The Welcome Return of Restaurants

In the not-too-distant past, restaurant matchbooks were very much a part of the norm. Originally designed with a two-fold purpose in mind, these matchbooks served as a clever marketing ploy as well as a convenient method for lighting up a post-dinner cigarette. But soon, a third purpose arose that extended far beyond its intended uses—and to nonsmokers, too.

These little cardboard books housing a colorful collection of pent-up hotheads served as something much more nostalgic: an old-school memento. Restaurant matchbooks became a reminder of a joyous night, a special celebration, a travel souvenir. Early matchbook designs even left intentional white space on the inner fold—just the right amount of space for jotting down the phone number of a new interest one might have just met.

As it happens, many of these matches were created right here in Ohio, in the northeastern city of Wadsworth. As the second-oldest match manufacturer in the United States, the Ohio Match Co. played a significant role in the creation of restaurant matchbooks until its demise in 1987. While the company did produce some innovative and recognizable trademarks (such as “Ohio Blue Tip” and “Rosebud”), Ohio was, perhaps appropriately, known for its slow but steady approach.

While smoking rates have since plummeted and healthier habits now prevail, the desire for a restaurant memento didn’t quite burn out with smoking sections. It simply evolved.

Restaurant mementos today

As restaurants suffered through pandemic restrictions this past year, the residents of Columbus and other cities across the nation have rallied in support of their favorite restaurants in hopes of returning once again.

While restaurant matchbooks are less common now, restaurant-goers have always found unique ways to remember special places or mark the passing of time. For the nostalgic among us, this might mean saving paper receipts from this past year as a snapshot of this pandemic time. Others have purchased keepsakes like branded mugs, T-shirts and hats alongside their takeout orders to help support their favorite places. Some even collected menus from restaurants that didn’t survive the pandemic, preserving a slice of history.

As we now inch into summer—some 400 days after the pandemic began—more and more Americans are able to access the coronavirus vaccine, and more and more restaurants are inching closer to full capacity with hints of normalcy returning. That’s welcome news to all.

The sooner that restaurants can safely return to their full potential, the sooner we can return to the sounds of clinking glasses and shared laughter. The sooner we can return to celebrating, connecting, commemorating and commiserating with those we love. And while certain tactile reminders like restaurant matchbooks might seem like a distant memory, hopefully the memory of the restaurants we love and long for can fully roar back to life.

And roar back they must.

Even from their earliest conception, such establishments have always been much more than places we go when we don’t want to cook. Originating from the French verb “restaurer,” the term restaurant means to “restore” or “revive,” and long have we benefited from this restoration and nourishment in the form of both nutrients and community.

Restaurants can also store, memorialize and transmit the most important moments of our lives. While a restaurant matchbook—or a pulp board coaster or a paper receipt or a swizzle stick or a special glass—may seem minuscule, the sum has always been greater than its parts. Restaurants have always been a part of us, and we of them. And with our help this summer and beyond, this can continue to be so.

Slow and steady, may we return to gatherings in Ohio. Slow and steady, may we return to the restaurants that have always served up our favorites. Slow and steady, may we return to the places so integral to the very fabric of our lives.

And when the evening comes to a close, let whatever small mementos you capture on your way out—even if it’s just a snapped photo this time—be a small reminder that while we ultimately go to restaurants for food, we always leave with much more.

The city of Wadsworth continues to hold an annual Blue Tip Festival, named for the matches once manufactured there. It starts with a parade and the lighting of a 20-foot-high, blue-tip match. This year's festival runs from June 22 through June 26.