Denny's

Denny's (also known as Denny's Diner on some of the locations' signage) is a full-service pancake house/coffee shop/fast casual family restaurant chain. It operates over 1,600 restaurants in the United States, Puerto Rico, Guam, Canada, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Curaçao, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Honduras, Japan (transliterated as デニーズ Denīzu), Mexico, New Zealand, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.

Denny's is known for always being open, serving breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert around the clock. Unlike many other restaurant chains, Denny's does not close on holidays or nights, except where required by law. Many of their restaurants are located in proximity to freeway exits, bars, and in service areas. Denny's started franchising in 1963, and most Denny's restaurants are now franchisee-owned.

History

Harold Butler and Richard Jezak opened Danny's Donuts in Lakewood, CA in 1953. In 1955, after Jezak's departure from the then-6-store chain, Butler created and changed the concept a year later in 1956, shifting it from a donut shop to a coffee shop with store #8. Danny's Donuts was renamed Danny's Coffee Shops and changed its operation to 24 hours. In 1959, to avoid confusion with Los Angeles restaurant chain Coffee Dan's, Butler changed the name from Danny's Coffee Shops to Denny's Coffee Shops. Two years later, in 1961, Denny's Coffee Shops was simply renamed Denny's. The business continued to expand, and by 1981, there were over 1,000 restaurants in all 50 U.S. states. The company absorbed many of the old Sambo's restaurants, and used their mid-century design in all their future restaurants. In 1977, Denny's introduced the still-popular Grand Slam breakfast. In 1994, Denny's became the largest corporate sponsor of Save the Children, a national charity. All but six Denny's closed for the first time ever on Christmas 1988; many of the restaurants were built without locks, and some had reportedly lost their keys.