private industry restaurants founded pittsburgh pennsylvania united states june 6 1949 1949 06 06 founder larry hatch william d. peters headquarters homestead pennsylvania united states number of locations 75 stores 2011 area served ohio pennsylvania and west virginia key people jeff broadhurst president mercy senchur senior vp of operations number of employees 8 000 2011 parent eat n park hospitality group inc. website www.eatnpark.com footnotes references 1 2 3 a black and gold smiley cookie appears at a rally for the pittsburgh steelers in 2011 . eat n park is a restaurant chain based in homestead pennsylvania with over 75 locations in ohio pennsylvania and west virginia . the chain is known for its smiley cookies . contents 1 history 2 former locations 3 other concepts 4 smoking 5 christmas commercial 6 references 7 external links history edit eat n park logo while the chain was affiliated with big boy restaurants . in the late 1940s larry hatch and bill peters were supervisors at isaly s restaurants in pittsburgh . on a trip to cincinnati hatch was impressed seeing the frisch s big boy drive in operation . he and peters contacted big boy founder bob wian reaching a 25 year agreement to operate big boy restaurants in the pittsburgh area which would be called eat n park . 4 eat n park launched on june 5 1949 when hatch and peters opened a 13 stall drive in restaurant in the south hills neighborhood of pittsburgh . the official opening time for the restaurant on saw mill run boulevard was 2 p.m. advertised as pittsburgh s first modern eat in your car food service the original location was serviced by 10 carhops . 5 four months later a second unit opened in pittsburgh and within 11 years there were 27 eat n parks . since then the chain has grown to over 75 locations across 3 states . 1 by 1974 interior dining replaced car hop service and other big boy franchises owned all territories surrounding metro pittsburgh so eat n park chose not to renew their big boy franchise agreement . the big boy hamburger was renamed the super burger . the non renewal of the big boy agreement eventually allowed eat n park to expand into greater cleveland which had been initially owned by frisch s and eventually elias brothers . eat n park also expanded into other cities within northeast ohio including akron and youngstown . the company launched its signature smiley cookie in 1986 to coincide with adding a bakery to its locations . the smiley cookie came from a small bakery which was named warner s bakery in titusville pa . 6 the smiley cookie would become so popular that it would eventually be added to its logo and would spawn the frownie brownie from rival kings family restaurants which would be controversially discontinued in 2015 after kings was sold to a private equity firm . 7 eat n park has been involved in several lawsuits with companies that do not operate within the company s operating area in order to protect its trademark on the smiley cookie . 8 9 in 2011 eat n park was awarded the achievement of excellence award from the american culinary federation . 10 despite accepting debit & credit card transactions eat n park is unusual in the restaurant business by having an atm at each location . the atms were originally owned by skybank and later huntington bank after the latter bought skybank in 2007 . the atms are now operated by a third party company . since 2013 eat n park has been a sponsor of the youtube series pittsburgh dad . former locations edit an eat n park marquee . while eat n park serves the western half of pennsylvania eastern ohio and northern west virginia the chain used to serve the york lancaster and harrisburg pennsylvania markets from the mid 1990s to 2010 . while there were a handful of restaurants in this region in 2000 over the years the number of locations dwindled to 4 by 2010 1 in new cumberland 1 in harrisburg 1 in lancaster and 1 in york . in march 2010 the new cumberland and lancaster locations were bought out and closed ; by october 1 2010 eat n park closed their york and harrisburg locations due to low sales and therefore left the area for good . other concepts edit hello bistro sign at the location on pittsburgh s south side eat n park has been expanding its offerings outside its traditional diners operating upscale restaurants as well as more casual places . to date when its most successful concept is hello bistro a fast casual chain focused on millennials offering gourmet burgers and salads while keeping its parent company ties to a minimum by offering prepackaged smiley cookies and the same brand of ranch dressing as the main eat n park chain but otherwise making no references to eat n park . with four locations eat n park plans to expand the hello bistro concept throughout the pittsburgh metropolitan area and potentially into new markets . 11 smoking edit eat n park banned smoking throughout its chain on may 30 2007 16 months before a statewide smoking ban was enacted in pennsylvania . christmas commercial edit an annual christmas tradition in the pittsburgh region is the annual airing of an animated eat n park christmas commercial that shows a christmas star struggling to reach the top of a christmas tree until the tree bends over to help the star up . 12 initially released in 1982 as a one year only ad in support of a charity at children s hospital the ad became so popular that eat n park has aired the ad every year since starting in late november . eat n park now sells merchandise around the holiday season based around the ad . it is believed to be the longest running christmas ad in the united states longer than national ads by folgers hershey s kisses and m & m s as well as a more regional ad by the pennsylvania lottery . 13 14 references edit a b eat n park . eat n park about us . eat n park . retrieved 2011 08 14 . eat n park . eat n park about us contact us . eat n park . retrieved 2011 08 14 . eat n park . eat n park about us eat n park hospitality group . eat n park . retrieved 2011 08 14 . obituary william d. peters president of eat n park restaurants . pittsburgh post gazette . august 20 2000 . retrieved 28 september 2013 . bring your family to eat n park advertisement . the pittsburgh press . pittsburgh . june 4 1949 . p. 3 . retrieved december 12 2013 . http blog.eatnpark.com 2011 01 eatn park restaurants and history of.html http pittsburgh.cbslocal.com 2015 04 23 kings family restaurants sold to san diego private equity firm http triblive.com x pittsburghtrib news tribpm s 663965.html http www.post gazette.com business pittsburgh company news 2015 05 21 eat n park sues chicago cookie maker over smiley pittsburgh stories 201505210174 lee stacy 20 july 2011 . eat n park to receive national recognition . mckeesport daily news . retrieved 14 august 2011 . eat n park s spinoffs part of strategy to stay relevant beyond diner pittsburgh tribune review november 9 2015 eat n park christmas star commercial eat n park christmas commercial celebrating 30 years kdka tv 11 29 2012 eat n park s animated christmas star ad celebrates 30 years pittsburgh post gazette 11 14 2012 food portal pittsburgh portal external links edit official website smiley cookie website christmas commercial v t e pittsburgh history timeline culture dialect media neighborhoods notable people skyscrapers government airport conventions city hall courthouse mayor council events intergov police d.a. sheriff fire libraries transit education port regional economy allegheny conference duquesne club chamber of commerce economic club hyp club stock exchange fortune 500 headquarters us steel pnc ppg heinz mylan wesco consol dick s allegheny technologies forbes largest 84 lumber giant eagle other headquarters american bridge american eagle ampco ansys armstrong black box calgon carbon chemadvisor compunetix dollar bank dqe eat n park education management corporation eqt federated gnc guru.com highmark igate iron city kennametal koppers 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