Denny's history

In 1956, a year after Jezak's departure from the 6-store chain, Butler changed the concept, shifting it from a donut shop to a coffee shop with store No.

In 1959, to avoid confusion with the Los Angeles restaurant chain Coffee Dan's, Butler changed the name from Danny's Coffee Shops to Denny's Coffee Shops.

In 1961, Denny's Coffee Shops was renamed Denny's.

In 1965, the Denver Field Ornithologists was offered Chapter status, but DFO members voted to follow its original bird watching mission and not the broader mission of the Audubon Society.

In 1977, Denny's introduced the still-popular Grand Slam breakfast.

The business continued to expand, and by 1981, there were over 1,000 restaurants in all 50 United States states.

Denny's opened its first restaurant in Australia in December 1982, in the suburb of Forest Hill, Melbourne.

At that time, the office was first moved to Irvine, California and subsequently moved to the Spartanburg, South Carolina, headquarters of the parent company Trans World Corporation (TW Corporation) that acquired Denny's in 1987.

All but six Denny's closed for the first time ever on Christmas 1988; many of the restaurants were built without locks, and some of them had reportedly lost their keys.

Denny's main offices were located in La Mirada, California, until 1989.

In 1992, private equity firm, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts acquired a 47% interest in TW Corporation, later known as The Flagstar Companies, and encouraged the company to sell non-core businesses.

In 1994, Denny's became the largest corporate sponsor of Save the Children, a national charity.

In May 1997, the first Denny's Classic Diner was opened in Fort Myers, Florida.

Since 2009, the restaurant chain has offered a free Birthday Build-Your-Own Slam on the customer's birthday.

In July 2010, Denny's presence in the United States saw a major expansion when Pilot Flying J started opening Denny's locations inside their Flying J-branded truck stop locations.

As of the end of 2011, there were a total of 1,685 Denny's restaurants.

In June 2012, Denny's opened a location in the Las Américas International Airport, its first location in an airport and its first in the Dominican Republic.

On August 29, 2014, Denny's opened its first location in New York City, with some patrons waiting as long as two hours before its official opening to eat there.