Archie's Family Restaurants was an American

restaurant chain A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate many retail markets, dining markets, and service categories in many pa ...

based on the characters by

Archie Comics Archie Comic Publications, Inc. (often referred to simply as Archie Comics) is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the village of Pelham, New York. The company's many titles feature the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Jug ...

. The façades showed

Jughead Jones Forsythe Pendleton "Jughead" Jones III is one of the fictional characters created by Bob Montana and John L. Goldwater in Archie Comics who first appeared in the first Archie story, from '' Pep Comics'' #22 (December 1941). He is the drummer ...

eating a

hamburger A hamburger (or simply a burger) consists of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. The patties are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, or chilis ...

. Around 1972, Archie Comics' parent company, Archie Enterprises, Inc., decided it wanted to further diversify into food service operations. Barbara Kovacs and Gary Kovacs, sole owners of the recently founded BarKo Group, Inc., became interested in the venture and bought stock in the Archie companies. Consequently, BarKo received the contract to develop the restaurants. In 1973, the first Archie's restaurant opened in

Joliet, Illinois Joliet ( ) is a city in Will County, Illinois, Will and Kendall County, Illinois, Kendall counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, located southwest of Chicago. It is the county seat of Will County, Illinois, Will County. It had a population of ...

, on the north-east corner of Hammes and Jefferson (

U.S. Route 52 U.S. Route 52 (US 52) is a major U.S. Highway in the Central United States that extends from the northern to southeastern region of the United States. Contrary to most other even-numbered U.S. Highways, US 52 primarily follows a north ...

). An eight-page promotional comic, written by Frank Doyle, illustrated by

Harry Lucey Harry Lucey (November 13, 1913 – August 28, 1984) was an American comic artist best known for his work in MLJ Comics, MLJ and Archie Comics. He was the primary artist on ''Archie'', the company's flagship title, from the late 1950s through the m ...

, and titled "Archie's Restaurant" ,was published in the 136th issue of ''

Life with Archie ''Life with Archie'' is a comic book published by Archie comics from 1958 to 1991. It featured Archie Andrews in adventure stories that were more dramatic than the standard Archie tales. In 2010, it was revived as a magazine-sized comic devoted ...

''. The comic notably featured Maurice Berlinsky, then the real-life mayor of Joliet, and Bob Anderson, then the real-life director of First National Bank of Joliet. The Archie's Restaurant storyline was also featured in issues #26-30 of ''

Everything's Archie This is a list of Archie Comics publications. A B C D E F G H J K L M N O P R S T V W Y Z References External links *Archie Comics
at the Big Comic Book DataBase * {{DEFAULTSORT:Archie Comi ...

'', and ''

Pep Comics ''Pep Comics'' is an American comic book anthology series published by the Archie Comics predecessor Archie Comics, MLJ Magazines Inc. (commonly known as MLJ Comics) during the 1930s and 1940s period known as the Golden Age of Comic Books. The ti ...

'' #280 and #295. The next restaurant opened in

Merrillville, Indiana Merrillville ( , ) is a town in Ross Township, Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 36,444 at the 2020 census. Merrillville is in east-central Lake County, in the Chicago metropolitan area. On January 1, 2015, Merrillville bec ...

. By May 1974, two more were on the drawing boards, for Matteson and

Homewood, Illinois Homewood is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 19,463 at the 2020 census. The village sits just a few miles south of Chicago proper. It is bordered by Chicago Heights and Flossmoor to the south, Hazel Crest ...

. Within five years, Kovacs hoped to open Archie's restaurants throughout the states of Illinois, Indiana,

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. However, the two existing locations were badly mismanaged, which prompted Archie Comics to close them down and buy the stock back from BarKo.

References

1973 establishments in Illinois Restaurants established in 1973 Regional restaurant chains in the United States Restaurants in Illinois Restaurants in Indiana Archie Comics {{Indiana-stub