Culinary Arts (CULA): Celebrity Chefs & Famous Restaurants

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Good news!

Both NCC Libraries are open, but you can still borrow books and other materials remotely by using our Library to Go service. You can choose quick pickup on campus, or free delivery to your home.

Use the same form to request:

• Access to materials that your instructor has put on electronic reserve in Blackboard;
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• Scanned articles from print journals in the Library's Periodicals Tower.

It was a sad day in the hospitality industry: the last remaining Howard Johnson's restaurant officially closed on June 1, 2022. Located in Lake George, New York, a scenic resort town in the Adirondack Mountains, it was the last of an iconic family restaurant chain that had served hungry travelers on America's highways (including the Pennsylvania Turnpike) since the 1920s. The company also operated motels, some of which are still in business, and are now owned by Wyndham Hotels & Resorts.

Nicknamed "HoJo's" by its millions of loyal customers, Howard Johnson's was an early adopter of many restaurant chain marketing techniques that are commonplace today. Every location had an instantly recognizable bright orange roof that could be seen for miles, and menu choices were consistent across the country. In addition to typical roadside fare like burgers, hot dogs, fries and shakes, HoJo's was famous for its fried clams and 28 flavors of ice cream. 

The company's heyday was during America's prosperous postwar period in the 1950s and 1960s -- which explains why it was the perfect setting for an episode of the television series Mad Men. Howard Johnson's was quick to capitalize on the franchising trend that also introduced some of its fiercest competitors: McDonald's, Burger King, and Kentucky Fried Chicken, among many others. In recent years, HoJo's failed to attract a new generation of customers and could not compete with other casual dining brands like Applebee's, Ruby Tuesday's, TGIFriday's, and the Cheesecake Factory. Ironically, all of these chains succeeded by learning lessons from Howard Johnson's many innovations.

"Howard Johnson's in Lake George, New York," by Jennifer Rafieyan, is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Generic 2.0; Flickr via Wikimedia Commons / Cropped from original.