Before he was a fixture on The Tonight Show, Johnny Carson started his broadcasting career at WOWT in 1950. It seemed logical then that when the Swanson brothers wanted to cash-in on his fame by opening the first of hundreds of restaurants bearing name and face, they would start right here in Omaha. Gilbert and Jay Swanson were heirs to the frozen food company that introduced TV dinners to the masses.
It was 1968 and Johnny was in his sixth of a 30 year run as America’s TV host. He was added as chairman of the board of the parent company, Johnny’s American Inn, Inc, and said that he was going to be active in the restaurant chain called Here’s Johnny’s. Its early menu was limited and consisted of gourmet hamburgers, fried chicken, steak, fish sandwiches and hot dogs. An ad in Esquire magazine described the restaurant’s atmosphere as luxurious with its plush carpet, booths, telephone ordering system and large murals consisting of candid shots of the restaurant’s namesake. The Swanson brothers were hoping to sell 375 franchises in the next 18 months. The first restaurant opened at 1818 S 72nd St followed by a second at 1020 N Saddle Creek and one in Lincoln. Things started off well enough and a franchise owner in Louisiana even signed an agreement to open 15 restaurants in the state.
Not living up to expectations, the brothers hit pause on the franchise expansion within a couple of years so they could redesign the original concept. They ripped out the phone lines and converted the Omaha locations to more of a family style restaurant. While it did boost sales of the flagship location, the parent company never got around to converting the remaining locations. Franchise sales continued to lag and there were just 12 locations operating at this point. Only three of the 15 Louisiana locations were opened by the end of 1972. They filed chapter 11 and after reorganizing, still couldn’t get the restaurant to achieve its goal. It seemed that you needed more than just a name to launch a successful restaurant chain.
The Swanson brothers attributed the restaurant’s ultimate failure to bad timing as there was overexpansion in the fast food industry which became much more competitive triggering the upcoming burger wars. That franchise owner in Louisiana sued the company claiming a multitude of reasons for its failure: shoddy kitchen equipment, a phone ordering system that didn’t work, lack of promised advertising and promotion featuring Johnny Carson himself, inadequate training, little help with financing and site selection. They were also misled into believing that Johnny had invested in the restaurant. The court ruled in favor of the plaintiff and the Swansons lost millions as a result of the failed venture.
Despite claims to the contrary when the restaurant started Johnny would later say that while he lent his name to the project, he was not the owner nor was he a stakeholder in the business. In fact, his contract specified that he only appear at five or more restaurant openings per year. In the end, he was only added to the board for publicity purposes.
The last Here’s Johnny’s restaurant closed in 1976. It also happened to be the first. It would go on to become the fifth El Fredo’s Pizza location. Today it is home to Credit Advisors.
The Swanson brothers attempted to launch a second franchise model at the same time as Here’s Johnny’s. That one was located in North Omaha and was called Time Out. We’ll explore it another time.
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Until next time, keep exploring!
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