The slow-motion unraveling of the Frisch’s restaurant chain is making many locals nostalgic for the Cincinnati brand that evokes drive-ins, cherry Coke, pumpkin pie and Big Boy tartar sauce.
It’s also rekindled a 10-year quest by a Frisch family member to preserve the chain’s legacy by adding a Big Boy statue to her own private collection.
“I collect everything I can find,” said Jodie Brown, granddaughter of Leah Frisch, whose twin brother, David Frisch, founded the company. “I have an entire Big Boy room. I have a Big Boy Christmas tree.”
Zoom screen captureBrown said she has tried several times in the last decade to purchase statues from the company. She made another run at it when she saw pictures of more than a dozen Big Boy locked behind a fence at the company’s commissary building.
“It made me very sad,” Brown said. “I had a friend who I sent the picture to, and she said, ‘Free the burger boys.’”
So the Atlanta resident made another attempt to reach company officials. And this time, she thinks it might happen.