Browse Exhibits (3 total)
Food
The key focus of any restaurant chain is the food, itself. The Hot Shoppes chain strove to serve generous plates of attractive home-cooked food at family-friendly prices.
Beginning in 1927 with a simple nine-stool A&W Root Beer stand serving tamales and chili con carne, the Hot Shoppes chain branched out to eventually comprise seventy-three family-style restaurants by the mid-1960s. The number of items on the menu expanded to include down-home favorites such as meatloaf and mashed potatoes, country ham, hamburgers and fries, and fried chicken. Hot Shoppes also offered more "upscale" menu items, such as broiled tenderloins of beef aux tomate et Champignon, baked fillet of Red Snapper with lemon butter sauce, and pork chops a La Francaise.
The following images are of Hot Shoppes food items that were photographed by Charles Baptie and are part of the Charles Baptie photograph collection.
People
While the original Hot Shoppe at 3128 14th Street in Washington, D.C. had a staff of three, including owners Alice and J. Willard Marriott, themselves, the restaurants of the 1940s and 1950s employed dozens of servers, cooks, hosts and hostesses, and managers.
Hot Shoppes' early corporate headquarters was located at 1234 Upshur Street, NW Washington D.C. This location housed middle and upper management, accounting, human resources, logistics, and food preparation personnel.
These images feature various kinds of Hot Shoppes personel in office, training, food preparation, and service situations.
Places
While the original Hot Shoppe located at 3128 14th Street, NW Washinton, D.C. was a simple nine-stool lunch counter which shared its address with a bakery, most later Hot Shoppes locations were stand-alone buildings with elaborate cafeterias, dining rooms, kitchens, lobbies, and in some cases, small stores selling candy, gum, cigars, cigarettes, pottery, toys and other novelties.
This exhibit features images of Hot Shoppes facilities. They include restaurants and administrative buildings. There interior as well as exterior photographs. There are also several aerial photographs of Hot Shoppes locations.