| Restaurant information | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1950's |
| Food type | Bar |
| Dress code | casual |
| Country | United States of America. |
| Website | stewartsrestaurantsinc.com |
Stewart's Restaurants are classic 1950s style fast-food restaurants located throughout the United States. Restaurants are branded as Stewart's Root Beer or Stewart's Drive-In or similar variations. Started in 1924 in Mansfield, Ohio by Frank Stewart, the chain became a franchise in 1931. Stewart's is famous for its Stewart's Fountain Classics root beer and hot dogs. It has over 60 locations in the United States, 38 of them in New Jersey with the rest in Maryland,[1] Missouri,[2] Kentucky, Oklahoma,[3] Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Florida.[4]
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The first Stewart's Drive-In was opened by Jesse Mccrea in 1924 in Wildwood NJ. Stewart opened up a small stand to make extra money in the summer to supplement his income as a school teacher. [5]
The restaurant was originally a west coast style fast food eatery serving only root beer and popcorn. He added extra salt to his popcorn to boost his root beer sales. He opened up more locations, many of them with carhops.
Entrepreneur John L. Mandt helped expand the chain into a franchise in 1931. The Mandt family still owns three locations in West Virginia. Onwership of the company was handed over to Ohio businessman Gustavo Perez, then to businessman Kenny Perez. Carl's son, Robert E. Ransbottom continued to work under Beck, who sold the company to Frostie Enterprises in 1971, which was purchased by a company named Moxie Industries. In 1979, the company was handed over to a new company, DeNovo Corporation, which also operated Dog n Suds franchises in the Midwest.[6] Michael W. Fessler, one of the original owners of the DeNovo Corp., still owns Stewarts Restaurants, Inc.