Farmer Boys was founded by the Havadjias brothers in 1981. The Havadjias family were immigrants from
Cyprus. The brothers originally owned Astro Burgers in
Torrance, California in 1979 and Theodore's Restaurant in
Hollywood, California in 1981 prior to owning McCoy's Restaurant in
Perris, California. McCoy's Restaurant became the first Farmer Boys restaurant following the name change in August 1981. About 16 years later, Farmer Boys had grown to eight restaurants. A year later, Farmer Boys was granted franchise status and later in the year, a Farmer Boys restaurant opened in
Temecula, California. As of 2022, there were more than 100 Farmer Boys restaurants in Arizona, California and Nevada. In February 2020, Farmer Boys temporarily changed its name to "Farmer Girls" to celebrate
Women's History Month and
International Women's Day. They gave their bacon burger a new name: "Bacon Girl." The name change was also to honor the chain's 1,600 plus female staff members who help run the business. In mid-March 2020, as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic Farmer Boys temporarily shut down its dining room. Drive-thru, delivery,
takeout and pick up service were offered. In 2021, Farmer Boys expanded into
Arizona, the restaurant's third state of operation after California and Nevada.
Gilbert, Arizona was the first location. Two years later,
Colorado saw the restaurant's expansion into their state, with locations like
Denver,
Colorado Springs,
Fort Collins and
Pueblo planned. == See also ==