Amongst all the change in the fast food industry, one company that has essentially kept the
same menu for decades (with some options) is White Castle.
A fast-food restaurant that is so good at what they do that it spawned a movie franchise.
We wanted to delve into the history of the restaurant behind 'Harold and Kumar Go to
White Castle’.
So strap in, grab some antacids and get ready to learn about everyone's favorite place to
go after a night of hard partying.
White Castle and the Original 'Super Size Me’
In 2004, documentary maker Morgan Spurlock burst onto the scene by filming a “documentary”
that revolved around him eating nothing but McDonald's for a month straight.
There has never been a documentary that has been as destructive and transformative as
'Super Size Me', as it was very popular and supposedly showed how unhealthy McDonald's
food can be - but there’s a lot of controversy over how much of the content Spurlock faked.
Either way, McDonald's responded by adding healthy options to their menu and also by
stating that their food isn't meant to be eaten for every meal.
Before Spurlock, though, there was a University of Minnesota medical student who was tasked
with eating nothing but White Castle burgers for every meal for not just one month, but
for nearly three months straight.
Back when hamburgers were invented, over 100 years ago, arguably by the founder of White
Castle, there were people who were adamantly against hamburgers for whatever reason and
who stated that hamburgers were not only unhealthy (which is true) but that they were essentially
poison.
So the powers that be at White Castle commissioned that study to prove that the burgers weren't
toxic, basically, and surprisingly the med student not only survived his three months
of tiny burgers, but felt fine afterwards as well (but considering this was the days
before antibiotics, the word "Fine" is relative, of course).
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Working for White Castle Used to Be a GREAT Gig
If there's any type of job these days, and really for the past few decades, that is looked
down upon it's a fast food gig.
There are numerous statements and stereotypes that exist about working for a fast food restaurant
like calling it a "McJob" or in someone saying that at least they're not "flipping burgers"
for a living.
While that's not really true these days as most fast food restaurants have attempted
to make working for them better by offering better wages, better benefits and/or the opportunity
for advancement, the reality is, as recent movements have shown, working for a fast food
restaurant is still not the best gig in the world.
Back in the day, though, that wasn't true as White Castle used to pay their employees
between $18 to $30 a week, which was a lot a century ago.
Beyond that, White Castle offered paid benefits that weren't a regular thing in those pre-union
days like paid sick leaves, pension plans (remember those?) and upward mobility by offering
some opportunities for promotion.
That's all thanks to the little 5-cent burgers they used to sell by the sack full.
The White Castle Slider Hasn't Changed in 100 Years
White Castle is the oldest fast-food joint in the game.
As you'll see in this video, the founder of White Castle created the world's first fast-food
hamburger and its bun.
He started selling them for five cents a pop, often selling sacks full of his burgers to
orphans who would sell them around the corner to rich people in fancy cars who were too
lazy to get out.
Out of all burgers from fast food joints, the White Castle burger, known as a slider,
a White Castle or a gut bomb, is the most identifiable to people across the world mostly
due to it's size.
As it turns out, that's how they made the burger a century ago, with the same basic
recipe.
So, while things are changing quicker and quicker these days thanks to technology and
how it exponentially improves upon itself, you can rest assured that there's one constant
in the world and that constant is a small, delicious burger that you can still buy in
bulk and that rich people are still ashamed to admit they love.
White Castle is about more than Burgers
White Castle as a business seems pretty cut and dry.
It's a business that owns restaurants that used to be burger stands that makes arguably
the best burger known to man.
Anyone that has seen the movie "The Founder" about the founding of McDonald's might know
that there's a lot more to owning a fast-food empire than just the food or even the location
the food is made in, as business is cut-throat and there are a lot of different opportunities
for people to make money on side hustles.
White Castle is no different, as when it was founded the original CEO wanted White Castle
locations to be small, cheap and easy to build.
To keep all of that in-house White Castle created a company to make cheap porcelain-and-steel
structures so they could essentially make money off of building their own buildings.
They also bought the company that was supplying their employees with paper hats in 1932, which
ended up being a goldmine in and of itself as they were creating over fifty million paper
hats for the entire fast food industry by the 1960’s.
White Castle Provided Vehicles During WWII
Part of the subsidiaries that we’ve mentioned was a company named Porcelain Steel Buildings
that provided, you guessed it, porcelain and steel buildings for the construction of White
Castle locations.
During World War II a lot of the United States' economy was based on the war effort, and with
a lot of other countries struggling to recover from the war, this created the opportunity
for the United States to become the largest economy in the world.
White Castle's Porcelain Steel Buildings was no exception as it went from fabricating cheap
facades for White Castle locations to building amphibious vehicles for the war effort, which
is surprising because when it comes to what you'd expect to float the last two things
that come to mind are porcelain and steel.
After the war, PSB was left with a surplus of supplies for those vehicles, so they ended
up creating another company that created equipment for lawn spreading.
Today, PSB still works with Scott's, one of the largest lawn care companies in the world.
So the next time you see a nice lawn remember that you have World War II and White Castle
to thank for that.
Reality is weird.
The Original White Castle Restaurant Designs
The original and old school White Castle locations were actually set up to look like actual castles.
The irony of it is that the location that the White Castle restaurants were based on
wasn't actually a castle at all but rather a church.
After the Great Fire of 1871 one of the few things that were still standing was the Chicago
Water Tower.
The Gothic design actually looks like a castle so you can't fault them for using it as inspiration
and to be honest regardless of what it looked like or what it was based on it's actually
a lot cooler than the fast-food joints we get these days that are typically stuck in
or near a failing strip mall.
Those box designed restaurants may be cheaper and larger, but they're still not as cool
as those few remaining White Castle locations and that's most likely why people refer to
the past as the good old days.
These days there are still a few original White Castle buildings around, although those
are typically not actually restaurants anymore.
For example, one of the original locations in Minneapolis still looks like it did decades
ago although there's an insurance agency inside as opposed to a restaurant.
What the White Castle Name Means
White Castle founder Walt Anderson was single-handedly responsible for the invention of the modern
fast-food restaurant, so it's safe to say that he's the king of both hamburgers and
fast food spots.
However, the name White Castle wasn't something that alluded to Anderson's royalty in the
meat patty industry.
When he invented the fastfood hamburger in 1916, the world was full of misinformed people
and because of that and the fact that hamburgers were a new kind of food, people didn't know
what to think...
Or at least some people.
Other people like Upton Sinclair and Frederick J. Schlink were adamant that hamburgers were
basically poisonous.
In their books The Jungle and Eat, Drink and Be Wary, respectively, Sinclair and Schlink
"exposed" hamburger meat as extremely unsafe to the point that it was essentially poison.
While it's true that uncooked hamburger meat will get you sick, that was just reactionary
nonsense that could've put Anderson out of business.
With that in mind, Anderson decided to combine two words that together would convey both
"purity and solidity", a pristine image, and those words were white and castle.
White Castle Sliders Were Instantly Popular
White Castle founder Walt Anderson created the modern concept of fast-food and while
it's said that the restaurant business is the most difficult to break into and sustain,
Walt had no problems when he introduced hamburgers to the world through his hamburger stands
in 1916.
In the book 'Selling 'Em by the Sack' by David G. Hogan, it was stated that there was a regular
contingent of young orphaned boys who routinely would buy an entire sack of the 5-cent burgers
that Walt Anderson was cooking up.
Anderson noticed this and considering that the young boys didn't have money, ever, he
decided to follow them one day after they bought their second sack of burgers.
Around the corner the boys were delivering the burgers to a hand that came out of the
window of a limo.
Meaning that regardless of socio-economic status or age, everyone loves White Castle,
even if they think they’re too good to get out of their car to get them.
As anyone who has ordered a Crave case will attest, it's really not much different these
days as you typically end up waiting for a good half-an-hour while those delicious little
jam jam's are being cooked.
The only thing missing is the orphans.
Thankfully.
The White Castle Founder Created the Modern Fast Food Joint
The founder of White Castle, Walt Anderson, was essentially both a visionary and a genius.
Anderson took out an $80 loan after his first hamburger stand, which opened in 1916, became
an instant sensation.
He ended up receiving that loan from a local real estate broker named W.E.
Ingram (who went by Billy) who ended up as the first CEO of White Castle.
By 1921 they established a chain of burger stands with 5-cent burgers, and those stands
were known for being as efficient as they were small.
While McDonald's Ray Kroc is widely credited for that, if you've seen the movie 'The Founder',
you'll know that he stole most of what he is credited for
and the fast food concept is no exception because either way you slice it, that's the
concept that eventually took off and became what we know as the fast food restaurant today
and we all have Walt Anderson to thank.
The White Castle’s Founder Created the Modern Hamburger
Walt Anderson was originally a short-order cook from Wichita, Kansas.
Before Walt there really wasn't a hamburger, at least how we know it, and the story behind
how he became the king of burgers is too good to be true.
One day Anderson was attempting to make some meatballs and he was having trouble with the
fact that his meatballs were sticking to the griddle whenever he attempted to pick them
up.
In his frustration he smashed one of the meatballs with his spatula, flattening it.
When he saw the flattened patty he had an epiphany - but rather than putting the patty
between bread, like some other people had come up with around that time, he invented
the perfect bun - and that's how the modern hamburger was born.
Like many inventions, hamburgers were created by accident and if Walt had better anger control
problems perhaps we wouldn't have any hamburger spots.
God bless that man's temper.
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