold them to La Mancha Group LLC, which had proposed an aggressive expansion of the restaurant chain that never materialized. After the Waterbury, Connecticut , restaurant became The Brass House Restaurant in April 2007, only three locations remained. Cendant split into four smaller companies in 2006; its hotel group became Wyndham Worldwide while other pieces were spun off separately to become Avis Budget Group , Realogy , Travelport and Affinion Group . The Howard Johnson-branded frozen foods line
2244-509: The chain in order to provide them with access to a nationally recognised name and central reservation infrastructure. As these properties were not originally constructed as Howard Johnson sites, they lacked distinctive architecture and some had no restaurant at all. Howard Johnson Express Inns, Howard Johnson Inns, Howard Johnson Hotels, and Howard Johnson Plaza Hotels range from limited-service motels to full-service properties with on-site concierges and business centers. Howard Johnson began offering
2310-518: The company model of serving pre-made food with high-quality ingredients in traditional dining rooms was costly when compared to the innovations introduced by fast food outlets like McDonald's , which designed its products and restaurants to appeal to families with younger children. Around this time, the chain introduced "Hojo Cola" and other private-label sodas, which disappointed some customers who preferred familiar products such as Coca-Cola or Pepsi . The company suffered from two infamous incidents at
2376-508: The company until his death in 1972 at the age of 75. Howard Johnson Company went public in 1961; there were 605 restaurants, 265 company-owned and 340 franchised, as well as 88 franchised Howard Johnson's motor lodges in 32 states and The Bahamas . In 1961, Johnson hired New York chefs Pierre Franey and Jacques Pépin to oversee food development at the company's main commissary in Brockton, Massachusetts . Franey and Pépin developed recipes for
2442-861: The company's demise. In the late 1990s, the Howard Johnson's Candy Factory and Executive Offices in Wollaston were purchased and renovated by the Eastern Nazarene College to form the Adams Executive Center. In 1979, Johnson accepted an acquisition bid of more than $ 630 million from Imperial Group PLC of London, England. Imperial obtained 1,040 restaurants (75% company owned/25% franchised) and 520 motor lodges (75% franchised/25% company-owned). In 1981 Imperial recruited G. Michael Hostage, then CEO of Continental Baking Company and formerly executive vice president of Marriott Corporation , to replace Johnson as CEO. After four years, despite progress in
2508-567: The company's signature dishes that could be flash frozen and delivered across the country, guaranteeing a consistent product. While the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision by the United States Supreme Court in 1954 struck down segregation in public schools, the segregation, and maintenance of whites-only public facilities continued in other domains, including the Howard Johnson chain. Segregation in Howard Johnson's restaurants provoked an international crisis in 1957, when
2574-402: The company-owned restaurants for real estate. Marriott already owned Big Boy Restaurants and Roy Rogers Restaurants . In 1982, it acquired Host International , which had operated a number of highway rest stops. Many of the established Howard Johnson sites were in prime highway locations which could be profitably converted to Big Boy or various fast food banners. As Marriott quickly demolished
2640-512: The company-owned restaurants or converted them to the Bob's Big Boy restaurant chain, the number of Howard Johnson's restaurants remaining circa 1985 was sharply reduced. Only the franchised restaurants remained untouched. Marriott left all company-owned and franchised motor lodges untouched, as the deal called for them to be sold a year later (in 1986) to Prime Motors Inns, an existing franchisee with 63 motels. Prime Motors Inns continued to preserve
2706-425: The company-owned restaurants, the owners of the franchised restaurants feared elimination and banded together in 1986 to create "Franchise Associates Incorporated" (FAI). In 1986, Marriott gave FAI the right to operate and maintain Howard Johnson's restaurants. In 1987, FAI chairman George Carter acknowledged that "We have the concept, but it desperately needs to be modernized, internally and externally. Howard Johnson
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2772-487: The drag queen name "Marsha P. Johnson", getting Johnson from the Howard Johnson's restaurant on 42nd Street. In the 1930s, H.D. Johnson bought the Wayland Red Coach Grill and used it as the model for a new concept, a more upscale steakhouse restaurant chain called Red Coach Grills . While they had some success, they were not sufficiently profitable. Eventually, the last 15 Red Coach Grills were sold in 1983 to
2838-548: The first of multiple rallies and demonstrations against segregated establishments in Durham, including the Howard Johnson's restaurant on Chapel Hill Boulevard, culminating in multiple protests on 18–20 May 1963 resulting in mass arrests as well as an eventual rapprochement with the city government. Future senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders , while a student at the University of Chicago in 1962, helped organize picketing of
2904-583: The franchised hotels still include on-premises restaurants. In an attempt to revive the company's lagging business in 1989, Ramada Inns, Inc. decided to split its hotel/restaurant businesses and its gaming businesses. The Ramada hotels and restaurants were sold for $ 540 million to New World Development Company and the gaming business which included the Tropicana Las Vegas , Tropicana Atlantic City , and Ramada Express in Laughlin, Nevada , were spun off to
2970-471: The hotel brand beginning in 1986 but, in the years that followed, severely dwindled in number until eventually disappearing altogether. The last restaurant, in Lake George, New York , closed in 2022. The line of branded supermarket frozen foods, as well as its famous ice cream, is no longer manufactured. In 1925, Howard Deering Johnson borrowed $ 2,000 to buy and operate a small corner pharmacy in Wollaston ,
3036-528: The idea of building and operating a chain of roadside motor hotels when, while on a cross-country trip with his wife Ingrid and their three children, he noted the substandard quality of roadside motor courts along US highways at the time. He had the idea to develop a chain of roadside motor hotels conveniently located along major highways which would provide lodgings with hotel-like quality at near-motel rates plus amenities such as TV , air conditioning , swimming pools, and on-premises restaurants. From its start in
3102-415: The late 1970s marked the beginning of the end for the Howard Johnson Company. Because of the oil embargo of 1973 , the Howard Johnson's restaurants and motor lodges, which received 85% of revenue from travelers, lost profits when Americans could not afford long trips or frequent vacations. Rather than promoting the restaurants to travelers, management knew it had to focus on nearby population centers. Also,
3168-578: The lodges, just as Marriott had, until weak hotel and real estate markets caused it to sell off its assets and cease operations in 1990. Those involved with the company owned and franchised motor lodges banded together and formed the Howard Johnson Acquisition Corporation. They successfully obtained all the rights to operate and maintain the company-owned and franchised lodges. With these rights maintained, they changed their name to "Howard Johnson International Incorporated," which became
3234-431: The original design. From 1982 to 2004, Ramada changed to a revised, rounded rectangular design with more "modern" lettering. At one point the chain was owned by Ramada Inns, Inc. , a holding company set up by Isbell to oversee Ramada's various divisions including hotel operations, franchising, real estate, and equipment purchasing. Under Isbell's leadership, Ramada grew into one of the nation's largest lodging chains during
3300-401: The placemats in aqua. I guess I must have thought it was quite chic, but I haven’t done a thing in aqua since.” (quoted in A History of Howard Johnson’s by Anthony Mitchell Sammarco). The unique icons of orange roofs, cupolas, and weather vanes on Howard Johnson properties helped patrons identify the chain's restaurants and motels. The restaurant's trademark Simple Simon and the Pieman logo
3366-680: The presidency and turned it over to his son, William M. Isbell. The senior Isbell continued as the chain's CEO until his retirement in 1972, then Chairman of the Board until 1979. William M. Isbell would serve as Ramada's president and CEO until 1981. Ramada developed a chain of in-hotel restaurants similar to the Howard Johnson's restaurants, operating them under various names including Uncle Ben's Kitchen, Ramada Pancake Cottage, and Chez Bon, as well as other names used by individual franchises. The company-owned Ramada restaurants became defunct in 1990, though
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#17328548082883432-541: The rapist threw a heavy mattress on her. She sued the motel chain for their lapse in security and won a judgment of $ 2.5 million, one of the largest such judgments at that time, leading to a reform in hotel security. Her rapist was never found. Francis had severe depression as a direct result of the rape and was a recluse for seven years after the event, returning to public life in 1981. H. B. Johnson attempted to streamline company operations and cut costs, such as serving cheaper food and having fewer employees. This strategy
3498-547: The sales of the Howard Johnson Company totaled $ 115 million. By 1954, there were 400 Howard Johnson's restaurants in 32 states, about 10% of which were extremely profitable company-owned turnpike restaurants; the rest were franchises. This was one of the first nationwide restaurant chains. While many places sold "fried clams", they were whole, which was not universally accepted by the American dining public. Howard Johnson popularized Soffron Brothers Clam Company 's fried clam strips,
3564-572: The same name "Ramada", in cities including Karachi , Islamabad , Lahore and Multan and Gilgit . Ramada manages one property in Mongolia , which is located in Ulaanbaatar . There are many hotels of Ramada operating in India as well. [REDACTED] Media related to Ramada at Wikimedia Commons Howard Johnson%27s Howard Johnson by Wyndham , still commonly referred to as Howard Johnson's ,
3630-608: The second-highest ranking officer in the New Orleans Police Department , the hotel's general manager and assistant general manager, and a couple from Virginia , who were on a belated honeymoon. He also wounded policemen, firemen and citizens. Then, in Jericho, New York , on 8 November 1974, singer-actress Connie Francis was raped at the Jericho Turnpike Howard Johnson's Lodge and nearly suffocated when
3696-567: The structure as a "shady resting place". Longtime Chicago restaurateur Marion W. Isbell (1905–1988) founded the chain in 1953 along with a group of investors including Michael Robinson of McAllen, Texas (who later went on to start Rodeway Inns in the early 1960s) and Del Webb of Phoenix (who owned the New York Yankees and went on to establish his own lodging chain, Hiway House , in 1956). Other original investors of Ramada Inns included Isbell's brother-in-law Bill Helsing; Max Sherman,
3762-604: The vast majority located in the United States and China with further hotels in Canada, Mexico, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Paraguay. While the Howard Johnson Company-owned and franchised motor lodges survived since being sold by the Howard Johnson Company in 1979, the restaurants did not. Because Marriott eliminated all
3828-550: Was a birthday club. Children signed up in advance and were sent birthday cards redeemable for a free meal, a cake, and in some locations, balloons and lollipops. Family members’ meals were charged at normal rates. The Springfield, New Jersey, restaurant sent out 10,000 cards one year, and they had a 50 percent return on those who came to take advantage of the birthday offer. Children’s menus were an attractive staple of Howard Johnson’s. In addition to offering kid-friendly food at lower prices, industrial designer John Alcott’s firm created
3894-505: Was allowed to become tired and stale. We must get rid of that plastic image... Anything can be salvageable if a great deal of time and money and effort is put in it. And Howard Johnson needs all those same things."" While the Howard Johnson's restaurant chain was preserved, FAI did not have enough money to expand to new locations or revamp the brand. With the exception of one Howard Johnson's ice cream parlor in Puerto Rico , FAI never opened
3960-433: Was created by artist John Alcott in the 1930s while the fiberglass signs were sculptured by Charles Pizzano . There were 200 Howard Johnson's restaurants when America entered World War II . By 1944, only 12 Howard Johnson's restaurants remained in business. The effects of war rationing crippled the company. Johnson managed to maintain his business by serving commissary food to war workers and U.S. Army recruits. When
4026-509: Was discontinued after Fairfield Farms Kitchens shut down its Brockton, Massachusetts plant in 2006 and America's Kitchen of Atlanta, Georgia shut down in May 2008. In spring 2012, one of the last three original Howard Johnson's restaurants closed, in Lake George , and was listed for sale. Television personality, chef and author Rachael Ray once worked at that site while living in Lake George as
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#17328548082884092-477: Was franchised and not company-owned. This was one of America's first franchising agreements. By the end of 1936, there were 39 more franchised restaurants, creating a total of 41 Howard Johnson's restaurants. By 1939, there were 107 Howard Johnson's restaurants along American East Coast highways, generating revenues of $ 10.5 million. In less than 14 years, Johnson directed a franchise network of over 10,000 employees with 170 restaurants, many serving 1.5 million people
4158-439: Was from a local German immigrant , who either sold or gave Johnson the ice cream recipe. The new recipe made the ice cream more flavorful due to increased butterfat content. Eventually, Johnson created 28 flavors of ice cream. He is quoted as saying, "I thought I had every flavor in the world. That '28' (flavors of ice cream) became my trademark ." Throughout the summers of the late 1920s, Johnson opened concession stands on
4224-512: Was near the theater, and hundreds of influential Bostonians flocked to the restaurant. Through word of mouth, more Americans became familiar with the Howard Johnson Company. Johnson wanted to expand his company, but the stock market crash of 1929 prevented this. After waiting a few years and maintaining his business, Johnson persuaded an acquaintance in 1935 to open a second Howard Johnson's restaurant in Orleans, Massachusetts . The second restaurant
4290-642: Was rebranded in c.2006–09 as "Parade Inn". Ramada manages three properties in Indonesia , two are located at Bali , and one at Surakarta . It manages three hotels on Sri Lanka 's western coast, under the "Ramada" name, including one in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo . The Ramada Colombo used to be the Holiday Inn Colombo but management has changed. Ramada International also operates five hotels in Pakistan , under
4356-432: Was unsuccessful because patrons compared this new era of Howard Johnson's restaurants and motor lodges unfavorably to the services they had previously come to know. In a further effort to make the company more successful and profitable, Johnson created other concepts, such as HoJo Campgrounds and 3 Penny Inns for lodging, as well as Deli Baker Ice Cream Maker, and Chatt's for restaurants. All of these concepts failed, hastening
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