Notable restaurant mottos

In 1925 a restaurant industry publication presented advice on crafting a slogan that would draw customers. The article advised against simply saying “Where to Dine” because that really didn’t signify anything special to the public. The author then gave better examples of slogans that were “clever and appropriate.”

As a negative example, the article might have pointed to Teck’s Quick Lunch in Kansas City [shown above]. This card showing “A Place to Eat” dates from 1907. I can’t help but wonder what about it was “So Different.”

Most of the article’s examples were not especially convincing as model slogans. For instance, the list included a Buffalo restaurant with the motto “Is Different.” The author also approved of the slogan of the Everest Lunch in Newark: “If You Eat the Best, Eat Here.” To me this cried out for a rewrite. Clearly, a better version would have been “If You Want the Best, Eat at Everest.”

The article inspired me to look at old postcards for examples of mottoes. Usually the restaurants that used them were not elegant and sophisticated, but rather everyday lunch counters, cafeterias, and roadside places.

Superlatives dominated. One of the most popular was the word “unique,” or even better (and more ridiculous), “most unique.” Those that merely claimed to be the most unique in a limited area, such as “Most Unique Terrace Between New York & Buffalo” (Camillos Spiedi Bar in Endicott NY), were surpassed by those that were the most unique in the entire country or beyond. For example, the Bank Café in San Pedro CA declared itself “The most unique café in the world.”

Sometimes I wondered if a slogan was a joke – for instance, when the Coffee Cup in Wolcott NY claimed it was “Known from Coast to Coast.”

Parking arrangements were a feature that often merited acclaim. Morrison’s Cafeteria in Ocala FL said for some unexplained reason that they had “America’s most unique parking lot.” Earlier Rhode Island’s Stork Club — the “Most Popular Night Club in New England” – asserted it was “The only club with bell hop parkers.”

Other very specific claims were made with regard to air. Chicago’s North American Restaurant of the 1920s was, it said, “The Best Ventilated Restaurant in Chicago.” Later, air conditioning came to be notable, but some places made a big deal of it, such as Hap Miller’s Truck Town Restaurant in York PA which was “Scientifically Air Conditioned,” while the Studio Club in Westchester NY was “Delightfully Air Conditioned.”

As was true of the 1925 examples, some sent an ambiguous message. The 1920s list included a Montana mining town eatery that claimed “Our Prices Encourage Thrift.” Although they surely meant that they had low prices, it could easily be taken to mean the opposite. Likewise, the motto of the Square Shooters Eating House in Wyoming, “An unusual restaurant for respectable people,” is puzzling. Unlikely place for them to patronize? Or, if the motto was meant to attract respectable people, what about it was so unusual that they would like it?

Other mysterious or odd slogans included:
– a Pennsylvania Dutch restaurant in PA that claimed “State Tested Water 100%.”
– Coleman’s Restaurant in North Carolina with “Chicken in the Easy Way.”
– Granger’s in Texas with its “Fish That’s Different.”
– Houston’s Weldon Cafeteria that announced it was “The South’s newest and most modern Two line Cafeteria.”
– Columbus Ohio’s Jai Lai Restaurant, with its slogan “In All the World . . . There’s Only One!” evidently referring to its kitchen costing half a million.

In a land of superlatives, my favorite was New York City’s Penguin Restaurant with the slogan “The Second Most Charming Restaurant in the Whole World.”

© Jan Whitaker, 2025