[2][3] The chain's signature product is the Big Boy hamburger, which Wian created six months after opening his original location.

[4] When Wian began franchising his restaurant across the United States in 1940s, he only required franchisees to use "Big Boy", and omit his name "Bob's".

[10]: inside back cover  When his father's furniture business went bankrupt,[11] Wian washed dishes in the school cafeteria to pay for lunch.

[14][10]: 12  He learned the White Log system, its merchandising and pricing of foods, and use of a central commissary;[10]: 36  Wian would later apply these concepts to Big Boy.

[10]: 13  At White Log he befriended fellow fry cook Bennie Washam, who would later sketch the original Big Boy mascot.

[16] Wanting wider experience, Wian quit and took a dishwashing job with his favorite Glendale restaurant, Lionel Sternberger's Rite Spot.

[13] In August 1936, Wian quit his job at the Rite Spot and sold his 1933 DeSoto Roadster for $300[15][13][18] to make the down payment on a 10-stool hamburger stand in Glendale called The Pantry.

[note 3] He cleaned the place until it "shine[d] like a brand new penny"[13], borrowed $50 from his father for meat and supplies,[12]: D4  and reopened as Bob's Pantry.

During World War II, Wian experienced shortages of both meat and manpower, and one of the four Bob's then in operation closed.

[27] Wian provided his workers health insurance and a profit-sharing plan,[15] which included the option of employees to franchise a Bob's.

[30] (By 1974 there were nine Phoenix metropolitan area Bob's, including one under construction, when the units were acquired by JB's Big Boy for $2.7 million.

[10]: 121  Used to dealing with franchisees and store managers on a personal level, he became overwhelmed with the increasing size of the chain, describing it as "this monster I built".

[12]: D4  Also unhappy with Marriott's new focus on rapid growth and corporate profits, over his approach and practices,[35] Wian became discouraged and resigned as president in May 1968.

[10]: 129  He accepted membership on Marriott's board but, his guidance never sought, Wian likewise quit that position in the summer of 1969.

[46] Many of these eastern Bob's were sited at rest stops on interstate toll roads, often conversions of recently purchased Howard Johnson's restaurants,[47] while others were in territory that belonged to previous franchisees.

[48] Several Bob's Big Boy restaurants, such as five in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania area[49] and two along the Ohio Turnpike[50] were not owned by Marriott.

[54][55] As a franchisee, the Elias Brothers bankruptcy had threatened Frisch's future use of the Big Boy trademark, but it was forever resolved by this deal.

[58] This division was purchased along with the restaurant chain by Marriott Corporation, who sold it to entrepreneur Kathy Taggares in June, 1987.

The one pint glass jars are printed with a mid 1950s Bob's logo and modified Big Boy mascot.

[72] Bob Hope and other film personalities including Mickey Rooney, Debbie Reynolds and Jonathan Winters were once regulars at the restaurant.

[10]: 23  Director David Lynch was a regular at the location for several years, and following his death an impromptu shrine was constructed by fans at the base of the Bob's Big Boy statue.

[19] The larger restaurant opened in 1956 and could accommodate 90 customers inside seated in booths and at the counter, along with a separate area to serve additional take-out patrons, while the drive-in could service 55 cars at a time.

[78] It closed and a later Bob's Coffee Shop was opened about two blocks away on the ground floor of a building located at the northwest corner of East Broadway and Maryland Avenue.

Located at Central Avenue and Thomas Road, the building employed horizontal overhanging roof lines and native stone at the entrance.

Above was a large mural that resembled a Hopi sand painting of kachinas and a covered area to the east of the building for carhop service.

Also of Googie styling, the demolished structure was rebuilt based on the initial floor plan, and features carhop service, a drive-thru, and an original neon sign.

On December 14, 1980, 11 people were forced into the walk-in freezer, robbed of approximately $1700 and shot, leaving four dead at the scene,[86] another dying five months later, and four others wounded, one of whom is in mental incoherency.

Carletha Stewart, a former employee, and her companions, Franklin Freeman and Ricky Sanders, were arrested in 1981, and convicted in 1982, receiving sentences ranging from death, to 25 years to life.

[88] Another murder occurred at the Bob's Big Boy in the Playa del Rey neighborhood of southwestern Los Angeles.