In 1967, Roy Rogers, beloved cowboy star of the large and small screen, licensed his name to the Marriott Corporation for use on a fast food chain. The following year, the first Roy Rogers Western Roast Beef Sandwich restaurant opened in Falls Church, Virginia. The chain quickly grew through franchising, and the menu was expanded to include chicken and hamburgers.
In 1982, the Marriott Corporation bought Gino’s, another fast food chain, and converted many of the restaurants into Roy Rogers outlets. Three years later, Marriott bought Howard Johnson’s restaurants and converted some of them into Roy Rogers outlets. By 1990, the Roy Rogers chain had 894 restaurants. In that year Imasco, the parent company of Hardee’s, bought the Roy Rogers chain from Marriott. Hardee’s converted 220 Roy Rogers outlets into Hardee’s restaurants, but then reconverted them into Roy Rogers two years later. Other Roy Rogers outlets were sold to Boston Chicken (later renamed Boston Market), Wendy’s, and McDonald’s. Only thirteen Roy Rogers franchisees survived. In 2002, Imasco sold the Roy Rogers trademark to Plamondon Enterprises, Inc., one of the few remaining franchisees, which then created a new company called Roy Rogers Franchise, Inc. The remaining franchises are scattered on the East Coast from Connecticut to Virginia. As of 2010, there were forty-seven Roy Rogers outlets.
