Only 'Big Boy' restaurant in Wisconsin located in Sussex

 

SUSSEX, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Waukesha County has gotten new bragging rights. Sussex is now the only place you can grab a Big Boy burger in the state. The Germantown Big Boy closed its doors last month.

Joyce Guinn and her friends made the drive to Sussex just for it… the tasty shakes, 50s music, and photos on the wall. It's a trip down memory lane.

"And after ball games and dances and things like that, we'd always go to Big Boy," said Joyce Guinn, Big Boy fan from Germantown.

"Just a novelty because I was in my teenaged years," said Barbara Kornath, Big Boy fan from Menomonee Falls.

The ladies are seated under a red disco ball with Big Boy statues all around.

"We have everything from Spiderman to Captain America to Yoda to Santa Claus to Batman and Robin. You know we just, we have them all over the place," said Chaz Hastings, Wisconsin Big Boy Co-Owner.

And with a smile, they're recalling Big Boy "car hops" of the past.

"And you'd lower the window, and they'd put a tray on the window, and you would place your order and they'd bring it to you," said Kornath.

The first Big Boy opened in 1936 in California. By 1994, every location in Wisconsin had closed, but during the pandemic, Wisconsin got one back, in Germantown. It opened in 2021, but it's now gone too. Germantown's co-owners decided to open the one in Sussex.

"Welcome to the new Big Boy in Sussex. I've always been a Big Boy fan, and you know, its great seeing younger people get into it," said Hastings.

The menu has all your favorites and specializes in sweets.

"Then we have the malts, the shakes, the boozy shakes, the ice cream," said Hastings.

There's also something new.

"We also have a Big Boy brew which we're really excited about. We're the first Big Boy to have spirits," said Hastings.

In the summertime, you can expect to see car shows and an outdoor patio in Sussex too. Mostly, what the owners hope to see is the next generation enjoying a bit of what their grandparents had.

"I think a lot of that magic and that spark is gonna come back and I can tell you, this is only our second week and we're already starting to see a lot of the students from the high school right down the street Sussex-Hamilton come," said Hastings.

Wisconsin's Big Boy doesn't have to just be a Sussex thing. You can take him and their special sauce home with you.