Red Barn
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Red Barn was a fast-food restaurant chain founded in the early-1960s in Dayton, Ohio by Harry Barmier.
Red Barn restaurants were in the shape of barns with a glass front and limited seating. Later buildings had the familiar fast-food style 'mansard' roof, to allow them to fit into more local building codes. Three mascots were used in the franchise's commercials: "Hamburger Hungry" (who looked similar to Ernie from Sesame Street), "Chicken Hungry" (a chicken leg), and "Fish Hungry" (a blue fish.)
Some of the most popular items on Red Barn's menu were the "Big Barney" (a hamburger similar to a Big Mac) and the "Barnbuster" (similar to a Quarter Pounder.) The restaurants had coloring books, crayons and iron-ons for kids, and they also gave away a free glass with a meal. The food was served in cardboard barn-shaped boxes. The chain was quite forward-looking with their food choices; the Big Barney predated the Big Mac by a few years, they were the first chain to have self-service salad bars. Chicken and fish were fried in pure vegetable oil (in dedicated fryers); fries and rings in a 60% vegetable oil, 40% lard mix for extra flavor.
The restaurant chain had a TV commercial jingle whose lyrics were: "When the hungries hit / When the hungries hit / Hit the Red Barn."
Servomation bought the company in the late-1960s and then Motel 6 bought it in the late-1970s. They ceased advertising, and the last franchising leases expired around 1986; most of the old buildings were converted for use by other restaurants. At its peak, Red Barn had 400 restaurants in 19 states as well as southern Ontario in Canada.
