When traveling through the United States or various states, you will still find diners that have been around since the 1940’s or 1950’s.
And then you will find franchise diners that try to capture that era serving comfort food, with ’50s nostalgia all over the walls.
One such diner is Chubby’s Diner, which can be found throughout the United States.
Unlike other restaurants which have websites that go into their history and growth, Chubby’s Diner doesn’t even have a corporate presence online.
If anything, what you will find are the history of a specific diner, in a city somewhere in the United States and the people responsible for making their own Chubby’s Diner, a restaurant worth visiting.
But there is a lot of confusion about Chubby’s Diner or the name Chubby’s. We know they are all over the United States, but who own’s Chubby’s, who franchises Chubby’s?
Back in 2007, Westword did an article on Stella Cordova and how she worked at a burger drive-in in 1231 West 38th in Colorado and would eventually buy the burger drive-in for $2,000 and kept the name, Chubby’s.
The article goes into the restaurant being registered as “The Original Chubby’s Inc”.
But unlike McDonald’s or KFC, the owder Stella Cordova doesn’t receive a franchise fee or any revenue when people startup a Chubby’s franchise.
But to make matters more complicated, Stella didn’t apply with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for protection until 2004 and the use of the Chubby’s name becomes murkier.
And it seems that Chubby’s restaurants can be different, depending on where you visit. It makes me wonder how other Chubby’s restaurants are in other states.
From my experience, I’ve only been to less than handful throughout California and I try to visit a Chubby’s in small town areas.
Where the feeling of the ’50s era feels etched inside the diner.
The burgers, the shakes, breakfast with ham and eggs are staples of these small town diners and with many of those local downtown restaurants having been closed down (not just because of competition but I hear from locals that there are people from outside areas who venture into small town restaurants and sue them because these old locations do not conform to the American’s with Disabilities Act, forcing restaurants to settle), Chubby’s Diner from what a few locals have told me, has become their hometown diner for comfort food.
There is no sports bar, there are no overhead TV’s playing a sports game or news, you may find a restaurant with a jukebox (or radio playing in the background) but for the most part, for those who were raised in a small town and went to a small town diner, will enjoy Chubby’s for the atmosphere.
While competition is fierce and the truth is you can get cheaper burgers, fries and a drink from a fast food restaurant, the fact is that diners are somewhat of a rare breed these days. What you are buying into is the atmosphere of a diner that has long since passed.
And if that matters to you, then a Chubby’s diner or restaurant may be worth your time.
