Bill Knapps Memorabilia

I am in search of memorabilia of the now closed Bill Knapps restaurant chain. ie: menus, photos, etc. After having worked there many of my "younger" years I feel a profound loss as to the closing of this great chain of restaurants. This chain was truly a "family" restaurant.

Don't forget about e-bay? You never know
what might show up on there.

did you ever find anything?

i miss the au gratin potatoes!

Bill Knapp's was one of the few places we could eat locally with the whole family when my grandparents were still alive. Ironic that both my grandparents and the chain passed at roughly the same time. The strange thing was, the one we went to with them was always busy, and even underwent a major remodel just before they closed.

Randy3452,

Just wondering where and when you worked for the big Bill Knapps. I worked for the commisary here in Battle Creek for many years. Like you, I feel the loss. I had a lot of good memories there. I worked in the bakery for a while, then worked in the upholster dept. so I've been to every resturant and then also was a semi driver for many years. I work for the government now, but it hurts to drive by the old commisary and see that it's a storage facility now.

But anyway just wondering if maybe our paths had crossed.
Thanks
John K

God, I miss Bill Knapps!

As of last year, Meijer's was selling the original recipe Bill Knapp's chocolate cake. I bought one and it was just like I remembered.

Kroger sells it, too, at least in Cincinnati

I used to work at Bill Knapps when I was a senior in high school, I still remember my yellow and white uniform and the wonderful chocolate cake! They were so super proud of those cakes, any that were not served that day all had to be thrown out so only the freshest would be served! They taped a Bill Knapps commercial at our restaurant, and the auditions just happened to be in my section/room and since I couldn't set up, I tried out. I was in the commercial! In the commercial the manager took a pair of scissors, clipped off my trainee ribbon and I said THANK YOU! Does anyone know how to get a copy of those old commercials? My kids would just LOVE to see that commercial!

jillie,
I'm located in Grand Rapids, MI and started going to B-K as a youngster. We had 4 of the traditional green & whites here in GR and a 5th was the new style rolled out just before they went totally belly up in 2002. My sister waitressed at their 28th & Eastern store all through H.S. & College in the late 60's.

The home office/commissary was in Battle Creek, MI and they had a 2nd commissary located in Vandalia, OH.
I Googled "Bill Knapp's Restaurant" and up came this story originally published in 2004 in the Battle Creek Enquirer.
http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040830/LIFESTYLE08/408300303&SearchID=73188250548953

This story has names of many people Including Jerry & Barbara Hill who in 2004 still lived in Michigan somewhere along Lake Michigan and if you are able to contact them they may be able to help you out and possibly give you the name of the ad agency that produced their commercials and the one you starred in. Hopefully you can remember the date and you obviously know the store location. My guess is the commercial was produced by a Michigan or Ohio based advertising agency.

Good luck in your quest - What a nice family Christmas gift to be able to come up with a copy put on DVD.

I remember first seeing ads for Bill Knapps when we first moved to cincy. I wondereed how they could offer those complete meals for that price. Im not a big eater but I could have eaten 2. They were decent but the potions were tiny. I got the trout one time and thought it had to be at least 6oz. $or less. That was one of the advertize specials(2 diners for 7 bux)

I worked for Knapp's from '77-'86 in Ohio and Michigan. I started a google group called "Bill Knapp's Restaurant Alumni"
http://groups.google.com/group/bill-knapps-restaurant-alumni

I'm hoping to find people who I worked with way back when. Feel free to add anything BK related.

Rich Johnson

Damn..... Bill Knapps was a favorite teenage memory. The Columbus Ohio restaurant was where I first had lobster. And where I first discovered heartburn..... The donut balls were incredible!

What happened to them? They opened here about 22-23 years ago, good food, very reasonable prices, and a lot of business. One day they closed the doors, no announcement, etc???

I used to be in management with Bill Knapp's in the mid to later 80's in the Dayton and Chicago area.  Somewhere in my stuff I have some menu's, including an original 1948 one, probably some old employee schedule tablets, name tags and who knows what.

In my opinion when I was in Chicago I saw the beginning of the end of the company.  They bought very expensive real estate in upscale neighborhoods for the 5 units there.  They were the newer large open kitchen design, the exteriors where immaculately landscaped.  The people of Chicago came to the grand openings dressed up expecting fine dinning, what they got were the original yellow uniforms, the diner style china white with the green boarder.  The busy openings soon trickled off as confused patrons didn't know what to make of the new restaurant in town.  The company's reaction was the "new concept" where they introduced the new china, the new uniforms, and broiled food.  Bill Knapp's as a company literally forgot who they were. The irony of all this was at the same time as this in Chicago Ed Debevic's was very popular (it was a throw back diner)

 While I think the broiled food and fish items were a good addition, the real problem was growing overhead as they then expanded into Florida and there also bought expensive real estate, they repeated the mistake over 20 more times.  This increase in overhead soon began to drag on company profits.  The "new concept" was expanded company wide and now some of the Midwest customers were getting confused.  They began direct mail "discount promotions" that built business during the promotions, but resulted in low sales between.  They were trapped in a discount/promotion cycle.  Meanwhile it was decided that the pure white buildings looked to formal, so the Arlington Restaurant was the first the get the new cream with maroon and green exterior paint job, but on this building they even put a new real wood shake roof on it!  The new paint scheme was expanded company wide, so another big expense was put out repainting all the buildings.  Another building got an exterior "fix" for it's sales problems was the Miamisburg unit outside Dayton.  The put a new large glass cupula on the building, making it more like a light house, didn't work.

It was plain to see the company lost it's identity.  During all this confusion (Jerry Hill had already retired) the new top management was putting on the squeeze to cut labor costs, and the restaurant industry was becoming far more competitive.   It's a sad tale.  I contend had they gone back to basics, built new small restaurant buildings on leased parking lot spaces they could be a success (kind of the way Steak 'n Shake has been revived).

Went there (somewhere in the burbs) of Detroit area when I was a little girl..........Loved it!It was a treat! When did it close down?????

I always enjoyed their food.