Roy Rogers Restaurants

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Roy Rogers
Type Wholly owned subsidiary
Founded 1968 in Falls Church, Virginia, USA
Headquarters Frederick, Maryland, USA
No. of locations 51 (approx.)
Key people Roy Rogers (Chain's namesake),
Jim Plamondon and Peter Plamondon, Jr. (Co-Presidents, Roy Rogers Franchise Company, LLC)
Industry Fast food
Products Fast food (including Hamburgers, Roast beef sandwiches, Fried chicken, and French fries)
Revenue ▲ unknown USD (2008)
Net income ▲ unknown USD (2008)
Employees unknown (2008)
Parent Plamondon Companies
Website www.royrogersrestaurants.com

Roy Rogers Restaurants is a Northeastern United States chain of fast food restaurants founded by the Marriott Corporation in 1968 in Falls Church, Virginia. As of June 2008, Roy Rogers has approximately 51 locations. In 2002, the Plamondon Companies purchased the trademark from Imasco, the former parent of Hardee's. Under the new owners the company is headquartered in Frederick, Maryland.[1]

Roy Rogers' menu consists primarily of hamburgers, roast beef sandwiches, fried chicken, french fries and beverages. The company's primary target customer is adults and most items are prepared to order for each guest.

Contents

[edit] Corporate profile

[edit] History

Roy Rogers is a chain of U.S. fast-food family restaurants, numbering over 650 at its peak, named for cowboy actor Roy Rogers. Marriott Corporation, founded the chain to replace their older Hot Shoppes Jr. fast-food chain. They licensed the name from Roy Rogers and operated the restaurants from 1968 through 1990. The first location opened in 1968 in the Bailey's Crossroads section of Falls Church, Virginia on the corner of Leesburg Pike and Carlin Springs Road. The location is now a McDonald's.

Roy Rogers' picture hangs in every restaurant.
Roy Rogers' picture hangs in every restaurant.

In 1982, Marriott Corporation bought the Gino's restaurant chain for $48.6 million. The company converted 180 of the 313 restaurants to Roy Rogers[2] to expand in the Baltimore/Washington area. In 1990, Marriott sold the chain for $365 million to Hardee's, a Southern chain seeking to expand into the Mid-Atlantic market. Hardee's converted the remaining non-franchised locations into Hardee's restaurants; many of the new Hardee's continued to feature Roy Rogers' popular fried chicken. The Mid-Atlantic Hardee's were generally unsuccessful, and a few years later, Hardee's tried to convert some locations back to Roy Rogers, but the products were not the same as those of the original Roy Rogers locations, and they, too, failed. Hardee's finally sold the remaining Roy Rogers locations to McDonald's, Wendy's and Boston Market leaving just 13 Roy Rogers franchisees in existence, with approximately two dozen free-standing locations, in addition to locations owned by HMSHost that were located inside travel plazas along highways in the Northeast.

A Roy Rogers Restaurant currently operating at the Indian Castle Service Plaza on the New York State Thruway.
A Roy Rogers Restaurant currently operating at the Indian Castle Service Plaza on the New York State Thruway.

Popular items on the menu are roast beef sandwiches and fried chicken, which is very similar to the "Pappy Parker's" recipe that was served in Marriott's old Hot Shoppes chain. Other signature items at Roy Rogers, along with standard fare such as burgers, milkshakes and fries, are the Gold Rush chicken sandwich (a fried chicken breast with bacon, a slice of monterrey jack cheese, and a honey-based BBQ sauce) and the Double R Bar Burger (a cheeseburger with ham). The sides featured at Roy Rogers, other than french fries, include baked potatos, mashed potatoes with gravy, baked beans, coleslaw, side salad, fruit cup, and baked apples.

Roy's Fixin's Bar contains all of the condiments for their hamburgers.
Roy's Fixin's Bar contains all of the condiments for their hamburgers.

Though standard Roy Rogers locations served food in a typical fast-food fashion, some locations (such as the locations that were formerly Hot Shoppes Jr.) and the franchises located throughout Mid-Atlantic highway rest-stops would serve the food in a cafeteria style. Customers would push their trays on rails past stations stocked with prewrapped packages of hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and roast-beef sandwiches. A popular feature of this chain in any of the locations was the Fixin's Bar which featured numerous condiments. Because of this, sandwich items were delivered without any of the customary garnishes. After selecting and paying for these items, patrons could garnish them to their own taste at the Fixin's Bar with such items as ketchup, BBQ sauce, mayonnaise, horseradish sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and onions. Some locations also feature Hershey's Ice Cream.

[edit] Key Dates

  • 1968: The first Roy Rogers opens in Falls Church, Virginia.[3]
  • 1970’s: Roy Rogers chain flourishes under Marriott. Several hundred franchised and company units open.[3]
  • 1982: Marriott purchases the Gino's restaurant chain for $48.6 million and converts many of the restaurants to Roy Rogers.[4]
  • 1980’s: Franchisee Plamondon Enterprises, Inc. opens 7 and acquires 3 Roy Rogers locations.[3]
  • 1990: A total of 648 Roy Rogers locations are in operation—primarily in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states.[3]
  • 1990: Marriott sells Roy Rogers to Hardee’s, subsidiary of Imasco, for $365 million.[3]
  • 1990: Hardee’s converts 220 Roy Rogers to Hardee’s. Hardee’s sells 94 Roy Rogers to Boston Chicken. Hardee’s sells 90 company-owned Roy Rogers to Wendy’s.[3]
  • 1990's: Hardee’s sells 184 company-owned Roy Rogers to McDonald’s. Only 13 Roy Rogers franchisees remain.[3]
  • 1990’s: Franchisee Plamondon Enterprises, Inc. opens 2 and acquires 3 Roy Rogers locations.[3]
  • 1997: CKE Restaurants (Carl’s Jr.) acquires Hardee’s from Imasco. Imasco retains Roy Rogers.[3]
  • 2000: Plamondon Enterprises, Inc. opens a new Roy Rogers prototype unit in Frederick, Maryland.[3]
  • 2001: Plamondon Enterprises, Inc. develops and opens a new Roy Rogers unit in Germantown, Maryland.[3]
  • 2002: Imasco sells Roy Rogers trademark rights to Plamondon Enterprises, Inc. (Roy Rogers Franchise Co).[3]
  • 2003: HMSHost (formerly Host Marriott Services) signs agreement to continue operating Roy Rogers in travel plazas.[3]
  • 2003: Roy Rogers Franchise Company unveils its “Roy Rogers Rides Again!” refranchising growth initiative.[3]
  • 2004: Roy Rogers opens in Gaithersburg, MD.[3]
  • 2004: Todd Restaurants, Inc. sign new long-term Pioneer Franchise Agreement for it's four Roy Rogers locations in Alexandria, VA.[3]
  • 2005: +SmithGifford, a nationally recognized advertising agancy and one of the fastest growing ad firms in the Washington, DC area is slected as the agency of record for Roy Rogers Restaurants.[3]
  • 2006: Roy Rogers Restaurants rank 4th in the Franchise Times "20 to Watch in 2006."[3]
  • 2007: Roy Rogers opens in Ranson, WV and Westminister, MD.[3]
  • 2007: Super Value, CT, LLC enters into a long-term Franchise Agreement for a Roy Rogers location in North Stonington, CT, scheduled to open in early 2008.[3]
  • 2008: Roy Rogers Restaurant opens in Noth Stonington, CT on January 24, 2008.[3]

[edit] Plamondon Companies

A current Roy Rogers sign.
A current Roy Rogers sign.

Plamondon Companies took the lead among franchisees in developing products, hosting training sessions and shooting new food photography for their stores. Plamondon Companies is run by Jim Plamondon and Peter Plamondon Jr., the two sons of Peter Plamondon Sr., head of the restaurant division at Marriott when the Roy Rogers brand was created. Roy Rogers was relaunched as a Frederick, Maryland based company in 2002 when Plamondon Companies bought the trademark and franchise system from Imasco, the former owner of Hardee's.[5] In 1997, CKE Restaurants acquired Hardee's from Imasco, but Imasco held on to the Roy Rogers trademark and franchise system. Plamondon negotiated with Imasco for about three years before a private purchase agreement was reached.

Based in Frederick, Maryland, The Plamondon Companies own and operate 17 Roy Rogers Restaurants, 34 franchise locations, and four Marriott hotel properties. In 1980, The Plamondon Companies opened its doors with their first Roy Rogers restaurant. Today the group owns 17 of the existing 51 restaurants. The company plans to continue its expansion throughout the northeast region and are seeking to expand with qualified franchise owners dedicated to the Roy Rogers brand.[6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Plamondon Buys Roy Rogers Trademark
  2. ^ A History of Gino's Hamburgers
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Roy Rogers Timeline
  4. ^ Marriott Gino's Bid Backed By Boards
  5. ^ Roy's Franchisee Triggers Rebirth
  6. ^ Welcome to Roy Rogers

[edit] External links