Kids 4 & Under Eat Free at America’s Dinner Table on this Special Day

Nashville, TN (RestaurantNews.com) Shoney’s, the iconic, All-American restaurant brand, will serve as America’s Dinner Table again this Christmas. At 11:00 a.m. on Christmas Day, Wednesday, December 25, Shoney’s, world-renowned for its homestyle goodness at a true value with friendly service, will feature its homestyle, All You Care to Eat, Freshly Prepared Christmas Day Feast, starting at $12.99.

This Christmas Feast will include holiday favorites like crispy chicken, roast beef with mushrooms & gravy, turkey breast, ham with apples, butterfly shrimp, macaroni & cheese, sweet potato casserole, loaded mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls, blackberry cobbler and so much more, available for dine-in or from Shoney’s Market Fresh Food Bar To-Go. Prices and participation may vary by location.

David Davoudpour, Shoney’s Chairman and CEO

“Shoney’s is pleased, privileged and uniquely qualified to host our annual Christmas Day Feast. It’s always a special family holiday meal and we are committed to providing homestyle goodness, southern hospitality, and value,” said Shoney’s Chairman and CEO Mr. David Davoudpour. “Shoney’s is the ideal place to share your Christmas Day meal with loved ones. It’s one of our favorite days of the year and we’d love to share it with you. And, as always, we’ll do the dishes so you can head home and enjoy your presents.”

Shoney’s has collected restaurant industry accolades for the entirety of its 72-year history and the world-renowned brand was recently recognized by consumers as one of America’s Favorite Chains in the family-dining category, based on a Restaurant Business poll and was voted one of the best 8 family dining restaurants in the United States in the Consumer Picks Survey via Nation’s Restaurant News.

Shoney’s was recognized for having the best rating for value among all family dining chains and also scored well for its service, menu variety and diners being likely to recommend it. Its category leadership, relevance and impact on family dining was recently captured in a column in Columbia, Tennessee’s newspaper, Columbia Daily Herald.

Since acquiring the great American eatery in 2007, Mr. Davoudpour has been on a driven and spirited mission to reinvigorate and revitalize Shoney’s, a family-friendly, southern-style restaurant brand. Shoney’s is one of the first, and has always been one of the most popular, family casual dining concepts in the United States.

In order to get back to what Mr. Davoudpour confidently calls Shoney’s “Glory Days,” the brand is now growing through franchising, following an extensive revitalization effort. Shoney’s is offering franchising opportunities to qualified single and multi-unit candidates. For more information, visit http://www.shoneys.com/franchise/.

Shoney’s was one of the best restaurants in my small Tennessee town growing up, and at one time, it was the place to go in Columbia to be seen on a Friday or Saturday night.

As I sat in the Columbia location for Thanksgiving lunch and for Free Hot Fudge Cake Day a week later, I was flooded both times with nostalgic, feel-good memories of the iconic brand.

My father helped open a Shoney’s restaurants in Cookeville, about 70 miles east of Nashville, when I was a little boy. He was part of the breakfast crews who introduced the popular breakfast bar during its heyday.

Late in his life — until he died in 2012 at age 80 — dad would drive to town every morning from his farm outside Sparta and have a breakfast bar at Shoney’s. He drank a cup of coffee and ate lightly from the breakfast bar, and they only charged him $1. The managers, cooks and waitresses always treated him with great respect and admiration for having been and around Shoney’s for 50 years.

Looking back, I’ll never forget how they made my father feel or how excited I was to go to Shoney’s into my college years. Shoney’s briefly opened a franchise in Phoenix when I was working in Arizona in the 1990s, and I would take friends and colleagues to lunch and wax poetically about how highly regarded Shoney’s was down South.

Through the years, Shoney’s lost part of its sizzle as the place to go. Maybe that’s partly because of Cracker Barrel’s emergence as the go-to place for breakfast and country cooking. Maybe it’s because Waffle House’s no-frills locations could whip up bacon, eggs and waffles as fast as their smarmy waitresses could call out the order.

There always were distinct difference to me between Cracker Barrel, Waffle House and Shoney’s. Cracker Barrel was the place to go if you were traveling. Waffle House was the best bet for late at night or on snow days. Shoney’s was a community meeting place where you would your friends and neighbors.

I noticed some Shoney’s locations started to close in the 1990s and 2000s as the brand lost luster. It seemed Denny’s — home of the Grand Slam breakfast — suffered the same fate around the same time.

Luckily for Shoney’s, David Davoudpour bought the company in 2006 and has been on a mission to restore it as the country’s premier family dining destination. His passion has allowed the company to remain at 150 locations in 17 states.

“In the long run, I would like to have 1,000 Shoney’s restaurants,” Davoudpour told The Daily Herald on Friday.

I spoke with Davoudpour after he visited several locations on Free Hot Fudge Cake Day. He originated the concept for the first week in December as a thank you to customers and as a way to say Merry Christmas.

Click Here to Read the full story at The Daily Herold.