'Free the burger boys' | Frisch family member reminisces on now-closed location, hopes to save Big Boy statue
CINCINNATI — 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."
Brown 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.
"I finally found the right person and it's made a difference," she said.
Frisch's did not respond to questions about its statues, which have been removed from closed restaurants following a string of eviction orders since Oct. 16.
A Florida-based company, NNN REIT LP, has filed 17 eviction lawsuits in Southwest Ohio that claimed the restaurant chain is $4.6 million behind on rent.
The 16th eviction happened Wednesday in Hillsboro, where Municipal Judge William Randolph ordered Frisch's to vacate a store within 10 days at 1285 North High Street in Hillsboro. Judge Randolph said via email that Frisch's didn't attend the hearing.
Frisch's faces another eviction hearing in Clermont County next week. And it also faces a lawsuit alleging the company owes FC Cincinnati $150,000 in unpaid sponsorship fees.
The company has been owned since 2015 by Atlanta-based NRD Capital, whose managing director answered a question about Frisch's financial future with this statement on Oct. 24: "I don't believe the company has made any reference to it not being a going concern — not sure why you would ask that. The evictions certainly don't represent the totality of the company."
Brown is counting on Frisch's to survive the recent turmoil.
"They still have several stores open, so I'm hopeful," she said. "There's a lot of people that depend on Frisch's for their job. And there's a lot of people that depend on Frisch's for community."
Brown said her family is an example of how Frisch's established deep roots in Greater Cincinnati by establishing two stores in Middletown. Initially operated by her grandparents, the Brown family stores eventually took on the character of her father, Jerry Brown.
"My dad was president of school board at one point, president of the booster club at one point," Brown said. 'It was different than any other Frisch's because it was a small town and it was the center of the community for basketball games, football games and afterwards all the kids went there."
The Germantown Road store, which closed Sunday after being evicted on Nov. 5, had a western-themed party room in the basement that was inspired by his love of horses.
"He had pictures all over our store of the horses and the ribbons and people loved that because they were a part of his life and he was a part of their life," Brown said. "He had a wall in Frisch's where he kept the mugs of all the guys who would come in every morning to have coffee with him. Where do you find that these days? You don't."
Frisch's may never return to the family-oriented restaurant chain that established its legacy, but Brown is hoping to honor its past by claiming just one Big Boy statue for her home.
"My parents both worked at the store, my mom and my dad, and I would go and sit in the store and do my homework and I would look out that window every day and there was the statue. And so I kind of think that if I had the statue with me, my parents are both gone now, and it's kind of like having that back again," said Brown.
