Founding The first Childs Restaurant was launched in 1889 by brothers
Samuel S. Childs and
William Childs, on the ground level of the Merchants Hotel at 41
Cortlandt Street (between Broadway and Church Streets, on the current site of the
World Trade Center complex) in
Manhattan's
Financial District. The brothers' concept for the establishment was to provide economical meals to the
working class, quickly, and with an unusually high emphasis – for the period – on cleanliness and hygiene. Their novel design featured white tiles, white uniforms, and female servers rather than the then-common male servers. In addition to these signature characteristics, Childs locations also featured their pancake griddles in the front window. Within five years, Childs had grown to five profitable locations. They also are credited as inventors of the "tray line" self-service
cafeteria format, which they introduced in 1898 at their 130 Broadway location. In 1898, the brothers, confident and ready for more aggressive expansion, combined with several investors to legally incorporate the Childs Unique Dairy Company, with capitalization of $1,000,000, and the stated intent to "establish and operate restaurants in New York City and elsewhere". It was widely speculated, and finally confirmed in 1912, that several officers of the
Standard Oil Company were investors in the restaurant chain, including
Henry Morgan Tilford and Charles Sweeney. In 1899, F.O. Hendrick, a nephew of Samuel and William Childs, launched a casual luncheon restaurant at 142 Fulton Street, practically across the street from his uncles' first location on Cortlandt Street, which was by then ten years old and highly successful. After a short period of family competition, Hendrick ultimately brought his restaurant under the Childs umbrella. He remained an operating executive of Childs Restaurants until the family lost control. In 1906, fifteen similar restaurants (called "green doors"), independently owned and operated by Ellsworth Childs (brother of Samuel and William), were consolidated into the company. Thereafter, Ellsworth remained an executive of Childs until he died in 1929, and is cited as a driving force behind the physical expansion during that period.
Peak years In September 1919, the company launched an
employee stock ownership plan for its restaurant managers, and three years later, extended the plan to all employees. Within 10 years, employees would own almost 25% of the company's common stock. In November 1920, an article in
The Magazine of Wall Street, entitled "Where Everybody Eats Now and Then," called Childs "a national institution. Millions of people eat there at least once in a while and some eat much more often. . . . Most of the people who go into Childs' go in for quick lunches but you can get anything there from a doughnut to a steak." By 1925, the chain operated 107 locations in 29 cities, served 50,000,000 meals every year, and was reporting consistent annual profits of $2,000,000. The company also grew to include other real estate interests. In March 1925, company president Samuel S. Childs died. However, he had not been personally involved in the business for some time, instead focusing on his political career and many other civic and business activities. Operation of the restaurants had long been delegated to his brother and co-founder William, as vice president and general manager, and other family members. Around 1927, William Childs began to impose his
vegetarian dietary preferences on the chain's menu, which generated significant backlash from customers and his fellow managers and investors. The company's stock reached a low of $44 in 1928, and during a board meeting on December 12, 1928, William was pressed into resigning as president, but remained chairman of the board. At the following board meeting on January 30, 1929, William attempted to turn the tide by firing several executive officers and company directors, replacing them with family members. A proxy battle ensued, but on March 7, 1929, William and his supporters lost the fight to retain control of the company he co-founded 40 years before, by then valued around $37,000,000. He did retain a modest non-controlling equity position, which he eventually sold and/or bequeathed.
Decline and rebirth In the 1930s, no longer under the direction of the Childs family, the chain returned meat to its menus, introduced alcohol at many locations (after the repeal of
Prohibition), and launched a new subsidiary division called "The Host", meant to be lower-priced than Childs. The company also obtained a hot dog vending license for the
1939 World's Fair in Flushing Meadows, which proved to be a financial mistake. In August 1943, under pressure of significant debt maturity, the company filed for bankruptcy reorganization. and continued to operate through the 1940s and 1950s. By 1950, the company had shrunk to only 53 locations and was losing money. Nonetheless, it managed to acquire the candy and ice cream maker
Louis Sherry Inc.; it announced several significant operational changes, including "returning to its old custom of flap-jack making in the windows" and the introduction of prepared meats to eliminate the need for on-site butchering. In 1955, a young hotelier named A.M. "Sonny" Sonnabend assumed the presidency of the Childs company and pointed the enterprise in a new direction. In a series of coordinated transactions, the company's name was changed to Hotel Corporation of America, it acquired the
Plaza Hotel in New York (across the street from the
Savoy-Plaza Hotel, which Childs had developed), and entered into long-term leases for three other hotels in Boston, Cleveland, and Chicago. The company was then structured into three divisions: restaurants, manufacturing and distribution of packaged foods (via subsidiaries
Recipe Foods,
Fred Fear, and
Louis Sherry), and hotels. In 1961, substantially all of the remaining Childs restaurant operations, now greatly diminished in number and considered part of the company's past, were sold to the
Riese Organization (National Restaurants Management Inc.), which as of 2009 operates more than 100 restaurants throughout New York City, including franchised units of
Dunkin' Donuts,
KFC,
Pizza Hut,
T.G.I. Friday's and
Houlihan's. A number of the Riese properties are former Childs Restaurants. In 1970, Hotel Corporation of America (formerly Childs) was again renamed, to
Sonesta International Hotels Corporation (). As of 2009, the company operates 25 hotels on three continents, and owns several cruise ships, and is still led by the Sonnabend family. == Architecture ==