There might've been just as many burger joints attached to sports stars as there were McDonald's
and White Castle ripoffs. But original or not, they weren't all destined to stick around forever.
Back in the late 1950s, NFL star Gino Marchetti teamed up with several other
football players to open Gino's Hamburgers in Dundalk, Maryland. This package of
sports and fast food quickly expanded to new locations, and eventually merged with Tops
Drive-Inn — changing its 18 sites into Gino's Drive-In locations in the Washington, DC area.
As the franchise continued to grow, it encountered issues. For one,
Gino's locations in Connecticut and Massachusetts struggled due to the local Papa Gino's pizza
franchise already being quite popular, and were eventually shut down. In Detroit,
when the franchise announced plans to demolish the historic Orchestra Hall to build a restaurant
location, a grassroots campaign formed against the company, forcing it to scrap the demolition.
In 1982, the Marriott Corporation purchased the chain, converting most of its locations
into Roy Rogers restaurants. The final Gino's closed down in 1986. More than 20 years later,
several of the original owners got back together and relaunched a new
line of restaurants: Gino's Burgers and Chicken.
In Indianapolis, Indiana, brothers Donald and Frank Thomas owned the General Equipment Company,
which was hired by Burger King to manufacture a specific kind of broiler. The process soon
inspired the Thomases to create their own fast food place, opening the first Burger Chef in 1957.
The two brothers patented their flame broiler — which boasted the ability to
make 800 burgers an hour — and their 15-cent burgers spread quickly. Within 10 years,
Burger Chef was the second-largest burger chain in the nation, right behind McDonald's.
Which can be seen as ironic, as Burger Chef was arguably the pioneer of the modern kids' meal.
"Puzzling pickles! What's a Funburger?"
"Well it's a delicious burger with a smile on the wrapper, and a prize inside."
The franchise created the Funburger — a smaller hamburger, which included puzzles
and a toy — and eventually the Funmeal, which included a burger, french fries, a soft drink,
a sweet treat, and a toy. When McDonald's introduced its Happy Meal years later,
Burger Chef sued the fast food giant, though ultimately lost the fight.
By the late 1970s, the franchise was struggling financially, and in 1982,
six-hundred-and-seventy-nine Burger Chef locations were sold to Hardee's for forty-four
million dollars, with most being converted to Hardee's restaurants. Some independent
Burger Chef locations continued to operate for a few years afterward,
but the final Burger Chef — located in Cookeville, Tennessee — was shut down in 1996.
When the fast-food hamburger chain White Castle became popular in the early 1920s,
several imitators emerged, with White Tower Hamburgers probably being the most successful.
Founded in 1926, the copycat burger franchise went to great lengths to find out the secrets
of White Castle, which included hiring White Castle ex-employees, copying its uniforms,
and using a similar architecture and design for the buildings. Even their slogan,
"Take Home a Bagful," was similar to White Castle's "Buy 'Em By the Sack."
White Tower Hamburgers gained a following in and surrounding Wisconsin, and for decades,
burgers and coffee both cost 5 cents each. According to On Milwaukee,
White Tower even offered people free meals on Christmas Day,
"Just to make sure that no single man,
whether black or white, resident or transient, should go hungry".
White Castle eventually took the copycat to court for trademark infringement and won.
White Tower was ordered to change its architecture,
keep out of White Castle's markets, and pay royalties to the copied brand. Surprisingly,
White Tower's evolution into a modern coffee shop was well-timed, and the brand continued to
see some success. However, it didn't keep up its business model for a car-filled,
postwar America. When foot traffic decreased significantly, so did White Tower's business.
Back in 1934, Edward Gold opened Wimpy Grills in Indiana,
inspired by the character J. Wellington Wimpy from the popular cartoon Popeye.
"I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."
Although starting in Indiana, the chain became most notable in Chicago, selling about
8 million burgers a year by 1947. While White Castle was the biggest franchise at the time,
Wimpy burgers needed two hands to eat them — an edge that allowed it to grow significantly.
Wimpy expanded internationally in 1954, and by 1970 it had become a favorite around the world,
with more than a thousand locations in twenty-three countries. However,
with no one purchasing the rights or trademark from Gold before he died in 1977,
the franchise ceased in the United States and only continues overseas, where it is still licensed.
Growing up through the '80s and '90s, you might remember the Official All Star Cafe.
This over-the-top sports bar was the brainchild of Robert Earl, a businessman who specialized in
creating themed restaurants like the Hard Rock Cafe and Planet Hollywood. For this venture,
he enlisted some of the most successful athletes in the world — including Shaquille
O'Neal, Wayne Gretzky, Monica Seles, Joe Montana, Ken Griffey Jr., and Tiger Woods.
The first All Star Cafe debuted in Manhattan's Times Square in 1995.
Earl dressed the restaurant in over-the-top decor, including mezzanine sky-box booths,
booths shaped like baseball gloves, an arena-sized scoreboard, virtual reality video,
and interactive TVs. You could also find rare sports memorabilia like Andre Agassi's ponytail.
While the franchise's unique dining experience would expand into many major US cities — including
a location at Orlando's Disney World — it had a difficult time attracting people
into repeat visits. The last All Star Cafe location closed in 2007.
No, Burger Queen isn't the wife of Burger King. It was a Florida restaurant opened by Harold and
Helen Kite in 1956, which was sold five years later to John Clark, George Clark, and James
Gannon. After arriving in Kentucky, with its recognizable neon signs, lovable mascot Queenie
Bee, and its signature burger — the Imperial — the franchise experienced its greatest success.
At its peak, the chain had over 170 locations,
though it eventually ran into some roadblocks — such as when Dairy Queen
filed an injunction to prevent Burger Queen from selling any dairy products.
In 1981, to signal that its menu went beyond burgers — offering chicken, salads, and even
fish — Burger Queen executives changed the fast-food joint's name to Druther's Restaurant.
"You'd always said there was no free lunch. But you never told me about
the free Druther's doodler, you louse. The pen that comes with every chicken dinner."
But the franchise didn't get the boost it needed,
and the company eventually changed all of its locations to Dairy Queens.
Carrols was a branch of the Tastee-Freez chain that opened in Indiana in 1956. But after seeing
the burger stands in California, businessman Herb Slotnick secured the rights to more Carrols
locations in order to bring something similar to upstate New York. He became known for introducing
fast food to Syracuse, which included the Carrols' Club Burger, Sea Fillet fish sandwich,
Crispy Country Chicken, and triple-thick shakes. Slotnick told Syracuse.com in 2010,
"Hamburgers were 15 cents and milkshakes were 15 cents and french fries were a dime,
so it was 40 cents for a meal."
By the 1970s, Carrols couldn't compete with the other fast food giants,
so Slotnick cut a deal with Burger King. Most of the Carrols locations were either
converted to Burger Kings or closed, with the last one in the country retiring in 1981.
A landmark in California's Bay Area is Doggie Diner, with its 10-foot-tall fiberglass dog head
wearing a bow tie and a chef's hat. Al Ross opened the restaurant in Oakland in 1948 with one thing
in mind: quality ingredients. The chain quickly grew in popularity with its hot dogs, hamburgers,
pastrami sandwiches, and milkshakes — peaking with thirty locations, most of which were open 24/7.
After a slow decline, the last Doggie Diner shut its doors in 1986,
though several of the giant Doggie Diner busts survived through the years,
with one being refurbished and declared a San Francisco landmark in 2005.
But that doesn't seem to be the end, as a man named Kip Atchley has made it his
life's work to revive the beloved fast food chain. He plans to open it in Napa,
and feature one of the iconic Doggie Diner heads along with it.
In Ohio, Red Barn's catchy jingle dominated the airwaves:
"When the hungries hit, when the hungries hit, hit the Red Barn."
"Why is Red Barn sounding like a broken record?"
"You go back and go back and go back."
"And I'm going back."
The popular fast food chain was founded in 1961 by friends Jim Kirst, Don Six,
and Martin Levine. While customers would normally head to Red Barn for a Big Barney, the chain also
served fish sandwiches, fried chicken, and had a salad bar — very novel strategies in those days.
At one point, the burger joint had more than 300 locations in 19 states,
even expanding internationally to Canada and Australia. In the late 1960s,
the chain was bought out by United Servomation, who didn't give it the
attention it needed to succeed. The final Red Barn franchisee lease ended in 1988.
One regular from Rochester, New York, reminisced with the Democrat & Chronicle, claiming,
"The Red Barn across from East High was a hangout for area kids. My friends and
I pretty much ran that place... it was one of our central homes/bases in that neighborhood."
Although Red Barn was another casualty of the bigger burger franchises,
it still has a home in the hearts of many Americans.
In Illinois, Gus Lundberg, Robert Wenger, Paul White, and W.K. Davidson planned on opening
some of the first McDonald's franchises outside of California. After their first
McDonald's in Urbana, Illinois, was a hit, they decided to open new ones in Decatur and Peoria,
Illinois. However, when Ray Kroc of McDonald's informed the four entrepreneurs of term changes
that would result in them forking over a much higher percentage of their profits,
they decided to build a Scottish-based fast food joint called Sandy's.
Although the four founders weren't initially interested in expanding their local restaurant,
Sandy's 15-cent hamburgers, 20-cent milkshakes, and 10-cent bags of fries were a hit with
customers. Though their menu was similar enough to McDonald's that Kroc ended up suing them,
the chain ended up with more than 100 locations around the nation.
Eventually, the Scottish burger restaurant was sold to Hardee's in 1971,
but not before expanding to other countries, like Belgium and Canada. Although it's gone,
the spirit of Sandy's will always be a part of fast food history.