It’s the end of an era. The last Howard Johnson’s restaurant has just closed. Among the amazing things I found out while researching the subject of Howard Johnson’s is that famous French chef Jaques Pépin was hired by the company to improve their menu. Pépin was slated to become a chef at the JFK White House but chose to work on the Howard Johnson’s menu instead. Later Pépin co-hosted cooking shows on PBS with Julia Child. This video also reveals how Pépin rendered a CBS reporter speechless.