The restaurant group operates and manages 58 Big Boy restaurants in Ohio, Michigan, California, Nevada, North Dakota and internationally in Thailand.
The history of Big Boy
Big Boy was founded by Bob Wian in Glendale, Calif. in 1936. It was later acquired by the Marriott Corporation and then sold to the Elias Brothers, a Big Boy franchisee.
“There was a different name for every region,” Afr said.
In the south, it was called Shoney’s. In Ohio, it was Frisch’s Big Boy and on the west coast, it was Bob’s Big Boy.
After Elias Brothers declared bankruptcy in 2000, Big Boy Restaurants International, now known as BBRG, and Frisch’s emerged. Afr said Frisch’s has a co-licensing agreement in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee.
Trying to save the brand
When Frisch’s closed at least 16 restaurants throughout the region late last year, Afr said they decided to try to save the brand.
The group has opened three Dolly’s Burgers & Shakes restaurants in former Frisch’s Big Boy locations. This is in the midst of a trademark dispute over the Big Boy name.
“My hope would be to be able to use the name because my issue right now is there are still restaurants being run under that name that’s still being run subpar...,” Afr said. “It’s not being held to the same brand standards.”
When asked what’s the difference between Big Boy and Frisch’s, Afr said he hasn’t paid attention to the food menu in a long time.
“I know that we brought in R&D chefs when we took over the restaurant,“ Afr said. ”I think we drastically improved our menu.”
What to expect at Dolly’s
Dolly’s Burgers & Shakes has some options that weren’t on the Frisch’s menu. For example, the dinner section of Dolly’s menu offers items such as loaded mac & cheese, parmesan crusted cod, fried shrimp or diner-style hot turkey.
“I think people will find new things,” Afr said.
Instead of offering a “Big Boy,” Dolly’s has “The Signature” featuring American cheese, shredded lettuce, pickles and their famous sauce on a sesame seed bun.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
Customers have the option to choose sides including regular fries, waffle fries or beer-battered onion rings.
For those who love the “Buddie Boy,” Dolly’s offers a “Slim Jim” featuring ham, Swiss cheese, tomato, shredded lettuce and Slim Jim sauce on a pressed and grilled Slim Jim roll.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
Dolly’s prides itself with having meat that is always fresh and never frozen and sourcing locally as much as possible.
The restaurant’s ice cream used in it’s Hot Fudge Ice Cream Cake is homemade, premium ice cream with 18% butter fat — something they are proud of in Michigan.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
To drink, Dolly’s offers Pepsi products with crushed ice.
“I really do love to feed people,” Afr said. “I like people being happy. It’s a place I take my family to and I want it to be a place your family can go to too. My daughter is 8 years old and she thinks this is the best restaurant in the world.”
What do customers think?
On the opening day of Dolly’s Miami Twp. location, Dawn and Shane Henson of West Carrollton stopped by to try the new restaurant for the first time. They had been regulars at the former Frisch’s for 15 to 20 years — eating there at least four times a week.
“We were told it was going to be kind of like Frisch’s,” Dawn said. “We wanted to see what the menu consisted of and from what we can really tell it’s pretty interesting. It looks appetizing.”
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
They started off by trying the salad bar and an order of mozzarella sticks with plans to come back and explore more of the menu.
For them, Frisch’s was “like home.”
“It was sad because we had a lot of memories here with the waitresses and the food,” Dawn said.
They were happy to see familiar faces and are looking forward to experiencing the family-like atmosphere once again.
Who is Dolly?
Dolly’s is named after a Big Boy character from the comics.
“I know there are a lot of questions of was she a friend, a girlfriend, we’re not going to say just yet,” Afr said.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
BBRG features “The Dolly Chicken Sandwich” on its menu consisting of a hand-breaded fried chicken breast, pickles and tartar sauce on a grilled brioche bun.
Afr said he trademarked the sandwich in 2021 after Popeyes released it’s new chicken sandwich.
Creating jobs for the community
BBRG has hired 180 people for the three Dolly’s locations.
Jennifer Tipton, the general manager of the Dolly’s at 8181 Springboro Pike, had previously worked at Frisch’s for 20 years.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
“The store that I started out at as a server was the Troy location,” Tipton said. “When I saw the news about Troy closing, I cried. It was like I lost my best friend.”
She was previously the general manager of the Xenia Frisch’s when it closed and went on to close the Huber Heights and Butler Twp. Frisch’s.
“There toward the end, the quality just went down the drain,” Tipton said. “It was a fight to get what you needed to run your restaurant.”
She decided to apply for a position at Dolly’s because another general manager that previously worked at Frisch’s had applied and recommended her.
“It’s like a breath of fresh air,” Tipton said. “Here we are back together again to get to start a brand new chapter, with a brand new brand, in the buildings we love, what more can you ask for?”
She hopes people will give Dolly’s a shot.
“Don’t automatically assume. Come in here, sit down and eat,” Tipton said. “Frisch’s people are loyal. I totally get it, but don’t be afraid to try something new.”
What’s next?
The next Dolly’s coming to the region will be located in Troy. More details will be announced when the plans are finalized, the release said.
“Unfortunately, a lot of the locations were left in disrepair,” Afr said. “The ones that we have gone into are the ones that we can get open the quickest.”
The company has several full- and part-time positions available online for restaurants in Englewood, Huber Heights, Lebanon, Sugarcreek Twp. and Xenia.
“I’m going to keep going,” Afr said. “Right now, we’re tentatively at 55ish and I think that’s going to increase. If I can find more, I’m going to do more.”
He said their overall goal is to try to make people happy.
“There’s a lot of people that are very happy and there’s a lot of people that are still on the fence,” Afr said. “I just want people to give us a chance. We’re in an era in time where restaurants are filing bankruptcy and closing left and right, here we are opening 55 restaurants in a market that we don’t know. We’re rushing into to try to help create jobs, save the community, give back to the community, so bear with us.”
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