Hungry Hobo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Hungry Hobo is a sandwich style restaurant chain in the Quad Cities of Illinois and Iowa with eleven locations in the area. The eleven locations currently in business include: Rock Island (Illinois) - 1970, Old Town (Davenport, Iowa) - 1975, East Moline (Illinois) - 1977, Bettendorf (Iowa) - 1978, Milan (Illinois) - 1984, Browning Field (Moline, Illinois) - 1987, Kennedy Square (East Moline, Illinois) - 1989, East Locust (Davenport, Iowa) - 2001, Elmore (Davenport, Iowa) - 2003, West Locust (Davenport, Iowa) - 2004 John Deere Road (Moline, Illinois) - 2007
Other locations have come and gone. One of the original stores, Main Street, closed in 2004. There was also a location at the South Park Mall in Moline and at 5 Points in Davenport, which was replaced by the West Locust location only a few block away.
Stores not named after the city in which they are located are so named due to more than one location being in the same city, so in an attempt to stop confusion they are named for a particular area of that city in which they are located. The 5 points location was adjacent to a well known intersection in Davenport where four main roads cross causing five corners. Old Town is the name of an outdoor mall also in Davenport. Browning Field is a stadium in Moline directly behind the store. Kennedy Square is a shopping area, and Elmore is a main road in Davenport which holds a shopping/eating district. John Deere Road is a section of major highway.
As of 2004 Pryce T. Boeye is the current owner.
The stores of Hungry Hobo pride themselves on customer service, as well as a great variety of baked potatoes, grilled sandwiches, drinks, chips, and desserts and particularly their bread which is baked fresh every day along with all of their other baked goods at their "hobo bakery" located in Rock Island, Illinois.
The company was founded in 1973 when Ray Pearson, Tom Spero, with Jim and Joe Gende converted three Little King franchises into the original Hungry Hobo stores. The three Little King locations were: 1969 - Moline (Illinois) 1969 - Main Street (Davenport) 1970 - Rock Island (Illinois)
