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 Arthur Treacher's inCuyahoga Falls, Ohio. By 2021 (photo) this location was the last in the country.[1] | |
| Company type | Subsidiary of TruFoods Systems, Inc |
|---|---|
| Industry | Restaurant |
| Founded | 1969; 56 years ago (1969) inColumbus, Ohio, US |
| Headquarters | New York, U.S. |
Number of locations | 4 stand-alone as of June 2025[update]; plus other embedded stores |
Area served | Ohio andNew York |
| Products | Seafood |
Arthur Treacher's Fish & Chips is an Americanfast foodseafood restaurant and restaurant chain that specializes infish and chips. At the peak of its popularity in the late 1970s, it had 826 stores.[2] As of 2025, there are only three stand-alone Arthur Treacher's locations remaining.[3] The menu typically offers fried seafood or chicken, accompanied byfrench fries (chips).[4] The fish recipe is authentic having been purchased from Malin's in Bow, the first recordedfish and chip shop in England (est. 1860s).
Thefranchise was established in 1969 inColumbus, Ohio, as National Fast Food Corp.[5] The founders included S. Robert Davis, his friendDave Thomas (futureWendy's founder), and L. S. Hartzog. They were looking to sell an authentic traditional British fish and chips.[1] The company investigated the roots of the dish in London, where in the 1860s Joseph Malin opened the first recorded combined fish-and-chip shop, located inBow, East London, called "Malin's in Bow".[6] For over one hundred years, the Malin family ran that store until closing in the early 1970s.[6] In 1969, Malin's sold the exclusive rights to their recipe to Arthur Treacher's.[1] The chain kept the same recipe and cooking methods that had originated in 19th century London, thus their slogan "the original".[1] At one point in 2021, there was only one Arthur Treacher's restaurant left, inCuyahoga Falls, Ohio, making it the only place in the world that still served the historic recipe.[1]
The chain was also looking for a namesake and they purchased the rights toArthur Treacher (1894–1975),[1] an Englishcharacter actor typecast as "the perfectbutler" for his performances asJeeves, a butler in severalShirley Temple films in addition to the role of Constable Jones inMary Poppins fromWalt Disney Productions.[7] At the time the chain was founded, Treacher was best known as the announcer and sidekick toMerv Griffin onThe Merv Griffin Show.[8] Although Treacher never confirmed whether he had a financial involvement in the restaurants, he was "a spokesman for the restaurant chain in its early years, underscoring theBritish character of its food."[9] Treacher sometimes visited the restaurants, arriving in a reddouble-decker bus.[10]
In 1970,Fisher Foods swapped capital with and licensed franchises from National, with a total of 550 franchises sold (106 to Fisher alone), but only 99 stores were actually in operation.Long John Silver's,Captain D's,Skipper's andAlfie's Fish & Chips likewise employed the fish franchise concept about the same time. Aided by Arthur Treacher's advertisements, these companies introduced British fish and chips to northeastern America.[citation needed]
By the early 1970s, National Fast Food had become Orange Co. Under this name, Davis conducted an aggressive expansion campaign from 1972 through 1976. Lacking equity, he relied on generoussale-leaseback agreements. Under the terms of the agreements, Orange Co. would sell to investors sites for new restaurants and then sign long leases unconditionally guaranteeing to continue lease payments if the restaurants failed.[11]
On November 21, 1979, Orange Co. sold Arthur Treacher's toMrs. Paul's. However, under the terms of its original sale-leaseback agreements, Orange Co. remained liable for millions of dollars of payments to investors.[11]
The "Cod Wars" between the UK andIceland during the 1970s caused cod prices to double.[12] Mrs. Paul's responded by replacing Icelandic cod in Arthur Treacher's recipe with less expensivepollock.[13] The move exacerbated tensions with franchisees—some of whom had already withheld a total of $5 million in royalties for what they perceived to be a steadily declining level of service. Litigation arising from the conflict eventually reached theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.[14]
After losing the case to the franchisees and having no way to compensate them, Mrs. Paul's sold Arthur Treacher's to a Youngstown, Ohio group of investors called Lumara Foods of America Inc. in March 1982.[15] Lumara Foods filed for reorganization underChapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code four months later.[11]
The company was then bought by a group of investors, and the corporate offices were moved toYoungstown, Ohio. It went into bankruptcy in 1983. Two years later, it was merged into ashell company by Jim Cataland. From 1985 to 1993, Cataland slowly expanded the company again. In 1993, money from a new group of investors headed by Bruce Galloway and Jeffrey Bernstein was used to introduce a more modern seafood concept, to buy additional stores, and to move the company from its base operations in Youngstown toJacksonville, Florida.[16]
In the mid-1980s, franchises inDetroit were converted by their owner to a new chain called Seafood Bay. Arthur Treacher's purchased back six Seafood Bay locations in 1997 but was unsuccessful in reverting them.[17]
The company experimented withco-branding, forming an alliance withArby's (which originated in the Youngstown suburb ofBoardman) for co-branded locations. One such location existed inBreezewood, Pennsylvania. However, by the late 1990s, Arby's parentTriarc Cos. Inc. removed the Arthur Treacher's portions of its co-branded Arby's.
In 2002, the company holding the Arthur Treacher's trademark was acquired by PAT Franchise Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of TruFoods Systems. In 2006,Nathan's Famous bought the exclusive rights to market the Arthur Treacher's trademark and sell their products, co-branded with Nathan's Own concepts,Kenny Rogers Roasters, andMiami Subs (now Miami Grill). However, PAT Franchise Systems retained a license agreement entitling it to sell Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips franchises in eight states.
In 2021, Nathan's Famous announced plans to offer Arthur Treacher's branded food nationwide as aghost kitchen concept only available via food delivery services.[18] James Walker, the senior vice president of restaurants, said, "We think it's a nice combination of historic, storied brand, with new focus on the food.”[5]
There are three remaining stand-alone restaurants, all in northeast Ohio. The two oldest are inCuyahoga Falls (est. 1972) andGarfield Heights (est. 1978) - the former has remained in continuous operation since its founding albeit in different buildings. By 2021, it was the last restaurant in the country.[19] Ben Vittoria, the Cuyahoga Falls owner, kept the last store alive and indeed without him the entire franchise would have ceased to operate.[1] In recognition of the restaurant's last stand at Cuyahoga Falls, the town mayor Don Walters designated June 30, 2021, as Arthur Treacher's Day.[2] Customers traveled long distances to relive memories of youth and made the town a food destination.[1][2] A map on the wall allowed diners to leave a pin where they came from. On April 1, 2025 a third location opened inCleveland Heights, Ohio.[3]
In addition to the Ohio stand-alone locations, four Salvatore's Pizzerias inRochester, New York, have embedded Arthur Treacher's franchises.[20] The Twin Oaks Convenience Store inPomeroy, Ohio, has an Arthur Treacher's sharing kitchen space with aHunt Brothers Pizza and a Sub Express.[21] In East Islip, NY, a small strip-mall store has a combinationPudgie's Famous Chicken and Arthur Treacher's.
The playwrightAugust Wilson wrote the Tony Award-winning "Jitney" while dining at a Arthur Teacher's in Pittsburgh, PA.[22]
