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RedditIt was once the world’s largest restaurant chain, serving 800,000 people a day. It was Horn & Hardart, and its cavernous, waiterless establishments represented a combination of fast-food, vending and cafeteria-style eateries. These restaurants, with their chrome-and-glass coin-operated machines, brought high-tech, inexpensive eating to a low-tech era. Making their debut in Philadelphia in 1902, just up the street from Independence Hall, and reaching Manhattan in 1912, Horn & Hardart Automats became an American icon, celebrated in song and humor. With their uniform recipes and centralized commissary system of supplying their restaurants, the Automats were America’s first major fast-food chain.
Although no longer a commercial enterprise, the Automat nonetheless has survived as a relic of Americana. Beautifully ornate with its mirrors, marble and marquetry, a 35-foot piece of Philadelphia’s 1902 Horn & Hardart is in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
Founded by Joseph Horn and German-born Frank Hardart, the restaurants were a new concept in food service, borrowed from a successful German eatery. The Automats immediately captured America’s interest and imagination. They were the restaurant industry’s first attempt at emulating the assembly line.
Customers put together their own meals in a continuous, moving operation. Hot food was always hot—and savory. Automats, moreover, always sought to offer the widest possible variety of culinary choices.
In huge rectangular halls filled with shiny, lacquered tables, women with rubber tips on their fingers—"nickel throwers," as they became known—in glass booths gave customers the five-cent pieces required to operate the food machines in exchange for larger coins and paper money. Customers scooped up their nickels, then slipped them into slots in the Automats and turned the chrome-plated knobs with their porcelain centers. In a few seconds the compartment next to the slot revolved into place to present the desired cold food to the customer through a small glass door that opened and closed. Diners picked up hot foods at buffet-style steam tables.
The word "automat" comes from the Greek automatos, meaning "self-acting." But Automats weren’t truly automatic. They were heavily staffed. As a customer removed a compartment’s contents, a behind-the-machine human quickly slipped another sandwich, salad, piece of pie or coffee cake into the vacated chamber.
Customers found many advantages in this style of dining. They could see the food before buying it. They thought the glass-fronted compartments and shiny fittings were sanitary, a comforting reassurance after the food contamination scares of the time.
Patrons were discouraged from tipping. Nor did any cash register reveal the cost of a meal for all to see; the coin slots kept thrifty customers’ dining expenditures discreetly hidden.
Thank you for this walk down memory lane. As a child growing up in a very difficult financial setting the vision of my parents, my brother and I celebrating birthdays at H and H is unforgettable. I seem to remember Thanksgiving dinner there too although I am not sure if they were open on holidays. We lived in a poor community in Philadelphia and would take the PTC trolley car to Frankford Ave. for these special dinners at Horn and Hardart. Our dinner consisted of mashed potatoes, Harvard beets, and creamed spinach. This was a meal fit for a king and I still savor the taste. I am sure that a day like this in the 1940's did not cost my parents more than $5 or $6 dollars but my brother and I were on top of the world. Thank you for the article and thanks to Mr. Horn and Mr. Hardart..................Fran Chelder
Posted by Fran Chelder on February 16,2009 | 05:44PM
I also fondly remember at least a few trips to the automat as a child with my grandmother, possibly in the Passaic or Paterson, New Jersey area. I was fascinated by Automats, along with those big containers that dispensed a gallon milk at various street corners.
Posted by dawn on April 29,2009 | 08:12AM
Having been brought up in Philadelphia during the late-'40s, I am pleased to inform you of my intimate relationship with the H and H automat - particularly the one located across from The Academy of Music where, a decade later, I performed opera and ballet. Not only because of the convenience of its locale, but also for its reasonable-priced cuisine and what I considered "the best cup of coffee in Philly," H and H was my "office" between sets. Now, whenever I return home for a visit, I always stare at the spot where the automat once stood ... with a tear in my eye and a lump in my throat, in desperate need of a cup of that exquisite java that once so efficiently kept me going!
Posted by Ellis E. Seamone on May 4,2009 | 09:30PM
Hi, I went to Horn and Hardart so many times.My Dad also worked there.It was my favorite.There will never be another. I remember a song " less work for Mother dear". I don't know if that was the title,but if you could send me the title it would be great.Maybe the lyric's it would bring many memories. Thank you
Posted by Arlene on May 10,2009 | 01:54PM
H&H was one of my families favorite restaurant and we really miss this great place and it will never come back.Imagine having a tasty and fresh meal for only pocket change,with no waiting and sitting wherever you wanted to sit.My children just can not fathom this type of restaurant as they were closed prior their birth. It really brings back pleasant memories and I really would give anything to be able to go to a automat for even one time.
Posted by russell zoppina on May 11,2009 | 10:26AM