One of the few places that will serve you waffles, grits and chicken at 2:00 am while you're whacked out of your gourd. Drunk, stoned or insane this place will serve you as long as you've got money and don't attack other customers.

Denny's began in 1953 when Harold Butler opened Danny's Donuts in Lakewood, California. Danny's did excellent business in the donut trade and several more shops were opened, but within a year it became clear that the customers wanted more. So, in 1954 Danny's expanded the menu to include sandwiches and a few entrees. The stores were renamed to Danny's Coffee shops to reflect the new menu.

In 1959 the small string of stores has become a chain of 20 stores and is renamed again, to Denny's Coffee Shops. In 1967 the store has more than seventy restaurants in seven western states of the US. Not satisfied with that level of success the chain goes international after opening a restaurant in Acapulco, Mexico.

By 1968 Denny's has 192 restaurants and has merged with Sandy's Restaurants, a chain that gives them a foothold on the east coast. In 1977 Denny's introduces the Original Grand Slam Breakfast. To this day it remains their most popular menu item.

By 1981 Denny's has opened over a thousand restaurants and is the nation's leader in family dining. By the end of 1997 Denny's had 1,652 restaurants and more are being built every day.

Through the late eighties and early nineties, Denny's went through some restructuring. They were bought by TW Services Inc, who has since become Advantica Restaurant Group and is one of the largest restaurant companies in the US. In 1991 the company headquarters was moved from its long-time home in Irvine, California to Spartanburg, South Carolina as Advatica centralizes the management.

In 1993, in response to a lot of negative publicity and claims of racist business practices, Denny's signs a Fair Share Agreement with the NAACP in order to provide better employment and business opportunities throughout the company. A similar agreement is signed with the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility in 1995. In 2000 Fortune magazine ranks Advantica as number 1 in "America's Best Companies for Minorities."

Info courtesy of www.dennys.com

Actually, the bias lawsuits happened a while ago, and Denny's management were pretty aggressive about preventing such things from occuring again and about promoting minority ownership of Denny's franchises. They were so successful that the company was actually featured as one of the fairest national corporations race-wise in some financial magazine. This doesn't mean that some stupid franchisees don't act up every once in a while, but the reputation they have is out of line.

They're also the place to go when you haven't slept the night before (especially if you might be in a chemically-interesting mood), as it's virtually impossible to get thrown out of one. My record is two hours of just sleeping there before the mutterings of the massed waiters woke me and convinced me to pay and leave.

Oh yeah, and don't order any dishes with country gravy. I think it's monkey cum, because it looks like it, and it tastes what I imagine such an thing would taste like. Animal experimenters must dispose of all excess monkey cum by selling it to Denny's. Also, don't tell anyone this if they're eating country gravy at the time - bad things will happen.

Denny's is the kind of place that people are keen to call an "American institution". It started in 1953 with Harold Butler and a place called "Danny's Donuts" in Lakewood, California. Through some weird twist of fate, it becomes so popular that more stores are opened and, by 1954, they Harold branches out from donuts into soups and sanwiches, and renames the chain to "Danny's Coffee Shops"... and then, in '59 is it renamed to "Denny's Coffee Shop" -- maybe to give it some character?

Denny's Corporation went public in 1966 on the AMEX and PCS Exchanges. There were 81 franchises.

1977. Those infernal "Grand Slam" things they call "breakfast" are born. Fear.

Purchased by the huge TW Services Coproration in 1987... TWS has has interests in, among other things, McDonald's and Philip-Morris.

Denny's and the NAACP had a bit of a tiff in 1993, and later signed a "Fair Share" agreement to allow minorities greater access. The fact that it got bad enough to require the use of a legal document says a lot. This happens again in 1995 with the Hispanic Association.

Denny's may suck (though suckitude ratios are a matter of opinion, anyway) but you must admit it has at least one small redeeming quality:

It's not Village Inn.

"Breakfast at Denny's"
(from "Breakfast at Tiffany's" by Deep Blue Something)
(Copyright 1996, Michael D. Lynch - reprinted with permission)

"You say, you don't like McDonald's,
You hate their McMuffins,
They're falling apart.

You say, 'The Waffle House is open,'
But I know they're not open,
I know 'cause I was just there.

(Chorus:) And I said, 'What about breakfast at Denny's?'
She said, 'I think I remember the place,
'And as I recall, I think we both kindof liked it,'
And I said, 'Well then, we're going Dutch!'

I ordered, I told him over easy,
I know he heard me speaking,
I guess I was wrong,

So what now? My eggs aren't over easy.
And I hate when eggs are scrambled,
And my bacon's over done.

(chorus)"

-Michael D. Lynch (Snicker Furfoot)
October 30, 1996

The giant yellow and green orb lights up the corner of Wilbur and Airport Way. A beacon of hope to midnight coffee campers, and twenty-four hour bottom-feeding socialites. Inside, there's a murmur of self-defeat and pseudo-intellectual conversations and a few wayward beatniks, fresh from the road.

Welcome to Fairbanks, Alaska. You've found us nestled in the permafrost infested interior of America's largest state. Fairbanks is a small town thriving solely on caffeine and the sweat and tears of petroleum farmers. That's right, we've got ourselves a pipeline, a couple of moose, and the Northern Most Denny's in the known universe.

This particular Denny’s is/was also the highest profit generating restaurant amongst its brother and sister counterparts across the U.S.A. This is due almost entirely to the incredible amount of tourists during the short summer season of only three months (Being located next to a Super8 also helps).

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