 FirstAutomat, 818–820 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia (1904 postcard) | |
| Company type | Privately held company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Restaurants |
| Founded | 1888; 137 years ago (1888) (partnership) 1902; 123 years ago (1902) (first automat) |
Key people | Joseph Horn,Frank Hardart |
| Revenue | USD |
Horn & Hardart was afood services company in the United States noted for operating the first food serviceautomats inPhiladelphia,New York City, andBaltimore.[1] Horn & Hardart automats ushered in the fast food era and at their height, they were the largest restaurant chain in the world, with 88 locations.[citation needed]
Philadelphia's Joseph Horn (1861–1941) and German-born,New Orleans-raisedFrank Hardart (1850–1918) opened their first restaurant in Philadelphia, on December 22, 1888. The 11-by-17-foot (3.4 m × 5.2 m) lunchroom at 39 South Thirteenth Street had no tables, only a counter with 15 stools. The location was formerly the print shop of Dunlap & Claypoole, printers to the American Congress and George Washington.[2]
By introducing Philadelphia to New Orleans-style coffee, which Hardart promoted as their "gilt-edge" brew, they made their tiny luncheonette a local attraction. News of the coffee spread, and the business flourished. They incorporated as the Horn & Hardart Baking Company in 1898.
At its peak the company operated in excess of 100 restaurants, as well as a popular chain of retail outlets. The lack of a succession plan, changing demographics, the rapid rise of fast food chains, and poor strategic decisions from the early 1960s on were too much to overcome and the last restaurant was closed in 1991.
Joseph Horn had traveled in Europe and experienced the revolutionary new form of restaurant known as theAutomat, pioneered byMax Sielaff [de] inBerlin.Inspired by the success and decor of this new form of food service that eliminated wait staffs but still served high quality fresh food, Horn persuaded his partner Frank Hardart to open the first automat[3] in the U.S., which made its debut on June 9, 1902,[4] at 818 Chestnut Street inPhiladelphia.[5] It was the first non-European restaurant to receive patentedvending machines from Sielaff's AutomatGmbH factory in Berlin, the creators also of the firstchocolate bar vending machine forLudwig Stollwerck [de].[4]
Ten years later the first New York Automat opened inTimes Square, on July 2, 1912, and later that week, the third opened atBroadway and E 14th St, nearUnion Square.
In 1924, Horn & Hardart opened retail stores to sell prepackaged automat favorites. Using the advertising slogan, "Less Work for Mother," the company popularized the notion of easily served "take-out" food as an equivalent to "home-cooked" meals.[6]
The Horn & Hardart Automats were particularly popular during theDepression era, when theirmacaroni and cheese,baked beans, andcreamed spinach were staple offerings.[citation needed] In the 1930s, union conflicts resulted in vandalism, as noted by Christopher Gray inThe New York Times:
In 1932 the police blamed members of the glaziers union for vandalism against 24 Horn & Hardart and Bickford's restaurants in Manhattan, including the one at 488Eighth Avenue. Witnesses said that a passenger in a car driving by used a slingshot to damage and even break the plate glass show windows. Glaziers union representatives had complained about nonunion employees installing glass at the restaurants.[7]
By the time of Horn's death in 1941, the business had 157 retail shops and restaurants in the Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore, areas, serving some 500,000 patrons a day.[8] During the 1940s and the 1950s, more than 50 New York Horn & Hardart restaurants served 350,000 customers a day.[citation needed]
In 1953, the company split into two independent public corporations: the New York entity was named the Horn & Hardart Company, the Philadelphia the Horn & Hardart Baking Company. Shares of the first were traded on theAmerican Stock Exchange, and the second thePhiladelphia Stock Exchange.[citation needed]
The self-service restaurants operated for nearly a century, with the business' last storefront closing in New York City in 1991.
In their heyday, Horn & Hardart automats were popular, busy eateries. They featured prepared foods displayed behind small coin- and token-operated glass-doored windows, beginning withbuns,beans,fish cakes, andcoffee.[citation needed] As late as the 1950s one could enjoy a large, if somewhat plain, meal for under $1.00. Each stack of dispensers had a metal drum that could be rotated by staff on the other side of the vending wall to refill its windows. Every dispenser had a slot for coins or tokens purchased from a cashier worth up to 75¢ for more expensive items. A knob was rotated to capture the fee and unlock the door. Dispensers were room temperature, heated, or cooled as appropriate.
With success the chain began lunch and dinner entrees, such as fish, beef stew, andSalisbury steak with mashed potatoes.
Carolyn Hughes Crowley described the appeal of the Automats:
In huge rectangular halls filled with shiny, lacquered tables, women with rubber tips on their fingers — "nickel throwers," as they became known — in glass booths gave customers the five-cent pieces required to operate the dispensers. After depositing the appropriate amount the compartment opened to present the desired food to the customer through a small glass. Diners picked up hot foods at buffet-style steam tables.The word "automat" comes from the Greek automatos, meaning "self-acting." Still, the Automats were heavily staffed. As a customer removed a compartment's contents, a worker quickly slipped another sandwich, salad, side dish, or dessert into the vacated chamber.[9]
Beginning in 1927, Horn & Hardart sponsored a radio program,The Horn and Hardart Children's Hour, a variety show with a cast of children, including some who as adults became well-known performers (such asBernadette Peters andFrankie Avalon). The program was broadcast first onWCAU Radio inPhiladelphia, hosted by Stan Lee Broza. It was broadcast onNBC Radio inNew York during the 1940s and 1950s. The original New York host wasPaul Douglas, succeeded byRalph Edwards and finallyEd Herlihy.[citation needed]. The showRosemary Clooney,Frankie Avalon,Bernadette Peters,Gregory Hines, andMadeline Kahn all got their starts on the show.[10]
The television premiere ofThe Horn & Hardart Children's Hour appeared onWCAU-TV in Philadelphia in 1948, succeeded byWNBT in New York in 1949, telecast on Sunday mornings. Stan Lee Broza hosted in Philadelphia, andEd Herlihy in New York.[citation needed]
For a long period of time the price of coffee was 5 cents, or one nickel. On November 29, 1950 the price was raised to 10 cents, requiring two nickels.[11]
The restaurant chain remained popular into the 1960s, operating sit-down waitress service restaurants, cafeterias, retail stores,and bakery shops[clarification needed] in addition to its automats. In the late 1960s, efforts were made to update decor, and redecorate some restaurants relevant to surrounding neighborhoods; thus, the Automat on 14th Street was decorated with psychedelic posters. The chain rapidly lost ground to the explosive rise offast-food chains, which offered cheap fare, a limited menu, and easy to carry take-out.
By the mid-1970s the company began to replace some of its restaurants with its ownBurger King franchises.[12] Horn & Hardart further expanded its fast food operations in 1981, acquiring theBojangles' Famous Chicken n' Biscuits restaurants, which it sold to a California investment company in 1990 for $20 million.[13] More similar restaurant franchises and associations were to follow.
In 1979, Horn & Hardart agreed to buy theRoyal Inn in Las Vegas for $7.4 million.[14] By late 1980, the sale had been completed, and the property was rebranded as the Royal Americana Hotel, with a New York theme.[15] A $3.5 million renovation[16] increased the room count to 300.[17] By 1982 though, the hotel was experiencing substantial losses, and Horn & Hardart decided to close it.[16] They reportedly agreed that December to sell the property to an investment group for $15.4 million.[18]
The last New York Horn & Hardart Automat (on the southeast corner of42nd Street andThird Avenue) closed on April 9, 1991.[19][20] Horn & Hardart continued to own a catalog division; it renamed itselfHanover Direct in 1993. That year the company boughtGump's; it sold it to an investment group in 2005. Hanover Direct purchasedInternational Male in 1987 when founder Gene Burkard retired.[citation needed]
In 1987, Horn & Hardart opened two 1950s themed Dine-O-Mat restaurants in New York. They closed less than two years later.[21]
In 1986 its only remaining Philadelphia area restaurant was inBala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.[22] In summer 1987 the company opened another restaurant inBensalem, Pennsylvania, a second in the Philadelphia area.[23] Its planned square footage was 15,000 square feet (1,400 m2). The space was a former Duff's Cafeteria.[24] In December 1988 it was to open another location inJenkintown, Pennsylvania.[25]
In the early 1990s, two entrepreneurs bought the Philadelphia company (Horn & Hardart Baking Co.) out ofbankruptcy. While they did not open any restaurants, they reproduced a dozen of the most famous food items, including macaroni and cheese, Harvard beets, tapioca pudding, and cucumber salad.[26] The food was packed fresh, refrigerated, and sold in supermarkets throughout Philadelphia and New Jersey. The food was still available up until 2002.[citation needed]
The Horn & Hardart name was used for a now-dormant chain of coffee shops in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The Horn & Hardart Coffee Co. closed its last coffee shop in 2005.[citation needed]
As of 2016, the Horn & Hardart – Bakery Cafe is the name of a coffee shop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[27]
The assets of the company were purchased in 2015 as Horn & Hardart Coffee. They recreated the original East Coast City Roast and branded coffee was offered as of 2016 on their website. They also offered a subscription service called The Automat Club.[28]
As of November 2022, the official Horn & Hardart website announced that the brand had returned with a recreation of the original Automat Blend of coffee. The website also says the company is in the process of modernizing the Automat and restoring the brand online and in retail.[29] The new CEO, David Arena, published his vision for the company online which he says includes reopening an Automat in the future.[30]
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