Arthur Treacher's

The franchise was established in 1969 in Columbus, Ohio, as National Fast Food Corp. The founders included S. Robert Davis, his friend Dave Thomas (the future founder of Wendy's), and L. S. Hartzog. They were looking to sell authentic British fish and chips. The company investigated the roots of the dish in Bow, London, where in the 1860s Joseph Malin opened the first recorded fish-and-chip shop, called "Malin's in Bow". For over 100 years, the Malin family ran that restaurant until closing in the early 1970s. In 1969, Malin's sold the exclusive rights to their recipe to Arthur Treacher's. The chain kept the same recipe and cooking methods, thus their slogan "the original". At one point in 2021, only one Arthur Treacher's restaurant was left, in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, making it the only place in the world that still served the historic recipe.

The chain was also looking for a namesake, so they purchased the rights to Arthur Treacher (1894–1975), an English character actor typecast as "the perfect butler" for his performances as Jeeves, a butler in several Shirley Temple films, in addition to the role of Constable Jones in Mary Poppins. At the time the chain was founded, Treacher was best known as the announcer and sidekick to Merv Griffin on The Merv Griffin Show. Although Treacher never confirmed whether he had a financial involvement in the restaurants, he was "a spokesman for the restaurant chain in its early years, underscoring the British character of its food." Treacher sometimes visited the restaurants, arriving in a red double-decker bus.

Stand-alone

Four stand-alone restaurants remain, all in northeast Ohio. The two oldest are in Cuyahoga Falls (est. 1972) and Garfield Heights (est. 1978); the former has remained in continuous operation since its founding. By 2021, it was the last Arthur Treacher's in the country. Ben Vittoria, the Cuyahoga Falls owner, kept the last store alive and indeed without him, the entire franchise would have ceased to operate. In recognition of the restaurant's last stand at Cuyahoga Falls, the town mayor Don Walters designated June 30, 2021, as Arthur Treacher's Day. Customers traveled long distances to relive memories of youth and made the town a food destination. A map on the wall allowed diners to leave a pin where they came from. On April 1, 2025, a third location opened in Cleveland Heights, and a fourth had its grand opening in Lakewood on August 26, 2026.

Embedded

In addition to the Ohio stand-alone locations, four Salvatore's Pizzerias in Rochester, New York, have embedded Arthur Treacher's franchises. The Twin Oaks Convenience Store in Pomeroy, Ohio, has an Arthur Treacher's sharing kitchen space with a Hunt Brothers Pizza and a Sub Express. As of 2026, it no longer operates under the Arthur Treacher's name. In East Islip, New York, a small strip-mall store has a combination Pudgie's and Arthur Treacher's. There is an Arthur Treacher's embedded in the airport passenger terminal at Naval Station Rota in Rota, Spain.

Fisher Foods

In 1970, Fisher Foods swapped capital with and licensed franchises from National, with a total of 550 franchises sold (106 to Fisher alone), but only 99 stores were actually in operation. Long John Silver's, Captain D's, Skipper's and Alfie's Fish & Chips likewise employed the fish franchise concept about the same time. Aided by Arthur Treacher's advertisements, these companies introduced British fish and chips to northeastern America.

Orange Co.

By the early 1970s, National Fast Food had become Orange Co. Under this name, Davis conducted an aggressive expansion campaign from 1972 through 1976. Lacking equity, he relied on generous sale-leaseback agreements. Under the terms of the agreements, Orange Co. would sell to investors sites for new restaurants and then sign long leases unconditionally guaranteeing to continue lease payments if the restaurants failed.

Mrs. Paul's Seafood

On November 21, 1979, Orange Co. sold Arthur Treacher's to Mrs. Paul's. However, under the terms of its original sale-leaseback agreements, Orange Co. remained liable for millions of dollars of payments to investors.

The "Cod Wars" between the UK and Iceland over fishing rights in Icelandic waters during the 1970s caused cod prices to double. Mrs. Paul's responded by replacing Icelandic cod in Arthur Treacher's recipe with less expensive pollock. The move exacerbated tensions with franchisees, some of whom had already withheld a total of $5 million in royalties for what they perceived to be a declining level of service. Litigation arising from the conflict eventually reached the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.