While pies are one of the big reasons people visit the restaurant, the chain was actually built on breakfast. In 1958 the first Village Inn Pancake House opened its doors in Denver and began offering made-from-scratch buttermilk pancakes, fresh eggs cooked any style, sizzling bacon and steaming hot coffee.
More than once, vacationers in Denver stopped at Village Inn for a bite to eat and enjoyed it so much that they inquired about franchise opportunities before leaving.
Such requests inspired co-founders Merton "Andy" Anderson and Jim Mola to place an ad in The Wall Street Journal for prospective franchisees. Soon after, the first Village Inn franchise started operating in 1961, leading the way forl franchise development that continues today.
The 1980's were years of growth and transition for Village Inn. Early in the decade the company incorporated, changed its name to VICORP Restaurants, Inc. and became a publicly traded company.
In the late '80s, Village Inn Pancake House changed its moniker to Village Inn Restaurants to reflect the addition of home-style lunch and dinner offerings to traditional breakfast fare.
American Blue Ribbon Holdings runs it today. One of the chain's divisions is Legendary Baking, and their pie production facilities bake nearly 12-million pies a year for Village Inn, Bakers Square and J. Horner's -- a frozen pie line for outside sales.
Many of these pies have taken top honors at the American Pie Council's National Pie Championships. And they certainly got the Gregg Moss seal of approval during his Where In The Town Visit.
Do you have a Where In The Town idea? Please send it to our Where In The Town producer:
mallory.davis@9news.com
(KUSA-TV © 2011 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)