verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . september 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message shoney s type private industry casual dining restaurant founded 1947 in charleston west virginia headquarters nashville tennessee key people alex schoenbaum founder david davoudpour ceo website www.shoneys.com shoney s is a privately held restaurant chain headquartered in nashville tennessee . operating primarily in the southern united states shoney s also has restaurants in the midwestern and lower mid atlantic states of the united states . originally known as parkette founder alex schoenbaum became a licensee of big boy restaurants in 1952 . two years later the name was changed to shoney s and agressive subfranchising followed . thirty years later having outgrown its big boy territory shoney s dropped big boy affiliation . the current corporate entity is shoney s north america corp. and david davoudpour is chairman and chief executive officer . davoudpour acquired shoney s in 2006 through royal hospitality corp. in atlanta . he is founder and chairman of royal hospitality . as of early 2011 there were approximately 230 company owned and franchised shoney s restaurants in 17 states stretching from maryland to florida in the east from missouri to texas in the west with the northernmost location being in ohio . contents 1 history 2 shoney s inn 3 references 4 external links history edit shoney s in hendersonville tennessee in 1947 alex shoney schoenbaum opened the parkette drive in next to his father s bowling alley in charleston west virginia . 1 schoenbaum became a big boy franchisee on february 7 1952 now calling his several locations the parkette big boy shoppes . 2 3 in may 1954 a public name the parkette big boy contest was announced and in june 1954 schoenbaum s five parkette drive ins were rebranded as shoney s. shoney s the parkette was originally the big boy franchisee for west virginia ; however schoenbaum rapidly grew the shoney s chain through subfranchising expanding his big boy territory through the southeastern united states excluding florida only because the rights already belonged to fellow big boy franchisee frisch s. schoenbaum s earliest subfranchisees operated under their own name . in 1955 leonard goldstein became a subfranchisee in roanoke virginia . originally operating as shoney s he eventually changed to lendy s big boy after another shoney s subfranchisee called yoda s big boy opened across town . in 1956 a subfranchise was sold to the boury brothers in northern west virginia who operated as elby s. elby s big boy units were originally listed with shoney s units on the back of the shoney s menu and even in the late seventies elby s west virginia operations were listed as shoney s operations in the shoney s comic books . also in 1956 shoenbaum sold a subfranchise to abe becker in rochester new york for becker s big boy . after this all subfranchises went by shoney s. doubling in size every four years shoney s became the largest big boy franchisee operating over one third of the big boy restaurants nationwide . as shoney s dominated big boy a 1959 franchisee named raymond danner would dominate shoney s acquiring the company in 1971 . in 1969 shoney s created a fast food seafood concept called mr. d s named after ray danner co founder of shoney s inc. 4 the name was later changed to captain d s and grew to more than 100 restaurants . the company shoney s inc. went public in 1971 and was listed as sho on the new york stock exchange . at various times the corporate portfolio also included a lodging chain shoney s inns four casual dining concepts fifth quarter the sailmaker barbwire s and pargo s and lee s famous recipe chicken . in 1982 shoney s began launching restaurants in florida and kentucky branded as shoney s towne and country because frisch s owned the big boy rights in these states . nonetheless frisch s sued for trademark infringement claiming a strong association of the shoney s name with big boy . 5 while these lawsuits failed similar suits by frisch s against elby s complicated elby s big boy advertising in the upper ohio valley . so in 1984 shoney s broke affiliation with big boy . at the time it was the largest big boy franchisee with 392 shoney s big boy restaurants . as a result the big boy sandwich was renamed the all american hamburger and shoney bear was created as a corporate mascot . at its peak in 1998 the restaurant chain operated or franchised over 1 300 restaurants in 34 states . none of those businesses remain a part of the shoney s restaurant enterprise today . in 2000 the company filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and was acquired by texas based investment group lone star funds two years later . 6 on january 1 2007 lone star announced that the shoney s chain at this point down to 282 restaurants was being sold to david davoudpour founder and ceo of atlanta georgia based royal capital corporation the largest franchisee of church s chicken restaurants . 7 davoudpour set up a new company shoney s north america llc as a subsidiary of royal and currently serves as chairman and ceo . lone star had originally planned to sell the chain to centrum properties a brentwood tennessee investment group but centrum later sued to get out of the deal . as part of his revitalization efforts davoudpour has established an aggressive quality improvement process that includes a new menu new restaurant prototypes and rebuilds and a new executive and operations team focused on adding unique twists to the southern comfort food menu for which shoney s is known . in january 2014 shoney s opened its first mall location in sugarloaf mills lawrenceville georgia . it also includes a full bar . 8 shoney s inn edit in 1975 the restaurant chain founded shoney s inn a motel chain . after the motels were sold off in 1991 shoney s continued to collect royalties on the name . between 2002 and 2006 the last remaining shoney s inns were re branded as guesthouse . 9 references edit shoneys inc facts information pictures encyclopedia.com articles about shoneys inc . www.encyclopedia.com . retrieved 2016 07 15 . parkette advertisements . charleston daily mail . charleston wv . february 6 1952 . pp . multiple . retrieved june 8 2013 . you can get a parkette big boy tomorrow parkette advertisements . charleston daily mail . charleston wv . february 7 1952 . pp . multiple . retrieved june 8 2013 . you can now get a big boy at the parkette . don t miss this sensational treat wohletz jenn 2013 08 27 . captain d s is better than long john silver s but still stuck on the shore . retrieved 2016 07 15 . frisch s loses appeal to stop shoney s plans . daily news . bowling green ky. april 28 1985 . pp. 10b . retrieved june 8 2013 . company news ; lone star funds buys shoney s restaurant chain . the new york times . 2002 01 25 . issn 0362 4331 . retrieved 2016 07 15 . royal hospitality acquires shoney s business wire . www.businesswire.com . retrieved 2016 07 15 . sugarloaf mills ga shoney s . 2014 02 06 . retrieved 2016 07 15 . freed jason january 4 2011 . boomerang to relaunch shoney s inns . hotel news now . retrieved october 4 2016 . external links edit official website v t e hotel chains accor adagio formule 1 f1 formula 1 ibis budget styles mama shelter mercure grand mercure mgallery novotel suite novotel pullman the sebel sofitel thalassa sea & spa carlson rezidor country inns & suites park inn park plaza quorvus collection radisson radisson blu choice hotels ascend collection cambria hotels & suites clarion comfort inn comfort suites econo lodge mainstay suites quality inn rodeway inn sleep inn suburban extended stay hotel frhi fairmont hotels raffles swiss tel hilton canopy by hilton conrad hotels curio collection doubletree embassy suites hampton by hilton hilton garden inn hilton grand vacations hilton hotels & 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hotels jumeirah kempinski la quinta leading hotels of the world loews lotte magnuson mandarin oriental marco polo masters inn meli mgm resorts millennium & copthorne morgans motel 6 m venpick my place hotels nh nikko oberoi omni outrigger paradores peninsula pestana premier inn prince pueblo bonito red roof inn riu sandman santika indonesia scandic shangri la standard steigenberger swiss belhotel thistle toyoko inn trident trump value place vienna virgin defunct adam s mark alamo plaza hotel courts amerihost inn amerisuites crest hotels cross country inn denizen hotels esso motor hotel exel inn forte fred harvey friendship inn hiway house imperial 400 jack tar hotels nickelodeon resorts by marriott the real hotel company roundtowner inn shoney s inn statler hotels summerfield suites susse chalet tage inn united hotels company of america wilson world hotels lists hotels chained brand largest united states motels category commons retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title 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