In a sea of fast food competitors, White Castle stands out.
Perhaps it's the small size of its iconic sliders, the mystique of its busy late night
hours, or scarcity in certain states, but the company has been successful creating a
"crave-worthy" business.
Here are a few fun facts you should know before your next White Castle run.
Step aside, Harold and Kumar: Martin Kessman was a frequent customer of White Castle for
an impressive 50 years, but he eventually became so overweight that he could no longer
fit himself into the booths at his local Nanuet, New York, location.
So Kessman sued White Castle in 2011 under the Americans with Disabilities Act for not
providing him with six more inches of, quote, "gut space."
This lack of gut space became a real problem when Kessman tried to squeeze into one of
the booths and injured his knee in the process.
“AHHHHH!
AHHH!”
Rather than shun White Castle burgers for good over the cramped seating, Kessman simply
had his wife pick up his slider supply.
The lawsuit was eventually dropped once White Castle renovated the location, providing proper
gut space with new seating.
If Krispy Kreme is going to capitalize on National Doughnut Day and Popeyes is going
to play along with National Buttermilk Biscuit Day, then you can bet that White Castle is
going to jump on the bandwagon for National Slider Day.
On May 15, 2019, the burger chain celebrated the holiday by offering fans - what else?
- a free slider.
All they had to do was visit their website and print off or download the free slider
coupon to their phone.
Of course, enjoying a slider without a cold beverage to wash it down with is just wrong,
so White Castle kicked in a free soda to sweeten up the deal.
If you're wondering where this holiday came from, look no further than White Castle itself.
White Castle VP Jamie Richardson admitted in a press release,
"We invented National Slider Day as a special tribute to the fans who share that appreciation
for the slider and share their Cravings with us."
While most of today's White Castle locations are modernized with drive-thrus and are far
larger than their early counterparts, there are some of those early White Castle buildings
still around.
The third White Castle restaurant opened in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1927 and remained
in operation until 1979, making it the longest continuously operating White Castle in the
country at the time.
The small white brick building was even listed as a historic landmark by the National Park
Service in 2011.
How many burger joints can say that?
Even with its history, the building hasn't always been a hot real estate commodity and
it sat vacant for 15 years after being used as a real estate office and then a National
Guard Recruitment office.
In 2017, Indiana Landmarks bought it from the National Guard for the price of just $1.
Indiana Landmarks then put it on the market for $70,000, where it sat for two years before
it was finally purchased
While it won't become a restaurant again due to a legal "covenant" White Castle has on
the building, new owner Jason Hartman is hopeful that he can find a long-term tenant that sees
the value in the history of the building that only had room for five stools in its early
years.
"It has great character, so I wouldn't want to change that."
One of the more bizarre moments in White Castle's history involves being pulled into some political
mudslinging between Texas Senator Ted Cruz, 2020 presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke,
and Texas burger mainstay Whataburger.
In August of 2018, when Cruz and O'Rourke were battling it out for Texas Senate supremacy,
Cruz's spokesperson called his opponent a ...
"Triple Meat Whataburger liberal who is out of touch with Texas values."
"What does that even mean, Ted?"
It was some pretty strange trash talking and more than a little confusing to a lot of Texans
who were quick to proclaim on social media just how much they enjoyed triple meat Whataburgers.
It took an even more head-scratching turn when Cruz said this:
"I'm a big fan of eating White Castle burgers.
I like their little burgers."
That statement wouldn't be so odd, if not for the fact that White Castle doesn't have
a single restaurant in the Lone Star state.
Texas writer/director Richard Linklater couldn't help but lampoon the strange political moment
by making a short ad using a character from his film Bernie, who was just as befuddled
by the statement as the rest of the state was.
Perhaps one day, White Castle will bestow the good people of Texas with a restaurant
so Cruz and O'Rourke can hash things out over a case of sliders.
White Castle has had its share of imitators over the years, with most of its competition
becoming just a footnote in fast food history.
Though dismissed as just a cheap food fad early on, its small square burgers were eventually
such a hit that the chain found itself being imitated from competitors big and small.
In the 1980s, KFC had their Chicken Littles sliders and Burger King tried its own version
of the slider called the Burger Bundle.
While Chicken Littles and Burger Bundles are long gone, White Castle also saw smaller burger
joints pop up that were brazen enough to rip off the White Castle name and building design.
California had its own version of White Castle with the slider joint Coastal Castle.
Coastal Castle president Kenneth H. Clifford told the Los Angeles Times in 1985,
"White Castle didn't make that hamburger famous, that hamburger made White Castle famous."
Understandably, White Castle didn't exactly agree with Clifford.
Gail Turley, White Castle's director of advertising said at the time,
"We've spent 65 years building up a reputation and we do not intend to have other people
capitalize on it."
Long story short, Coastal Castle no longer exists.
Other imitators like White Tower, Royal Castle, and White Palace have come and gone.
Meanwhile, White Castle continues to expand its Craver Nation.
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