Britling Cafeteria

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Britling Cafeteria postcard, c. 1920s. From Postcard Birmingham

Britling Cafeterias was a chain of cafeteria restaurants founded in Birmingham in 1917 by A. W. B. Johnson. He named the restaurant after the title character in H. G. Wells' novel Mr Britling Sees It Through. Britling was the first cafeteria-style self-service restaurant in the South. As it expanded, most of its locations were in metro Birmingham, but many Southern cities had at least one Britling,

Holcomb opened the first Britling in a downtown department store, but moved after a year to 1917 1st Avenue North. The grand opening of the new 280-seat location was celebrated on July 11, 1919 with 2,000 meals served on the first day. The kitchen was one of the first in the city to be equipped with natural gas cooking appliances, rather than coal-fired stoves. The five large ranges and one salamander were supplied by the Michigan Stove Company and installed by the Birmingham Gas Appliance Company. The set-up was described in a contemporary account thus: "The system of serving is that of 'help yourself'. The customers form a line and pass through the 'food slides' by the 'steam tables' where the food is kept warm. Servitors stand behind these pans and dispense the food. It is estimated that by the 'serve yourself' system a person can be served in about six minutes, thus enabling those who are rushed for time to get a quick lunch in a very few minutes."1.

Johnson moved to Memphis, Tennessee in the early 1920s to open additional locations. The Birmingham cafeteria was left in the hands of partner Alfred Holcomb. He opened the second Birmingham location on 20th Street North, and then added another dining room on 3rd Avenue North that shared the same kitchen. Holcomb dissolved his partnership with Johnson in the 1930s, keeping the rights to 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.

In their heyday, Britling cafeterias were a local institution in Birmingham and Memphis, particularly the downtown locations. A 1927 account revealed that the restaurants did the most business on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. "Monday's bring to town the housewives seeking bargains from the retail merchants. Thursdays bring cook's night off and so has become in many Birmingham homes 'Britling Night'. Saturday is half-holiday for many employees and they like to take plenty of time for luncheon, and then there are the matinees."2.

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. Sunday afternoon lunch at Britling eclipsed "cook's night off" as a local dining tradition. The chain capitalized on its popularity among young children by sponsoring the "Romper Room" program on WAPI-TV. Children who finished a glass of milk during their visit received a specially-marked card which, after it was filled, could be redeemed for a ceramic mug with the Britling logo on one side and Romper Room's jack-in-the-box on the other.

Ad for Britling's Western Hills Mall location

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

Elsewhere

  • Cleveland, Ohio
  • Memphis, Tennessee
  • Huntsville, Alabama
  • Lexington, Kentucky
  • Little Rock, Arkansas
  • Louisville, Kentucky (1920–1990s)
  • Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (1932–1948)

Notes

  1. Clement-1919
  2. quoted in Hollis-2010

References

  • Clement, F. N. (August 1, 1919) "Cafeteria Seats 280—With Gas 2,000 Are Served." The Gas Age
  • 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
  • Hollis, Tim (March 18, 2010) "Britling Cafeterias were part of Birmingham's dining landscape for years." Birmingham Magazine
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