Although it certainly looked different, the complex was a Howard Johnson's through and through. Its Restaurant was integrated into the Motor Lodge building but projected forward and was topped with traditional Orange Porcelain Enamel Roof Tiles. However no cupolas of any type were ever installed either to mark the Restaurant or the location of the Motor lodge lobby.

Remaining a HoJo's Lodge until about 1996, the hotel was then converted into Suisse Chalet's Grand Chalet brand, and the restaurant kept its Howard Johnson's name until August of 1997. The Restaurant itself had been a part of the Carter family mini-HoJo's hospitality empire. Irving "Bing" Carter was among the original Howard Johnson's licensees and opened his first Howard Johnson's in Fairfield, Connecticut in 1936. Mr. Carter's son George went on to create the now defunct Franchise Associates Incorporated in 1986 which carried the HoJo's mantle until 2005. The Carter's last Restaurant was the one at Branford which had operated as a Ground Round prior to its closure.