“From Beloved Beacon to Forgotten Relic: Unraveling the Astonishing Decline of Howard Johnson’s Empire”
But in any event, now having successfully not just weathered the Great Depression, but thrived in it, by the end of 1941, Howard Johnson’s had grown to nearly 200 locations, a mix of company owned and franchised.
…Of course, in December of 1941, the next major hurdle for the company hit when the United States decided it would like to join a lot of the rest of the world in trying to punch Hitler and Emperor Hirohito in the face.
In the aftermath, between war rationing and significantly fewer people traveling the roads, countless restaurants quite abruptly went out of business, with Howard Johnson’s feeling the sting as well, almost overnight shrinking down from 200 to just 12 struggling locations. Further, even at those dozen surviving locations, many of the staple menu items like their ice cream were difficult to keep on the menu thanks to things like sugar rationing.
On the verge of bankruptcy, to stay afloat, Johnson began supplying the military with the frozen food from his commissary that used to supply his restaurants, with most of these meals now going to recruits, war workers, and school children.
Finally, on September 2, 1945, Japan officially surrendered. Much like the nations involved in that war, Howard Johnson’s business had been bloodied, but survived. But things were about to turn around.
With the nation about to prosper as it never had since Johnson started his restaurant chain, and even the less affluent now often owning cars and ready to travel the roads, Johnson’s business was about to explode to a level no other restaurant in history had ever achieved up to this point.
