Eat ‘N Park was founded in 1949 by Larry Hatch and Bill Peters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Impressed by what they saw at a Big Boy Drive In operation, Hatch and Peters made a 25 year contract with Big Boy to operate a chain of drive in restaurants called Eat ‘N Park. The original drive-in had 13 stalls for cars and 10 carhops.
Today, Eat ‘N Park has more than 75 locations in 3 states and has more than 8,000 full time employees. The company is also attempting to offer more upscale dining areas in some of their newer locations. A bakery was added to new locations after 1986 and the company began to advertise this using a Smiley Face cookie.
The company has been involved in several lawsuits over their right to the Smiley Face cookie, including rival King Family Restaurants, who launched a Frownie Brownie to their menu. Eat ‘N Park is one of the only fast food restaurants to offer an ATM at each location, even though they accept debit and credit cards.
