6 Shoney’s Memories Every Tennessean Over 40 Shares

For a lot of families, dinner out once meant a booth at Shoney’s.

Tennesseans over 40 may still remember the desserts, the mascot and the nights the whole family piled in.

Here’s a trip back to the details that made those visits stick.

1. Breakfast Bar

Shoney’s brought in its all-you-can-eat breakfast bar in 1981, according to the International Directory of Company Histories.

The bar reversed a ten-year decline in morning sales.

A 1999 Nashville Scene review said many people were fond of the bar.

They loaded up on scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, grits, hash browns, biscuits, gravy, pancakes, and French toast sticks.

You could stack all of it on your plate.

A lot of people who grew up eating there still bring up that bar.

2. Hot Fudge Cake

A 2009 Nashville Scene article said a Shoney’s hot fudge cake could set off an instant flashback to long-ago school outings.

Back then, lunch at Shoney’s was the part of a field trip kids waited for.

A longtime Nashvillian was likely to get wistful about the Thompson Lane restaurant’s Sunday lunches, heaps of steam-table bacon, and hot fudge cake.

In 2025, a Nashville Scene feature on old Nashville described kids waiting for hot fudge cakes to come from the chill box.

If your class ever stopped there, you probably remember the cake.

In a 2021 company release, Shoney’s said it served over 2 million hot fudge cakes a year.

3. Strawberry Pie

A 1999 Nashville Scene review named Shoney’s strawberry pie among the reasons many people went to the restaurant.

The pie had featured frozen strawberries in syrup.

The slice at the Murphy Road restaurant had big, juicy, fresh strawberries instead.

The reviewer said the pie had gotten better, though not the crust.

In a 2021 Mother’s Day release, Shoney’s said the pie was made in-house daily with fresh strawberries, a flaky crust, a special glaze, and whipped topping.

If a slice ever topped off your meal, you had a lot of company.

4. Salad Bar

Teething babies and toddlers could be fueled on the Shoney’s salad bar, the same 1999 Nashville Scene review said.

The same 2025 Nashville Scene feature described kids making trips to the fruit-salad-and-soup bar.

Shoney’s menus and ads carried the slogan “Your neighborhood family restaurant.”

The 2009 article described an all-you-can-eat food bar with meat-and-three style offerings, salad, and soup.

If you were feeding a toddler, you could build a whole dinner at that bar.

5. Wednesday Nights

By 1999, Wednesday nights at Shoney’s included breakfast at dinner, the same Nashville Scene review said.

If your family ate out midweek, you may remember that deal.

Adults paid $5.49, children ages 6 to 12 paid $2.99, and children 5 and under ate free with an adult meal purchase.

The reviewer also recalled a kids-eat-free Wednesday-night dinner at Shoney’s from about three years earlier.

6. Shoney Bear

Shoney’s launched a bear mascot in 1977, according to the same 2025 feature.

Shoney Bear and his forest friends appeared on the kids menu and activity books.

Plush bears went on sale.

If you ever got a Shoney’s kids menu, you probably remember the bear.

In the early 2000s and 2010s, a costumed Shoney Bear turned up at major Metro events, posing with city leaders.

Big Boy Years

Shoney’s began phasing out Big Boy marketing in 1979, according to the International Directory of Company Histories.

It ended its 25-year tie to Marriott Corporation, the parent company of Big Boy, in 1984.

A 2009 Nashville Scene article said the bear replaced Big Boy as the company mascot.

If you grew up eating at Shoney’s, the bear is probably the mascot you remember.

Shoney’s Inns

Shoney’s established a lodging division called Shoney’s Inns.

It did so after finding that its family restaurants near motels earned over 30 percent more than its stand-alone restaurants did.

The Directory doesn’t say whether that means sales or profit.

It paired the inns with specialty restaurants called Fifth Quarter Steakhouses.

In 1982, a Sailmaker restaurant on Brainerd Road in Chattanooga was converted to a Fifth Quarter Steak House, Chattanoogan.com reported in 2016.

A Shoney’s Inn was near the site for several years.

If you ever stayed at a Shoney’s Inn, you saw a different side of the chain.

The restaurant and the inn both eventually closed as Hamilton Place Mall replaced Eastgate as the shopping center of choice.

Where Nashville Comes In

If you trace Shoney’s roots back, you reach Charleston, West Virginia, where a Kanawha Boulevard marker transcribed by the Historical Marker Database says Alex Schoenbaum’s chain started in 1947.

The original restaurant was the Parkette Drive-In.

Residents flocked to the Parkette for double-deck Big Boy hamburgers served by carhops.

Madison came next.

Ray Danner opened his first Shoney’s Big Boy restaurant in Madison, Tennessee, in 1959, according to his 2008 obituary from the Associated Press.

Schoenbaum’s chain merged with Danner Foods of Nashville in 1971 to become Shoney’s Big Boy Enterprises.

Shoney's Today

Shoney's said in a February 2026 release that it's headquartered in Nashville and owns 51 restaurants in 12 states.

A 2009 Nashville Scene article said Shoney's had 260 stores in 18 states, with 20 in Nashville.

If you're comparing the two, note that the 2009 total included franchised stores as well as company-owned ones.

The 2026 figure is for restaurants Shoney's owns.