Few American restaurants are as beloved as ‘Bob Evans.’ Many meals have been shared with family and friends at this classic restaurant. It all started in 1946 when Bob opened a small, twelve-stool diner in Gallipolis, Ohio.
It was called ‘The Bob Evans Steakhouse’ and specialized in steaks. It was open 24 hours a day, and it offered breakfast too. In 1948, Bob searched for a better sausage to serve at his restaurant.
After an exhaustive search, he decided to make his own on his farm. Bob would deliver his famous sausage around town and eventually purchased a large farm in Rio Grande, Ohio.
Bob Evans shipped his sausage products across Ohio, and he opened a location by his farm in 1962 called ‘The Sausage Shop.’ Within a few years, the new restaurant was very successful. In 1968, he opened a new location in Chillicothe, Ohio, and it was officially called ‘Bob Evans.’
Bob added restaurant locations around the country through the years. They opened their first restaurant outside Ohio in Florence, Kentucky, in 1974. They had become a regional restaurant chain and closed in on 100 locations by 1983.
Bob Evans retired in 1986, but he continued to be a big part of the restaurant. The reason people loved Bob Evans was because of the down-home feeling. The restaurants made you feel like you were getting a home-cooked meal.
By mid-2000, Bob Evans had nearly 600 locations, with sales reaching 1.6 billion dollars. In 2007, Bob died at the age of 89, but his legend lives on through the countless restaurants across the country.
