It started in Cincinnati
Samuel Frisch opened the Frisch Café in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1905. In 1915, he also opened Frisch’s Stag Lunch in Norwood, a suburb of Cincinnati.
Samuel’s son, David, later took over the family business. At an restaurant convention in 1946, David Frisch met Bob Wian who introduced him to a double-decker hamburger called the “Big Boy.”
Frisch was given permission to use the Big Boy concept and personalized it with a special tartar sauce unique to Frisch’s. In 1947, the Big Boy became a huge hit at the Cincinnati restaurant, which was a “drive-in” with parking for sixty cars and room for just eight customers inside.
Expanding to Greater Dayton
Frisch’s started expanding to areas in Kentucky, Indiana and throughout Ohio, eventually establishing itself in Dayton in 1956.
The first move came with the company purchased and converted two Country Kitchen restaurant locations, one on Keowee Street in Dayton and the other in the City of Moraine.
By the end of the 1950s, there were six Frisch’s locations in the region, including in Greenville, Troy and Fairborn.
Downtown
In 1957, Frisch’s Big Boy announced plans to build first downtown Dayton restaurant at 135-137 W. First St. They took a 10-year lease on the property at the corner of First and Wilkinson Streets.
It was to be the company’s 77th restaurant in the chain and was slightly different because it did not have a drive-in aspect feature.
The next year, in 1958, Frisch’s announced that they would open a Big Boy restaurant in the Arcade room formerly occupied by the Dayton Camera shop which faced West Third Street.
The Arcade location specialized in carry-out service but also set up for dine-in customers.
Fire destroys one restaurant
In 1959, a kitchen grease fire destroyed a Frisch’s at U.S. Route 25 and State Route 741 (S. Dixie Highway and Springboro Pike), in Miami Twp.
The restaurant was filled with a standing room crowd at the time of the blaze, but everyone was safely evacuated.
At its peak, the blaze sent heavy brown clouds of smoke 200-feet skyward with flames of 25 feet from the roof.
The 1960s
In 1960, Frisch’s Restaurants Inc. announced that it was offering 180,000 shares of stock for sale at about $15 a share. The funds from their first public offering were to be used for a major expansion of the chain across the midwest.
By 1962, Frisch’s was opening their 11th area restaurant at 222 E. Stewart St. The 12th restaurant opened on Far Hills Avenue in Washington Twp. in 1963.
A downtown location closes
The Frisch’s restaurant at 108 N. Main St., a fixture in downtown Dayton for a quarter century, closed its doors in 1987.
The restaurant, which opened in 1962, was shut down to make way for the new 15-story, $35 million Citizens Federal tower.
Many longtime customers stopped in for one last breakfast, a last cup of coffee, many even brought their cameras to help preserve memories of the place.
When it opened, coffee was 15 cents a cup. By 1987 it was 60 cents. For many years the downtown Frisch’s was open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.
“Twenty-five years is a long time. When I lock up this place today, it’ll be like saying goodbye to a member of my family,” said Frisch’s owner Hank Israel.
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