and chips type subsidiary of trufoods systems inc industry restaurant founded 1969 in columbus ohio u.s. headquarters new york u.s. products seafood website www.arthurtreachersfranchising.com arthur treacher s fish and chips is a fast food seafood restaurant chain . at the peak of its popularity in the late 1970s it had about 800 stores . 1 2 as of 2015 update following the closure of the sole virginia location 3 4 there are eight remaining three in new york four in ohio and one in pennsylvania . 5 6 most locations have been co branded with nathan s famous . in the rochester new york area there are seven arthur treacher s locations all co branded with salvatore s old fashioned pizzeria . the menu offers fried seafood or chicken accompanied by chips . 7 its main competitors are long john silver s and captain d s. 8 in 2015 a co branded nathan s famous and arthur treacher s fish and chips opened in the food court of the harrah s cherokee valley river casino in murphy nc . contents 1 namesake 2 franchising 3 fisher foods involvement 4 aggressive expansion under orange co. 5 effect of the cod wars 6 acquisition by mrs. paul s seafood 7 investor group 8 trufoods systems 9 see also 10 references 11 external links namesake edit a since closed arthur treacher s co branded with a nathan s famous in downtown pittsburgh . the chain was named after arthur treacher 1894 1975 an english character actor typecast as the perfect butler for his performances as jeeves as a butler in several shirley temple films and the role of constable jones in walt disney productions mary poppins . 9 at the time the chain was founded treacher was best known as the announcer and sidekick on the popular the merv griffin show . 10 treacher served as a spokesman for the restaurant chain in its early years underscoring the british character of its food . 11 in a 1975 interview new england franchise vice president m. john elliott claimed the fish recipe to be the actor s own brought over from the united kingdom . 12 franchising edit the franchise company was started in 1969 as national fast food corp. national fast food s principals at the time included s. robert davis a real estate developer who built and leased several colonel sanders kentucky fried chicken properties his friend dave thomas who sold his colonel sanders franchises back to that company for 3 000 000 and went on to found wendy s and l. s. hartzog who at the time ran a chain of bakeries selling biscuits to colonel sanders franchisees nationally . fisher foods involvement edit in 1970 fisher foods swapped capital with and licensed franchises from national with a total of 550 franchises sold 106 to fisher alone but only 99 stores were actually in operation . apparently the time was ripe for the fish franchise concept long john silver s captain d s skipper s and alfie s fish & chips all started about the same time . aided by arthur treacher s advertisements these companies introduced british fish and chips to northeastern america albeit four years after salt s fish & chips later renamed h. salt esq. authentic english fish and chips introduced british fish and chips to america in california . citation needed aggressive expansion under orange co. edit by the early 1970s national fast food had become orange co. under this name davis conducted an aggressive expansion campaign from 1972 through 1976 . lacking equity he relied on generous sale leaseback agreements . under the terms of these agreements orange co. would sell to investors sites for new restaurants and then sign long leases unconditionally guaranteeing to continue lease payments if the restaurants failed . 13 effect of the cod wars edit in the early 1970s britain and iceland almost got into a war over fishing rights after iceland unilaterally implemented the 200 mile 370 km fishing limit . these events were called the cod wars . cod prices went from the low 2 range to the mid 3 range which sent the low priced fish restaurants into a tailspin and all the companies retrenched . until 1979 coldwater seafood corporation owners of the icelandic brand processed for treacher s at their cambridge maryland facility . coldwater was a u.s. subsidiary of the icelandic freezing plants corporation . coldwater processed nearly all of the cod fish portions used by arthur treacher s restaurants who used icelandic cod portions exclusively . at the time they processed approximately 68 million pounds of seafood products annually and most of it from north atlantic fish species . approximately one million pounds of cod fish were processed annually for arthur treacher s seafood restaurants . acquisition by mrs. paul s seafood edit on november 21 1979 orange co. sold arthur treacher s to mrs. paul s seafood . however under the terms of its original sale leaseback agreements orange co. remained liable for millions of dollars of payments to investors . 14 mrs. paul s immediately replaced the icelandic codfish with less expensive pollock that was oilier and of inferior quality . 15 the move exacerbated tensions with franchisees some of whom had already withheld a total of 5 million in royalties for what they perceived to be a steadily declining level of service . litigation arising from the conflict eventually reached the united states court of appeals for the third circuit . 16 investor group edit in march 1982 mrs. paul s sold arthur treacher s to lumara foods of america inc. which filed for reorganization under chapter 11 of the u.s. bankruptcy code four months later . 17 the company was subsequently bought by a group of investors and the corporate offices were relocated to youngstown ohio . the company went into bankruptcy in 1983 and emerged again in 1985 . it was merged into a shell company by jim cataland . from 1985 to 1993 cataland started to expand the company again albeit very slowly followed in 1993 by an investment in the company by a group of investors . the investment was used to bring out a new more modern and updated seafood concept ; to buy a large number of stores ; and to move the company from its base operations in youngstown ohio to jacksonville florida . the company retains a sizable presence in the youngstown area today . in the mid 1980s franchises in detroit michigan were converted by their owner to a new chain called seafood bay . arthur treacher s purchased six seafood bay locations back in 1997 but was unsuccessful in reverting them . 18 the company experimented with co branding forming an alliance with arby s which got its start in the youngstown suburb of boardman for co branded locations . one such location existed in breezewood pennsylvania . however by the late 1990s arby s parent triarc removed the arthur treacher s portions of its co branded arby s. today arthur treacher s primary co branding partner is with parent company nathan s famous . trufoods systems edit the company holding the arthur treacher s trademark was acquired by pat franchise systems a wholly owned subsidiary of trufoods systems inc. in 2002 . nathan s famous bought the exclusive rights to market the arthur treacher s trademark and sell their products co branded with nathan s own concepts kenny rogers roasters and miami subs in 2006 ; however pat franchise systems has a license agreement with nf treachers to sell arthur treacher s fish and chips franchises in eight states . as of 2015 update in addition to arthur treacher s fish and chips trufoods systems operated the following franchises 19 pudgie s famous chicken ritter s frozen custard wall st. deli see also edit food portal companies portal list of fish and chip restaurants list of seafood restaurants references edit restaurants analysis bruce r. galloway arthur treacher s inc . retrieved 1 january 2015 . arthur treacher s hopes to set sail on new course columbus business first . retrieved 1 january 2015 . arthur treacher s fish & chips closed fairfax va . retrieved 1 january 2015 . fairfax circle arthur treacher s fish & chips closed fairfax va . retrieved 1 january 2015 . reserved . simon property group l.p. and or its affiliates nyse spg copyright 1999 2016 . all rights . arthur treacher s fish & chips at philadelphia premium outlets a simon mall pottstown pa . www.premiumoutlets.com . retrieved 2016 06 30 . arthur treacher s . retrieved 31 december 2014 . arthur treacher s menu . retrieved 31 december 2014 . arthur treacher s hopes to set sail on new course columbus business first . retrieved 1 january 2015 . arthur treacher imdb . retrieved 31 december 2014 . merv griffin telegraph . retrieved 31 december 2014 . arthur treacher s restaurant chain food chips fish butler bridgeport post . retrieved 1 january 2015 . orange co can finally concentrate . lakeland ledger . 18 december 1983 . retrieved 1 january 2015 . orange co can finally concentrate . lakeland ledger . 18 december 1983 . retrieved 1 january 2015 . restaurants analysis bruce r. galloway arthur treacher s inc . retrieved 1 january 2015 . 689 f. 2d 1137 arthur treacher s franchisee litigation v. a & b management corporation . retrieved 1 january 2015 . orange co can finally concentrate . lakeland ledger . 18 december 1983 . retrieved 1 january 2015 . arthur treacher s buys six shuttered seafood bay units . brief article . nation s restaurant news . 17 february 1997 . retrieved 2 september 2014 . trufoods llc . 2008 . retrieved 2011 05 07 . external links edit official website arthur treacher s at the museum of classic chicago television v t e fast food and fast casual restaurant chains in the united states chicken chains coffeehouse chains pizza chains hamburgers a & w back yard big boy burger king carl s jr. checkers rally s cook out fatburger five guys freddy s fuddruckers the habit hardee s in n out jack in the box johnny rockets krystal mcdonald s roy rogers shake shack smashburger sonic steak n shake wayback wendy s whataburger white castle asian l & l hawaiian barbecue manchu wok panda express pei wei asian diner pick up stix sarku baked goods au bon pain auntie anne s bruegger s cinnabon corner bakery cafe dunkin donuts einstein bros. great american cookies honey dew donuts krispy kreme mrs. fields nestl toll house panera bread pretzelmaker pretzel time shipley do nuts tim hortons t.j. cinnamons wetzel s winchell s beverages argo tea biggby coffee caribou coffee bean & tea leaf coffee beanery dunn bros gloria jean s jamba juice juice it up orange julius peet s planet smoothie robeks seattle s best coffee smoothie king starbucks teavana tropical smoothie cafe tully s frozen desserts baskin robbins ben & jerry s braum s bruster s carvel cold stone culver s dairy queen dippin dots fosters freeze friendly s golden spoon graeter s h agen dazs handel s kiwi yogurt maggiemoo s marble slab menchie s pinkberry red mango rita s sweet frog tastee freez tcby tropical sno tutti frutti yogen fr z yogurtland hot dogs hot dog on a stick nathan s famous portillo s wienerschnitzel mexican style tex mex baja fresh cafe rio chipotle del taco el pollo loco freebirds green red burrito moe s pancheros qdoba rubio s taco bell taco bueno taco cabana taco del mar taco john s taco mayo taco time wahoo s fish taco noodles fazoli s noodles & company sandwiches arby s atlanta bread blimpie capriotti s charley s cos cousins d angelo daphne s erbert & gerbert s firehouse subs great wraps jason s jerry s subs jersey mike s jimmy john s lenny s sub mcalister s deli