Eat'n Park

Eat'n Park Restaurants

A restaurant in Pittsburgh
Company type	Private
Industry	Restaurants
Founded	June 6, 1949; 75 years ago (1949-06-06) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
Founders	Larry Hatch William D. Peters
Headquarters	Homestead, Pennsylvania , United States
Number of locations	56
Key people	Jeff Broadhurst (President) Mercy Senchur (Senior VP of Operations)
Products	Breakfast foods, burgers, sandwiches, chicken, seafood, salads, appetizers, combos, kids' meals and desserts
Number of employees	10,000+ (2021)
Parent	Eat'n Park Hospitality Group, Inc.
Website	eatnpark.com
Footnotes / references [1][2][3][4]

Eat'n Park Hospitality Group

Company type	Private
Industry	Restaurants
Founded	2010; 14 years ago (2010)
Headquarters	Homestead, Pennsylvania , U.S
Key people	Jeff Broadhurst, (CEO) Mercy Senchur, (COO) Richard Liebscher (SVP)
Revenue	US$750 million (2021)
Subsidiaries	Eat'n Park Parkhurst Dining Hello Bistro
Website	enphospitality.com

A black and gold Smiley Cookie appears at a rally for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2011.

Eat'n Park is a restaurant chain based in Homestead, Pennsylvania. As of April 2024, the company operates 56 locations in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. The chain is known for its Smiley Cookies and has adopted the motto, "the place for smiles".

History

Eat'n Park logos while the chain was affiliated with Big Boy Restaurants.^{[5][6][7][8][9]}

In the late 1940s, Larry Hatch and Bill Peters were supervisors at Isaly's Restaurants in Pittsburgh. On a trip to Cincinnati, Hatch was impressed seeing the Frisch's Big Boy Drive In operation. He and Peters contacted Big Boy founder Bob Wian, reaching a 25-year agreement to operate Big Boy Restaurants in the Pittsburgh area, which would be called Eat'n Park.^[10]

Eat'n Park launched on June 5, 1949, when Hatch and Peters opened a 13-stall drive-in restaurant on Saw Mill Run Boulevard in the Overbrook neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Advertised as "Pittsburgh's First Modern Eat-in-your-Car Food Service" this location was serviced by 10 carhops.^[11] Four months later, a second unit opened in Pittsburgh, by 1956: 11 units, 1960: 27 units, 1965: 30 units, and by 1973: 40 Eat'n Park locations.^[12] After leaving Big Boy, the chain entered Ohio and West Virginia, and eventually grew to over 75 restaurants.^[1] In 2017, there are 69 Eat'n Park restaurants operating.^[4]

Eat'n Park's early success had a direct impact on what would become the signature dish at McDonald's. Jim Delligatti, the Pittsburgh-area franchisee for McDonald's and one of Ray Kroc's earliest franchisees,^[13] invented what eventually became the Big Mac in the kitchen of Delligatti's first McDonald's franchise, located on McKnight Road in suburban Ross Township^[14] before debuting at the McDonald's owned by Delligatti in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, on April 22, 1967,^[15] selling for US$0.45 (equivalent to $4.11 in 2023).^[15][16] It was designed to compete with the Big Boy hamburger Eat'n Park was offering at the time.^[17]

In 1974, Eat'n Park allowed their 25-year Big Boy franchise agreement to expire. This was publicly attributed to discontinuation of car hop service—which ended in 1971—but it was largely motivated by the end of $1 per year licensing fee Eat'n Park enjoyed.^[18] As a result, the Big Boy hamburger was renamed the Superburger. The non-renewal of the Big Boy agreement eventually allowed Eat'n Park to expand into areas licensed to other Big Boy franchises. Eat'n Park expanded into Northeast Ohio including Greater Cleveland, Akron and Youngstown, and into West Virginia: first Morgantown, followed by Clarksburg and Wheeling. In 1977, Big Boy reassigned the Pittsburgh territory to Wheeling-based Elby's Big Boy.^[19] Sold to Elias Brothers Big Boy in 1986, the Elby's locations closed in 2000 when Elias Brothers faced bankruptcy, the rights now owned by Big Boy Restaurant Group. The closest Big Boy restaurants operate in Greater Cleveland and Frisch's Big Boy restaurants in Heath and Lancaster, both near Columbus. In Morgantown and Clarksburg, Eat'n Park competes with fellow former Big Boy franchisee Shoney's.

The company launched its signature Smiley Cookie in 1986 to coincide with adding a bakery to its locations. The Smiley Cookie came from Warner's Bakery, a small bakery in Titusville, Pennsylvania.^[20] The Smiley Cookie would become so popular that it would eventually be added to its logo and would spawn the "Frownie" brownie from rival Kings Family Restaurants, which would be controversially discontinued in 2015 after Kings was sold to a private equity firm.^[21] Eat'n Park filed several lawsuits against companies outside the restaurants' operating area to enforce its trademark^[22] on the Smiley Cookie.^[23][24][25]

In 2011, Eat'n Park was awarded the Achievement of Excellence award from the American Culinary Federation.^[26]

Locations

An Eat'n Park marquee pylon sign.

While Eat'n Park currently serves western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and northern West Virginia, the chain also served the Harrisburg, Lancaster, and York, Pennsylvania markets from the mid-1990s to 2010.^[27]

Other concepts

In 2005, Eat'n Park opened Six Penn Kitchen, a restaurant inspired by chef-driven culture located in the cultural district of downtown Pittsburgh. The singular location was open for 13 years before closing on February 17, 2018.^[28]

Eat'n Park opened a new retro-themed dining experience, called The Park Classic Diner in 1999. Both the interior of the restaurant and the construction of the building was intended to mimic a 1950s diner. The concept closed in 2009 after only opening three restaurants with this concept.^[29]

The company's most successful concept is Hello Bistro, a fast casual chain focused on millennials offering gourmet burgers and salads while keeping its parent company ties to a minimum by offering prepackaged Smiley Cookies and the same brand of ranch dressing as the main Eat'n Park chain, but otherwise making no references to Eat'n Park. With six locations, Eat'n Park plans to expand the Hello Bistro concept throughout the Pittsburgh metropolitan area and potentially into new markets.^[30]

In 2011, Eat 'n Park launched The Porch, a new dining concept located in Schenley Plaza in Pittsburgh.^[31] The Porch aims to be a more upscale experience in both menu and atmosphere, with an emphasis on locally-sourced and farm-to-table ingredients. Unlike the parent restaurants, The Porch offers a full bar menu including beer, wine and spirits. It utilizes a hybrid service model in which customers place their orders with the cashier during lunch hours, transitioning to full service for dinner. In 2017, a second location opened in the Pittsburgh suburb of Upper St. Clair.^[32]

Christmas commercial

A Christmas tradition in the Pittsburgh region is the annual airing of an animated Eat'n Park commercial that shows a Christmas star (named Sparkle) struggling to reach the top of a Christmas tree.^[33] Released in 1982, in support of a charity at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, the commercial became so popular that Eat'n Park has re-aired the ad every year since, starting in late November. Eat'n Park now sells merchandise during the holiday season based on the ad.^[34][35] Sparkle, the Eat'n Park Star was trademarked by Eat'n Park in 1990 but was abandoned two years later.^[36]

Lawsuit

In 2024, Eat'n Park sent a cease and desist letter to McArthur’s Bakery and The Pioneer Cafe in St. Louis. The bakery, which serves as a training facility for disabled adults, was accused of infringing on Eat'n Park's Smiley Cookies.^[37]

References

1. Eat'n Park. "Eat'n Park - About Us". Eat'n Park. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
2. Eat'n Park. "Eat'n Park - About Us - Contact Us". Eat'n Park. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
3. Eat'n Park. "Eat 'n Park - About Us - Eat'n Park Hospitality Group". Eat'n Park. Retrieved 2011-08-14.
4. "Eat'n Park Restaurant Locator". Eat'n Park. Archived from the original on February 6, 2017. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
5. "Another New Eat 'n Park [Advertisement]". The Pittsburgh Press. September 6, 1952. p. 3. Retrieved August 30, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
6. "Eat'n Park Restaurants 'Family Treat Night' [Advertisement]". Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. September 10, 1956. p. 2. Retrieved August 30, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
7. "Tomorrow! Hospitality Night at all Eat'n Park Restaurants [Advertisement]". Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. November 24, 1958. p. 2. Retrieved August 30, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
8. "Have a Picnic... The Easy Eat'n Park Way! [Advertisement]". The Daily Republican. Monongahela, Pennsylvania. August 28, 1958. p. 6. Retrieved August 30, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
9. "Opening Tomorrow at 4 p.m. [Advertisement]". The Pittsburgh Press. April 9, 1969. p. B4. Retrieved August 30, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
10. "Obituary: William D. Peters / President of Eat'n Park restaurants". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. August 20, 2000. Archived from the original on December 13, 2013. Retrieved September 28, 2013.
11. "Bring Your Family to Eat'n Park (advertisement)". The Pittsburgh Press. Pittsburgh. June 4, 1949. p. 3. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
12. Kunzmann, Jackie (July 5, 1989). "Hungry motorists can't help but Eat'n Park: A few food facts, figures". New Castle News. p. 17. Retrieved February 6, 2017 – via newspaperarchive.com.
13. Eldridge, D. (2014). Moon Pittsburgh. Moon Handbooks. Avalon Publishing. p. pt389. ISBN 978-1-61238-846-5. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
14. Vancheri, Barbara (May 4, 1993). "Golden Arch Angel". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. C1. Archived from the original on May 2, 2016. Retrieved October 7, 2016.
15. "New! Big Mac [Advertisement]". The Uniontown Evening Standard. April 21, 1967. p. 11. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
16. "Jim Delligatti Biography" (PDF) (Press release). McDonald's. 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 26, 2011. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
17. "Obituary: William D. Peters / President of Eat'n Park restaurants". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. August 20, 2000. Archived from the original on December 13, 2013. Retrieved September 28, 2013.
18. Kapner, Suzanne (September 18, 1995). "After 46 years, Eat'n Park still revs sales, appetites". Nation's Restaurant News: 4.
19. "Elby's given rights to franchise". The Times Recorder. Zanesville, Ohio. March 20, 1979. p. 14. Retrieved December 2, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
20. "Eat'n Park Blog". blog.eatnpark.com.
21. "Kings Family Restaurants Sold To San Diego Private Equity Firm". cbslocal.com. April 23, 2015.
22. "USPTO Trademark Status & Document Retrieval: Smiley Face Cookie". tsdr.uspto.gov. February 5, 2017. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
23. Cato, Jason (January 25, 2010). "Eat'n Park takes on Texas company over its Smiley Face cookie". Tribune-Review. Pittsburgh, PA. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
24. Ove, Torsten (May 21, 2015). "Eat'n Park sues Chicago cookie-maker over Smiley trademark". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
25. Brandolph, Adam (May 20, 2015). "No smile here: Eat'n Park sues Chicago cookie maker". Tribune-Review. Pittsburgh, PA. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
26. Lee, Stacy (20 July 2011). "Eat'n Park to receive national recognition". McKeesport Daily News. Archived from the original on 7 September 2012. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
27. Gleiter, Sue (September 29, 2010). "Eat'n Park to close its last Harrisburg-area restaurant". PennLive.com. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
28. "Welcome". www.tribliveoffers.com. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
29. "Park Classic Diner Would Recapture the '50s | Business Journal Daily". archive.businessjournaldaily.com. Retrieved 2023-12-03.
30. Eat'n Park's spinoffs part of strategy to stay relevant beyond diner Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (November 9, 2015)
31. The Porch Opens In Oakland Pittsburgh Magazine (November 19, 2011)
32. The Porch At Siena Now Open In Upper St. Clair Good Food Pittsburgh (June 12, 2017)
33. Eat 'N Park (August 14, 2006), Eat 'N Park Christmas Star Commercial, archived from the original on 2021-12-21, retrieved February 6, 2017
34. Crawley, Dave (November 29, 2012). "Eat 'N Park Christmas Commercial Celebrating 30 Years". CBS Pittsburgh (KDKA-TV). Retrieved February 23, 2012.
35. Lindeman, Teresa F. (November 14, 2012). "Eat'n Park's animated Christmas Star ad celebrates 30 years". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
36. "Trademark Status & Document Retrieval: Sparkle, The Eat'n Park Star". tsdr.uspto.gov. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
37. Swift, Megan (December 12, 2024). "St. Louis bakery embroiled in smiley cookies trademark dispute with Eat'n Park". Trib LIVE. Retrieved December 19, 2024.

External links

• Official website
• Smiley Cookie website