Article: Big Boy grows up: Big Boy Restaurants International wants to build on its brand equity. (Brand Tactics).

Smoking or non?

That was just one of the dilemmas Anthony T. Michaels was facing a few weeks before the opening of Big Boy Restaurants International's new prototype in Grand Rapids, Mich., last month, part of a long overdue facelift. Michaels, the company's chief executive, wasn't worrying about customer reaction, exactly. He was fretting that franchisees, who operate the majority of Big Boys in Michigan, might be upset.

After all, coffee shops like Big Boy are among the few remaining places where lighting up isn't a crime. And with systemwide same-store sales up just 1 percent last year, the once-bankrupt chain needs all the smokers it can get.

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