Hardart

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A family surname carried by people in the United States, linked to an early American automat restaurant chain
2. A last name borne by various families, best known in connection with an early American self-service automat restaurant company
3. The surname of a family, and the name tied to a famous early twentieth-century American automat restaurant chain

Etymology: "Hardart" is not a general English word. It is a surname, best known from the restaurant chain Horn & Hardart, founded by Joseph Horn and Frank Hardart in Philadelphia. Their most lasting contribution was the automat, a restaurant where customers inserted coins into slots and took prepared food from small glass-fronted compartments, with no waiter involved. The idea was borrowed rather than invented. Hardart had seen similar automated eating houses in Berlin, and the German "Automat," meaning a self-service vending machine, gave the restaurant type its name. Horn & Hardart's automats became a familiar part of New York life, serving inexpensive meals to crowds for decades before the chain declined.