Founders Of Burger Chef Restaurant Chain
Pioneers Of Char-broiled Hamburgers
My grandmother drove a beast of a car, a 1966 purple Pontiac Star Chief Executive sedan. It was an enormous ride with black seating like sofas (no bucket seats) for six passengers, four pairs of seat belts (safety second), AM radio, and room for miles. It was basically a limo. When she started it she hit the accelerator pedal with a lead foot. The car would roar, heave and release a cloud of black exhaust. It was freaking awesome!
When my grandmother watched my sister and me she occasionally would take us to lunch at Burger Chef in the purple sedan. Since fast food wasn't a regular part of our diet, eating there was an exceptional moment. I'm sure we had twinkles in our eyes when ordered our meals: a hamburger wrapped in crinkly paper, a bag of crispy fries ('supersize' didn't exist yet), and a pop with a normal straw (not those monstrosities we use today with the girth of the Alaska pipeline).
In 1957 when they opened their first Burger Chef, Frank and Donald Thomas (illustration) used an improved char-broiled grill which they invented and sold to the founders of Burger King (you read that right). By 1968 the Thomas brothers built a massive fast food operation that was second to McDonalds. That same year they sold it to General Foods. After a series of missteps and a gruesome crime at one of the restaurants General Foods sold it to the parent company of Hardee’s.
In 1982 some restaurants became Hardee’s and others closed. Some eventually converted to Carl’s Jr. after the Hardee's brand was sold. The Burger Chef in my hometown became a Hardee's. It stuck around for a few years then became an oversized cafe that boasted 45 varieties of coffee. It closed abruptly. The building was razed. The property is a vacant lot today.
If you eat hamburgers and fries from Hardee’s or Carl’s Jr. you’re enjoying the ghost of Burger Chef and sharing a happy memory of my past.
Source, lostindiana.net