In 1978 Bob Chinn and his daughter, Marilyn, began to travel around the country doing research for the Midwestern seafood restaurant Bob had envisioned for some time. After years of planning and development the father/daughter team negotiated the purchase of a shuttered building on Milwaukee Avenue in Wheeling. The 175 seat “Bob Chinn’s Crab House” Restaurant opened two days before Christmas in 1982, and was an instant success. In the late 80’s, Bob Chinn’s opened additional seating on the porch and eventually became a 650 seat restaurant.
Currently in the top 100 grossing restaurants in America, Bob Chinn’s has become a restaurant industry icon by providing the freshest food at great prices. This freshness, teamed with quick service and cook times (almost every item can be prepared in 15 minutes or less), means that Bob Chinn’s doesn’t have to sacrifice quality for quantity. Serving almost a million happy customers a year requires a delicately balanced dance between food purchasing, preparation, and service that Bob Chinn’s 320 employees perform day in and day out.