If you're thinking "Would that be the same Stouffer's that makes frozen entrees like I have in my refrigerator freezer?", then you would be correct! While the St. Louis location for this Stouffer's Motor Inn wasn't built until 1968, the Stouffer family began their first restaurant operation in 1922. By 1924, a young Vernon Stouffer joined his parents at their small Cleveland business and grew it into a corporation by 1929. Customers loved the meals so much they began asking for frozen versions to take home in 1946. By the 1950's factories took over the packaging of the meals, making them available at grocer's instead of only the restaurants. Stouffer entered the hospitality business in 1960 when he purchased a motel in Florida. By the time this matchbook was printed, the motel chain had nine locations, all featuring Stouffer's fine-dining restaurants. Stouffer sold all his holdings to the Nestle Corporation in 1973, including the well-recognized Stouffer name.
The Stouffer's Motor Inn in downtown St. Louis featured a 28-story tower with impressive views of both Busch Stadium and the Gateway Arch. In 1974, Nestle added an 11-story tower to the building and renamed it the Riverfront Towers. When Nestle sold the hotel division, it was renamed the Regal Riverfront. In 1999, it became the popular Millennium Hotel and remains so today. The revolving restaurant on the 28th floor has retained the name given to it by Vernon Stouffer, the Top of the Riverfront.
Location: 200 S. 4th Street, St. Louis, Missouri
Matchbook Timeframe: early 1970's
No comments:
Post a Comment