When Coffee Cost a Nickel Trivia Quiz

Answer: Northeast

The first automat was opened in Philadelphia in 1902 by Joe Horn and Frank Hardart. Ten years later they opened one in New York City. The automat's place was in large industrial cities where people wanted a quick, inexpensive meal in a convenient location. Most automats could be found in downtown buildings.
The idea of dispensing food from steel and glass compartments came from "waiterless" restaurants found in Germany and other parts of Europe. Horn and Hardart eventually had 85 automats.

Answer: Nickels

In the early automats patrons used nickels to purchase food. Everything was based on a number of nickels. Coffee was one nickel. Pie was a nickel. Hot dishes like turkey and gravy, Salisbury steak, macaroni and cheese and pot pies took three nickels.
Much later on the slots would take quarters rather than nickels and, eventually, tokens.

Answer: True

Nickels were needed for the slots where the food was. You could get them from employees who worked in a glass booth inside the automat. These employees wore rubber fingertip protectors like you see in some offices and banks where people handle money because it made it easier to pick the coins out of the till.
Do you suppose after the automats started taking quarters instead of nickels these people were known as "quarterbacks"? Neither do I. That would have been dumb.

Answer: Dolphins

Coffee was a big draw for the Horn and Hardart automats. It was fresh-drip brewed and tasted better than the coffee available in New York City and Philadelphia. The coffee was so good that Irving Berlin was inspired to write "Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee" about it. Freshness was assured by the employees noting what time the coffee was made.

After twenty minutes a new batch was made and the remainder of the old batch poured down the drain. At one point Horn and Hardart automats were serving ninety million cups per day. And it only cost a nickel. (But you probably surmised that already from the name of this quiz).

It cost a nickel up until 1950, that is, when they were forced to raise the price to two nickels.

Answer: Workers behind the compartments replaced the food as it was vended

Despite being waiterless, automats were labor-intensive. Behind the chrome and glass wall of vending compartments was a kitchen. Kitchen workers would replace the contents of each compartment as sales were made. If someone took a piece of cherry pie out, a worker would quickly plate another piece to replace the one that had been in the compartment.
Ex-baseball umpires were frequently hired to work in the bakery part. They were adept at saying "batter up"!

Answer: There was a TV in every corner tuned to a different station

When dining in an automat you could see your food before purchasing it. Pies, salads, sandwiches and the like were behind glass doors in the wall. Hot items were served at a steam table where diners could see the food before making their selection. The food was already prepared so there was no waiting. And at the time automats first came out the sanitary conditions in some restaurants and cafes were not good.

The automats had shiny chrome walls, glass doors and nickel-plated coin slots. It just looked sanitary.

Answer: Anyone

One of the democratic things about the automat was that the doors would open for anyone. You did not need a reservation. There was no dress code. You could sit wherever you wanted. Tourists, businessmen, out-of-work actors, blue collar workers, white collar workers and everyone else were all intermingled at the tables. Since the prices were so low even the kid on the street who found a nickel or dime in the storm grates could go into the automat and get something to eat or some hot chocolate.

Some people even found a way to eat there without having to buy anything. The really down-on-their-luck would make tomato soup by pouring catsup into a bowl of hot water. They would have lemonade by squeezing the lemons that were set out for iced tea into a glass of water.

Answer: True

At one time Horn and Hardart had 140 automats serving 800,000 people per day. They could achieve that volume by having so many outlets in large industrial cities. Plus their food and prices were very popular with the general public.
Compare the 140 Horn and Hardarts with today's 34,000 Subways that serve over 27 million people daily and you can see how big the fast food industry has become.

Answer: Less Work for Mother

They opened their first retail store in 1924. At one point they had 157 retail locations. As with the automats, any food that was left at the end of the day was sent to "day old" shops.
Horn and Hardart even began selling their food through mail order in the 1980s. While all those enterprises are closed, Horn and Hardart Coffee is presently available for purchase online. By that I mean you can order it online. You cannot drink it online.

Answer: Diners missed being waited on

Horn and Hardart closed their last automat in 1991. There are many reasons for their demise. Some are economic and some are societal. It can be argued that increases in the cost of their ingredients made the automat unable to compete. Horn and Hardart had very strict standards for the quality of the ingredients used.

They were very proud of their dishes and actually kept the recipes locked away. In addition Americans began to move to the suburbs and away from downtowns. In the suburbs could be found places like Burger King and McDonald's.

These places were more convenient and could produce meals more cheaply. People in general began to eat smaller lunches and perhaps people just got tired of cafeteria-style dining. Horn and Hardart actually saw the writing on the wall much earlier.

In the 1970s they converted some of their automats to Burger King restaurants. Of course they had to take out the glass-doored compartments. Whoppers would not fit in them.