When the Depression began New Yorkers could no longer afford the luxury of shelled nuts, so Black converted the shops into lunch counters, selling coffee and sandwiches.

Several years later baseball star Jackie Robinson became the company's vice president and director of personnel, after retiring from the game.

[8][9] In May 2006, it was purchased from Sara Lee by Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA along with the MJB, Hills Bros., and Chase & Sanborn coffee brands.

On September 10, 2010, the company announced it was returning to the lunch counter business by opening its first store in almost 30 years, on West 23rd Street between Broadway and 6th Avenue in Manhattan.

The company said it planned to add stores and kiosks in New York City serving the "nutted cheese" sandwich and other traditional Chock full o'Nuts menu items (plus new choices).

As of 2019, six stores branded as Chock full o'Nuts Cafés were in operation, including two locations in Brooklyn and one each in Elizabeth and Fort Lee, New Jersey; Middletown, New York; and Miami.

[citation needed] The Chock full o'Nuts advertising jingle was based on the song, "That Heavenly Feeling", written by Bernie Wayne and Bill Silbert.

[14] Chock full o'Nuts features as a derelict location in John Carpenter's 1981 film Escape from New York