What Happened to Howard Johnson's

In the spring of 2022, the last Howard Johnson's restaurant on earth quietly failed to reopen — and almost nobody noticed it was still there. This is the story of how a bankrupt druggist's son in Quincy, Massachusetts doubled the butterfat, painted a roof orange, and built the machine that invented the modern franchise restaurant. At its peak, Howard Johnson's sold more food than McDonald's, Burger King, and Kentucky Fried Chicken combined — then a son with a gift for numbers, a buyer from across the ocean, and a pair of corporate butchers took it apart piece by piece. From 28 flavors and butter-grilled frankforts on the Pennsylvania Turnpike to one dark building in Lake George, New York, this is what happened to America's biggest restaurant chain. #history #documentary #howardjohnsons #restauranthistory #americana