The traffic light cocktail remains as popular today as it was 20 years ago.

Brace yourself New Zealand, family restaurant Cobb & Co is staging a comeback with hopes of opening up to 30 new restaurants.

Cobb & Co, or "the Cobb" as it is affectionately known, has already announced plans to reopen in Dunedin, a decade after it closed.

At its peak there were 37 Cobb & Co restaurants around the country, but their number has dwindled to just seven, all in regional towns and centres.

SUPPLIED The new look Cobb & Co interior is described as comfortable and homely.

Cobb & Co chief operating officer Nathan Bonney, who joined the company this week, said the chain would be refreshed.

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Owners Sue and Ben Gower originally opened the Tauranga restaurant as franchisees and liked the brand so much they bought it in 2012 with a view of breathing life back into the business.

They have since opened restaurants in Taupo and Rotorua in 2014, but the Nelson Cob & Co closed in 2015 to be replaced with a Thai restaurant.

Restaurants in Whakatane and New Plymouth are also company owned.

The Dunedin restaurant would be franchised, joining the Levin and Invercargill restaurants.

KIRK HARGREAVES/FAIRFAX NZ Cobb & Co chips and other deep fried snacks, served in a cardboard car, have been a long time favourite.

Bonney said the company has a "blueprint" to open between 20 to 30 restaurants over the next few years that would be a mix of franchise and company owned.

Signature dishes such as the shrimp cocktail, the coach burger, prawn and parmesan sirloin, Cobb schnitzel, oven-roasted half chicken and lambs fry and bacon all remained firmly on the menu.

Traffic light, pink panther, jaffa and green slime drinks were still as popular as always, Bonney said.

SUPPLIED Cobb & Co Taupo opened in 2014.

"I don't think there's a single person aged 30 to 40 in New Zealand who didn't have a traffic light as a kid and they're still pretty damn popular with kids now.

"There's demand from people who want food they're familiar with."

Cobb & Co describes itself as New Zealand's "original restaurant and saloon".

Originally owned by New Zealand Breweries, now Lion, the first Cobb & Co opened in 1973 with its trademark red saloon style doors.

Over the years Cobb & Co has faced competition from other family restaurants including Lonestar with 24 restaurants, and Valentines, with seven restaurants, as well as the proliferation of various fast food chains.

The Cobb & Co revamp would include refitting restaurants so they were "comfortable and homely", he said.

It was also developing a "complex restaurant and management system" making the restaurants easier to run, he said.

"There's a lot of New Zealand out there that remember Cobb very fondly and will be very happy to see it back."

There would definitely be a restaurant in Christchurch and the company was not ruling out Auckland, but its primary focus was on regional New Zealand, he said.

The chain employs about 120 staff nationwide and each new restaurant would create up to 30 jobs.

The Cobb & Co name originates from the Australian stagecoach company that operated a fleet of stage coaches in the late 19th century.

The first Cobb and Co coach service ran to the Otago goldfields in 1861.