$.037 per Meal

Many persons are inclined to think of chain-store organizations as a comparatively recent development, from the frequency with which they have been produced during the past five years. But the industry also has its pioneers, one of which is the Childs Co.

This business started in Manhattan in 1889 with a single restaurant. Today the company operates 106 restaurants throughout the U. S. and Canada; and does a cash business of approximately $25,000,000 annually. A majority of Childs restaurants are located in New York City, where they have even invaded Fifth Avenue in several places; yet the national scope of the business is indicated by locations in Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, Atlanta, New Orleans, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg. As a matter of fact, the Childs Co. resembles Schulte and other chain store companies in deriving much of its profits from real estate operations.

Yet primarily Childs Co. is in the restaurant business. In 1924, it was announced last week, the Company served 48,717,747 meals, from which a net income (after taxes and depreciation) of $1,808,968 was realized, or $0.037 per meal. Last year, too, was a good rather than a record year, for, in 1923, the Company served 49,549,363 meals; in 1920 its profit per meal was $0.042, and in the same year its net was $1,991,350.