This page is in no way connected to or represented in any way by La Mancha Group, LLC, licensee of the trademarked "Howard Johnson's" name in terms of food and beverage, or Wyndham Worldwide, owner of the "Howard Johnson" Hotel, Motel, Inn and Motor Lodge System as well as the "HoJo" and "Howard Johnson" name.
WATERBURY -- The owners of the last Howard Johnson's restaurant in Connecticut plan to remain open under another name and say it was their decision to end their affiliation with the brand, not the company's. "We most certainly are going to continue operating," said Kristina Bakes of Stamford, who co-owns the landmark restaurant with her husband, Nicholas. Kristina Bakes disputed the circumstances surrounding the demise of the local restaurant's nearly 50-year affiliation with Howard Johnson's as described Thursday by David Kushner, president of the La Mancha Group in New York. La Mancha owns the Howard Johnson's brand only for the restaurants and food products. With the demise of the Waterbury location, just three restaurants remain -- in Lake George and Lake Placid, N.Y., and Bangor, Maine. Wyndham Hotel Group, meanwhile, operates the Howard Johnson's hotel chain. Kushner said Thursday his company notified Kristina and Nicholas Bakes on Wednesday that their franchise license would not be renewed and gave them 30 days to remove all signs of the Howard Johnson's brand from the restaurant, including repainting the iconic orange roof. "We felt the proprietors of the Waterbury property are not what we feel are good franchisees," Kushner said. "Rather than have substandard operators, we decided to start fresh." Kristina Bakes, however, claims there is nothing substandard about the Waterbury restaurant, which is on South Main Street just a short drive off Exit 29 from Route 8, at the corner of Platts Mill Road. She and her husband purchased the restaurant with a third partner in 1999; the couple became the sole owners in 2001. "Our restaurant operates to the standards of the other Howard Johnson's restaurants," she said. "But it was done at our sole expense." Bakes said La Mancha group offered "no franchise support, no advertising support, and no approved suppliers of the Howard Johnson's product." It was that lack of support, she said, that led them to end their affiliation. She added that Kushner had recently sent them a new franchise license agreement after their current contract expired in September. "Why would he send a contract to me if we were operating a 'substandard' restaurant?" Bakes asked. "We were in negotiations with Mr. Kushner, but we felt that it was in our best interest to move forward," so they decided not to sign the agreement, she said. Kushner was unavailable for comment Friday. Founded in 1925 by Howard Deering Johnson in Quincy, Mass., HoJos by the late 1970s had grown to include more than 1,000 restaurants and more than 500 motor lodges and vending and turnpike operations. It had dwindled to four locations last year, after the Asbury Park, N.J., restaurant closed. Attempts to contact the owners of the other, remaining Howard Johnson's restaurants were unsuccessful Friday. The Lake George, N.Y., restaurant operates only during the summer, while Asghar Kahn, owner of the Bangor, Maine, restaurant is in Pakistan this week, according to a restaurant employee. Michael Butler, manager of the Lake Placid, N.Y., restaurant and son of 56-year owners Ron and Jeannie Butler, declined to comment when reached on his cell phone. Regardless of the circumstances surrounding the dispute with La Mancha, the result will be the loss of the state's last Howard Johnson's restaurant. But the restaurant will not close. "We will continue to offer fresh, all-you-can-eat clam or fish fry, and continue offering the same level of customer service and quality that our customers have grown to know and love," Bakes said. "We will just do it under a different name. The roof will just be a different color." She added that the restaurant's ownership and its 30-member staff will remain unchanged, as will its 24-hour service and all-you-can-eat specials on Wednesdays and Fridays. And, she added, she won't mourn the loss of the famous name. "My customers come here because of the food and the service we offer them," she said. "They don't come here because we're a Howard Johnson's."
The Howard Johnson's restaurant, with its signature orange roof, will disappear from Waterbury and the state within a month because the parent company has canceled the local franchise's license. David Kushner, president of La Mancha Group in New York, which owns the Howard Johnson's brand for restaurants and food products, said Thursday he notified Nicholas and Katrina Bakes of Stamford on Wednesday that they can no longer use the brand for their restaurant at 2620 S. Main St. The Waterbury location is the last Howard Johnson's restaurant in the state. Its demise leaves just three nationwide -- in Lake Placid and Lake George, N.Y., and Bangor, Maine. "Our company ... is moving in a new direction for the Howard Johnson's brand, and we felt the proprietors of the Waterbury property are not what we feel are good franchisees," Kushner said Thursday. "Rather than have substandard operators, we decided to start fresh." According to Kushner, the Bakes' franchise license expired in September last year. Negotiations to renew the license began the following month.
Kushner said the couple made a "very liberal verbal agreement" with his company to "just keep the place open and running and do the right thing by the Howard Johnson's brand," but they did not "live up to their financial obligations." He said he warned them in December and again earlier this month that their license was at risk, and made the decision not to renew the license after a conversation with Nicholas Bakes on Monday that "didn't go well." Neither owner was at the restaurant Thursday afternoon, and they could not be reached for comment. Kushner said the couple has 30 days to remove all of Howard Johnson's trademark trappings, or he has the right to have them removed. "We tend to use every legal remedy open to us," he said of LaMancha Group. The negotiations with the Waterbury restaurant were part of Kushner's campaign to boost the visibility and reputation of the fading Howard Johnson's brand. The La Mancha Group bought the brand for the restaurant and food products from Wyndham Worldwide in 2004, and Kushner assumed control over them in January of last year. Founded in 1925 by Howard Deering Johnson in Quincy, Mass., HoJos by the late 1970s had grown to include more than 1,000 restaurants and more than 500 motor lodges and vending and turnpike operations. It had dwindled to four locations last year, after the Asbury Park, N.J., restaurant closed. Kushner said a new Howard Johnson's branded ice cream will debut in April in the New York metropolitan area and in Puerto Rico, where he said the residents have "an affinity for the name and products." The ice cream will be sold in supermarkets, delis and convenience stores in those two markets before expanding nationwide. Once the ice cream is established, the company will begin opening new restaurants, probably in mid-2008, he said. "What we wanted to do is make the brand stronger, getting into people's minds, and then create the restaurant and ice cream shop concept and move forward that way," Kushner said. Asked whether the franchise would return to Connecticut, he responded that the plan for growth will "include every state that has somebody who wants to operate a Howard Johnson's in it." Walter Mann, who operates hojoland.com, a Web site devoted to the history of the chain, said Thursday he was saddened by the demise of the state's last HoJo. "It would have been 50 years next year" for the Waterbury site, he said. "It's sad to see a Waterbury landmark fade away.
Story Courtesy of The Waterbury Republican American
Divorces can be messy affairs, especially when they involve public icons. That's the case with the Howard Johnson's restaurant in Waterbury -- the state's last, and one of just four remaining nationwide. The restaurant will soon operate under a new name and, perhaps, even a new roof color. It is ending its association with Howard Johnson's, a brand it has carried since it opened in 1957. There is disagreement, naturally, over the impetus for this. The current owner of the brand, La Mancha Group LLC in New York, decided to part ways because the local restaurant is "substandard," according to David Kushner, company president. Kristina Bakes, co-owner of the restaurant with her husband, Nicholas, disputes that, contending it was the couple's decision to end the relationship because the company is substandard. Bakes says La Mancha Group offers "no franchise support, no advertising support and no approved suppliers of the Howard Johnson's product." That doesn't surprise Rich Kummerlowe of Spring Hill, Fla., who maintains a Web site about Howard Johnson's at www.orangeroof.org. A longtime enthusiast for all things HoJo's -- he visited 29 of the existing restaurants nationwide between 1998 and 2002, and countless sites where the restaurant formerly stood -- he says it is a "misnomer to call Howard Johnson's a 'company,'" at least at the moment. He doesn't blame Kushner for that; instead, he said the blame lies with the former brand owner, Franchise Associates Inc. That company was formed by about 100 HoJo's franchisees who rebelled after Marriott Corp. bought the company in 1985. Marriott sold off the Howard Johnson's hotel chain and planned to end the restaurant brand in favor of its own Big Boy chain. To prevent that, the franchise group bought the rights to both the name and its original recipes. But that attempt to save the brand wasn't successful, Kummerlowe says, which explains why so few restaurants remain. "FAI never made any capital improvements to any of those restaurants, and when they needed money they just sold them," he said. The Bakes actually preferred FAI, however, because it at least offered some advertising support. Still, FAI eventually folded, selling the rights to the Wyndham Hotel chain, which owns the HoJo's motor lodge branch. Wyndham then eventually sold the rights to the restaurant brand to La Mancha Group. Kushner says he has a plan to revive the brand, starting with introducing a new ice cream in April and new restaurants in mid-2008.
"He sent me an e-mail that said he aims to make me a believer," Kummerlowe said.
Kushner has his work cut out for him, but even if he succeeds it will be too late for the Waterbury site. Kristina Bakes said last week that she and her husband have settled on a new name (which she declined to disclose) and are seeking a sign company based on "who can get me a sign the fastest." She also says the name won't matter to her customers. "They don't come here because we're a Howard Johnson's," she said. That's not what her husband told the Republican-American just five years ago, when he said some customers came just to see the last Howard Johnson's in the state. At that time, he was so pleased with the brand he said "if I could be the last one standing, that would be great." Of course, as in any marriage, even corporate ones, feelings change. "I can't speak on Nick's behalf, but when he said that he was probably referring to the relationship we had with FAI," Kristina said. As it stands now, she says, the couple believes they get an occasional visitor because of the brand, but not enough to base a business on. "The majority of the business is based on repeat customers," she said. "People come here because of the service and quality of our food. We offer fresh produce; specials made from scratch, and soups made from scratch. There is a certain perception with the name Howard Johnson's; people think frozen macaroni and cheese in the grocery store, and that's not what we're about." Like any divorce, this one is leaving a few scars.
"It didn't need to be this way," Katrina Bakes said of the harsh breakup with La Mancha Group. "We could have gone our separate ways without all of this ridiculousness."
"The real tragedy here is that Waterbury was the last one that looked like a Howard Johnson's," Kummerlowe said, citing the orange lettering on the roof and the interior mirror etched with the Simple Simon and the Pieman logo. "There are only about five of those in the world, and that was the only one still in a Howard Johnson's restaurant."
But more to the point, Kummerlowe, who posted comments about the Waterbury demise on his Web site, says he's received e-mails from some who say they would never go to the restaurant if it is not a Howard Johnson's. "I, for one, will not return to patronize Waterbury in its non-HoJo's form," he said. That's what sometimes happens in divorces: You lose old friends.
Story Courtesy of The Waterbury Republican American
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