Britling Cafeteria

Britling Cafeterias was a chain of cafeteria restaurants founded by Alfred Holcomb and a Memphis, Tennessee-based partner in 1918 in Birmingham. Britling was the first cafeteria-style self-service restaurant in the South. As it expanded, most of its locations were in metro Birmingham, but the chain also had more than one location in Huntsville and Memphis.

Holcomb opened the first Britling in a downtown department store, but moved after a year to 1917 1st Avenue North. In their heyday, Britling cafeterias were a local institution in Birmingham and Memphis, particularly the downtown locations. The Highland Avenue location in Birmingham was a popular gathering spot in the 1940s and 1950s, even featuring live music and seating in a balcony overlooking the main floor; the two downtown Memphis cafeterias were similar. Sunday afternoon lunch at Britling's was a tradition in both cities.

One of the downtown Memphis locations is noteworthy not only as a local landmark of its era, but for one of its former employees: Gladys Presley, mother of rock and roll legend Elvis Presley. A display at Graceland memorializes the Britling Cafeteria and her work there.

Holcomb split from his partner in the 1930s, keeping the Birmingham locations. He was succeeded as president by his son John and grandson John, Jr. During the Great Depression John, Sr began a tradition of serving a free hot breakfast to Birmingham's needy from the main downtown location. He and his family would join other volunteers to prepare and serve the meal. The tradition ended with John, Jr's retirement in 1975.

The chain fell into decline in the late 1970s, as fast food restaurants became increasingly popular and widespread. Britling tried to counter this trend by expanding into suburban locations in Birmingham and Memphis, a move that was successful for a time. In Birmingham, the chain had locations in popular shopping centers such as Eastwood Mall (two locations, one at each end of the mall), Western Hills Mall, a small shopping center in Hoover, the Mountain Brook Shopping Center and Five Points West Shopping City.

These eventually became the only locations, as the two downtown restaurants were closed in the 1960s. Memphis saw the company take the same action, with several locations in suburban shopping centers eventually replacing the downtown restaurants. As the company struggled against the competition, the remaining cafeterias were converted into all-you-can-eat buffets; this was done with at least three Memphis locations and the one remaining Birmingham-area store in Hoover in the 1980s. The measure was only successful in the short term, and Britling finally closed or sold off its Memphis and Huntsville locations. The Hoover location was sold and became Battle Buffet, which itself closed in the early 1990s.

The Briting chain, along with B&W Cafeterias in Nashville, Tennessee and Blue Boar Cafeterias in Louisville, Kentucky, were under common ownership in their latter years. Of all of those, only two Blue Boar locations in Louisville remain as of 2006.

Locations

Birmingham

• Britling Cafeteria (1918–19)
• Britling Cafeteria No. 1: 1913-17 1st Avenue North (1919–1960s)
• Britling Cafeteria No. 2: 309 20th Street North (–1960s)
• Britling Cafeteria No. 3: 2010 3rd Avenue North (–1960s)
• Eastwood Mall (two locations)
• Britling By The Brook, Mountain Brook Shopping Center (opened 1961)
• Highland Avenue
• Western Hills Mall
• Five Points West Shopping City
• Hoover Mall

Elsewhere

• Memphis, Tennessee
• Huntsville, Alabama
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (1932–1948)

References

• Zuber, Amy (February 1996) "William & Samuel Childs - pioneer cafeteria operators." Nation's Restaurant News
• Britling Cafeterias (November 1, 2009) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia - accessed April 9, 2010
• Nelson, Linda J. and Marjorie L. White (2009) Mountain Brook Village: Then and Now. Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society ISBN 0943994349