Howard Johnson's (fictional)

Howard Johnson's is a name shared by a chain of hotels and motels located primarily throughout the United States and a chain of restaurants that the name is widely known for. Founded by Howard Deering Johnson, it was the largest restaurant chain in the U.S. throughout the 1960s and 1970s, with more than 1,000 combined company-owned and franchised outlets.

Howard Johnson hotels and motels are now part of Wyndham Hotels and Resorts. Howard Johnson's restaurants have been owned by 7-Eleven since 2021. The frozen food grocery line is now owned by. The three companies share the Howard Johnson's trademark and cooperate in running the Howard Johnson's Museum in Quincy, Massachusetts.

1980s
In 1983, Marriott split up the operations of the Howard Johnson's restaurant and hotel chains. Marriot kept the hotel chain, but spun off the restaurant chain as HoJo Food Services.

In 1984, Howard Johnson's gave their children's menu a major overhaul phasing out the storybook names for the meals and including a Fun Pak which includes an activity book, crayons, and a toy prize to make their kids meal more like Happy Meals at McDonald's. The Simple Simon character was retired in 1984 in order to make the chain more relevant to the time.

By 1985, many US highway service plaza had sold off their Howard Johnson's restaurants to other chains as result of a phase out of the Howard Johnson's Turnpike/Vending Stores concept leaving very little highway service plaza locations.

1990s
In 1992, Howard Johnson's started a family entertainment center to rival Chuck E. Cheese's called JoJo's Pizza Palace. The JoJo's Pizza Palace chain was shuttered in 1997 with some JoJo's being converted to Howard Johnson's restaurants.

In 1993, the restaurant chain was sold to and the last of the Howard Johnson's Turnpike/Vending Stores closed completely phasing out the Howard Johnson's Turnpike/Vending Store concept.

In 1995, the first HoJo GoGo concept location was opened in Foxborough, Massachusetts, a fast food/quick service variation of the traditional Howard Johnson's restaurant concept that sold burgers and other typical fast-food fare. The HoJo GoGo name was mostly phased out by 2005, and most HoJo GoGo locations were rebranded to normal Howard Johnson's locations.

2000s
After the 9/11 attacks in 2001, all first responders got a year-long supply of free meals.