Howard Johnson’s franchised second restaurant opened in 1935 in Orleans, Massachusetts.
Howard Deering Johnson had begun building his food business before the expansion of his restaurant chain. The 1929 stock-market crash delayed his plans, so he spent several years strengthening the original operation before seeking partners. In 1935, he persuaded an acquaintance to open a second Howard Johnson’s restaurant in Orleans on Cape Cod.
That location was important because it was franchised rather than company-owned. The arrangement is often described as one of America’s early franchise agreements, helping establish a model that Howard Johnson’s would use extensively. By the end of 1936, the system had grown to 41 restaurants, including 39 additional franchised locations.
A common mix-up is to remember the restaurant’s later highway presence rather than its early Cape Cod roots. Salem, Plymouth, and Quincy were Massachusetts towns, but none is the town identified in the company’s 1935 expansion history.