This was the piece I read last night at the Encyclopedia Show, which was a ton of fun and a wonderful production. Under the umbrella of "Fast Food" I was told to write about Big Boy, which I did with the utmost of factness.

Big Boy was started in 1936 by Bob Wian, in Glendale, California. According to legend, Wian named the restaurant and subsequent signature pompadoured, overalled mascot after a fat little boy who used to come in and offer to sweep the restaurant in exchange for hamburgers. You yourself can franchise a Big Boy simply by filling out a simple application found on the Big Boy website or by sending an inquiry to franchiseinfo@bigboy.com. In addition to the Big Boy name, the "Big Boy" concept, menu, and mascot are franchised to a wide number of regional franchise holders, most listed here in alphabetical order (with approximate original territory and relevant information).

• Abdow's Big Boy in Massachusetts and Connecticut, where the tip of the signature Big Boy bouffant eerily seems to switch sides of Big boy's head right before a major earthquake.
• Azar's, in Northern Indiana and Colorado, where there is always a secret sex act going on in the Big Boy comics, if you just look hard enough.
• Becker's Big Boy, in Rochester, NY, where they take pride in opening the store right when they say they will, or around that time, anyway.
• Eat'n Park in metro Pittsburgh dropped Big Boy in 1975. Now you may park there but eating is punishable by death.
•• Elias Brothers Big Boy in Michigan, Northeastern Ohio and Ontario, Canada exclusively garnish their Belgian waffles in the morning with human teeth.
• Frisch's the Cincinnati chain and first franchisee, began serving Big Boy hamburgers in 1946, which were then thought to be a natural weapon against Nazis.
• JB's in Arizona, Washington, New Mexico, Nebraska and Kansas, where JB stands for "Just BigBoy" ("Bigboy" in this case is one word).
• JB's, in Ontario and Alberta, where the special ingredient in the spaghetti sauce is tomatoes. This is a different JB than the previous JB, in case you were wondering.
• Ken's in Maryland and suburban Washington DC, where there Big Boy statue is actually a light-skinned African-American boy, not that it matters, but just in case you were wondering.
• Kip's Big Boy (in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas) knows all your secrets.
• Lendy's Big Boy in Western Virginia was founded by Lave Lhomas and unlike other Big Boys, serves ups Lunior. Lacon Lheeseburgers and delicious ice cold Losties.
• Leo's ( in Spokane, Washington and Montana} has no in-store events in the foreseeable future.
• Mady's (in Windsor, Ontario) is ashamed of the fact that that there is a typo on the Big Boy Restaurants, LLC Kids Corner page and frustrated by the fact that it's the only franchise that seems to care.
• Manners Big Boy (located Northeastern Ohio) is going to hedge its bets when telling you which of its stir fries are better, chicken or shrimp.
• Shoney's (in Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia and Florida), founded by and named after Alex Schoenbaum, no longer displays the Big Boy Statue, because it dropped its relationship with Big Boy in 1984 in order to expand to other states where others owned the trademark. It does display a statue of Bruce Willis, for reasons unexplained.
• Ted's (Rhode Island), where the premium Big Boy ice cream is actually made by big boys (and not with, as is commonly assumed). Medium-sized boys need not apply.
• TJ's Big Boy in New York can never quite clean up all the blood.
• Tops Big Boy in Illinois has plans to be on Facebook in 2011!
• Tote's in St.Louis only has one Big Boy bobblehead doll left so you better get there quick.
• There's Vip's, in New Mexico, where the Big Boy statue weeps for thee.

• Yoda's Big Boy in West Virginia is indeed owned by Yoda and he has done a lot of work to perfect his grammar and syntax and you would do well not to make any jokes at his expense unless you want your Brawny Lad sandwich made with anything but the utmost of care.