In the late 1950s the hottest programs on TV were quiz shows like The $64,000 Question, Twenty One, and The Big Surprise. On the The Big Surprise the contestant chose a subject area and was asked to answer ten questions ranging in value from $100 to $100,000. The program sparked the idea for the $100,000 Bar, which was introduced in 1966.
The name was changed in 1985 to "100 Grand" bar, a popular term in the 1980s.
In a well known 1997 commercial, a man asks a pageant contestant, "What would you do with 100 Grand?" and the contestant answers, "I'd eat it," eliciting gasps from the studio audience.
