It was launched by Richard Jezak and Harold Butler in Lakewood, California in 1953. Called Danny’s Donuts, the Lakewood, California, eatery pulled in earnings of $120,000 by the end of its first year in operation.
Jezak departure in 1955 and by 1956 Butler created and changed the concept shifting it from a donut shop to a coffee shop. Butler expanded the Danny’s concept to include sandwiches and other entrees using the initial revenue and renamed the establishments Danny’s Coffee Shops to represents the wider variety of offerings.
By the end of the 1950s, Butler owned 20 locations, which he then renamed Denny’s Restaurants to settle a lawsuit from the Coffee Dan chain over brand-name similarity. Denny’s merged with Sandy’s Restaurant chain in 1968 and acquired Pioneer Restaurants the same year, bringing its grand store total to 192.
By the start of the 1980s, more than 1000 Denny’s locations had popped up nationwide. By this time Denny’s targeted more affluent customers by casting aside many of the attributes of the traditional coffee shop.
In 1987, Debby’s was purchased by TW Services, a franchise of over 400 Hardees’s restaurants, and owner of the 200 unit Quincy’s Steak House chain and the Canteen Corporation, a firm with vending machine and airline food-service business.
In November 2010 the first Denny’s Café was opened in Orange County, California. It is a fast food operation where customers order at a counter but have their food delivered to them at their table.
Denny’s Corporation
