The portly fiberglass boy with the cheerful grin, pompadour-style hair and red-checkered overalls is back, and he's hoping his return will yield much more than a momentary trip down memory lane. Think double-decker burgers and fries, thick shakes and chili spaghetti, and chances are that memories of the once ubiquitous Bob's Big Boy chain will come flooding back -- along with customers yearning for days gone by, company officials hope.
Following a nearly two-decade-long absence from most of Southern California, Bob's is staging a comeback, with one of the newest entries due to make its debut in El Cajon's Westfield Parkway Plaza next month.
Restaurateur Matt Pike, whose family owns the Beach House Restaurant in Cardiff, has an agreement with Michigan-based Big Boy Restaurants International to build 10 San Diego County franchises over the next five years. He already owns three others, including one in Temecula, and is scouting other locations.
"Last weekend we had one of our employees put on a Bob's Big Boy outfit that he wears, and we were out at the mall and a Pop Warner football game, and everyone wanted to take a picture with him. It's almost like a young person going to Disneyland wanting to take a picture with Mickey Mouse."
It's that sort of instant, populist connection with the 73-year-old Big Boy brand that company executives are banking on to propel the expansion of the casual coffee shop chain.
"As each restaurant has opened, they've been very well received by the community and they've been creating their own energy," said Keith Sirois, appointed this year as chief executive of Big Boy Restaurants. "I hear a lot from folks who say, 'I used to go there as a kid.'
"This tendency toward nostalgia has a lot to do with the times we're living in. These are difficult times for folks, and we tend to look back at things that make us happy, which has led to the resurgence of Bob's."