Burger Chef

elwinrandall I ran the Burger Chef in Nothville MI for six weeks shortly after it opened.

There was a Burger Chef in Morristown and Newport, Tennessee in the mid 60's thru the early to mid 80's. Not bad, hated to see them go!

Buckshot

quote:
Originally posted by Mark in Ohio

quote:
Originally posted by rmcielwain


Quote:

Speaking of Borden-owned chains, anyone remember the "Borden
Burger" chain which existed in the early 70's? I remember seeing
one outlet back in Mansfield, Ohio, in 1972.



Am I remembering correctly that their restaurants were topped with a "Whirling Satellite" and called "BBF's" for Borden Boy Foodarama, or was it Burger Boy Foodarama? My memories are muddled in that haze of 1960's/70's fifteen cent burgers....


.......................................................................................................................

The Burger Boy Foodaramas (BBFs) were largely converted to Borden Burgers as the Columbus, OH based Company,at that time, was getting into the fast food business. There was a very large BBF on High Street, across the street from the OSU campus in the early '70's.

Believe many of the Borden Burger locations in the central OH area, became some of the early Wendy's locations, as that Columbus, OH based chain started to expand.




Nope, you are not remembering correctly. BBF and Burger Chef were different animals

There was a Burger Chef in Irwin PA right on Route 30...was the first fast food place in town and had the original "Kite" building with the gigantic sign and the seperate fihs sandwich sign with the guy hookin' a pike/salmon/trout some kind of game fish.....what I remember most was that Works Bar...man we would load up a simple cheeseburger with tons of lettuce, tomatoes and pickles good times

I don't remember the works bar at Burger Chef. Did they all have them and did they come towards the end? Burger Chef and Burger Queen were my two favorites.

Andrea

the works bar was what made Burger Chef...

This is going way back for me, late 60's or early 70s, there was a chain that came to town for a short period of time, it was either Burger Chef...but I"m thinking Burger Barn. The building still stands and has been renovated several times. It's a barn style building with two silos (bathrooms). I remember at one time it was barn red and included the upper door at the end. I do remember them having charbroiled burgers. But alas they opened in a burger town with some great burger restaurants and just weren't accepted.

HB

I probably just don't remember the works bar because I was little when we ate there and we went through the drive-thru. The bar that I do miss is the Druther's one where they had the deep-fried veggies. We put a hurt on that during high school with the plates we consumed!

Andrea

I remember back in the early 60's we would stop by Burger Chef and get our Big Chef's and fries and cruise over to Frisch's. Frisch's was where all the kids would cruise but the food whas cheaper at Burger Chef!

Butch

Wow, FINALLY found a place to talk about Burger Chef!!!

Back in the day, would venture 15 miles away to go shopping once a week. The high point for my sister and I was going to the Burger Chef. As an earlier poster said, great food and a family of four could eat for not many dollars. We weren't rich by any stretch, and Burger Chef was in our budget. I remember the works bar, and the great burgers. Wish I could have one now....

Ours was located at the edge of the parking lot for a Jamesway department store and a Farmer's Market grocery store. Jamesway went out of business. The Grocery store became a Loblaws, then a Heilig-Meyers furniture store. Now both stores are a Trader Horn local hardware chain.

As we were eating in BC one day, my Dad heard people in the next booth say "This place will be a memory once (MCD) comes to town."
Unfortunately, they were too correct. I can't remember the exact timeline, but I think the late 70s saw the end. The store was boarded up, and eventually demolished. The complex now is at 15140 route 322 Clarion, PA facing the Trader Horn, the BC was to your left in the west corner of the parking lot.
RIP
KDS

I still remember the bird houses from Burger Chef!

Nice to find this forum for talking about Burger Chef. I'll try to contribute as much as possible. Thanks, and Happy New Year.

Darren

I worked for BC back in the 70's for almost ten years as an assistantmanager and manager.
Any former employees or managers especially from West 16th St. store (near Methodist Hospital) would enjoy talking to you.
Jim Barnes was the manager back then. Mike Guinta was our area manager. We had the best of times and it was a real pleasure working with them and the employees.

Kevin

I worked at one of two Burger Chefs in Shelbyville Indiana in 1977. At the time I worked there we also had two non-sandwich platters: The Rancher (beefsteak) and the Mariner (fish). I remember the works bar..it was added later on. Both of our Burger Chefs were converted to Hardees, as was one of the two in Columbus IN (the other was closed and torn down).
One of my favorite burger joints was Red Barn...it was a regular stop when we were in Columbus when I was a kid.

I actually collect Burger Chef trinkets..old menu panels, napkins and the like. Still haven't found the elussive tshirt though.

Well, as I have posted in some other threads, you have one last chance to have a Burger Chef!!!

"The Chef" is located in Cleveland, Tn., just north of Chattanooga. They still use the original B/C cooking equipment, and much of the 1966 restaurant remains.

Check out this excellent photo page:

:http://www.freewebs.com/burgerchef/thechefcleavelandtn06.htm

How cool is that!!!

The first Burger Chef was opened in Indianapolis, on west 16th street, near an Orthodox church. Burger Chef restaurants got me through college in the late 60s, as the burgers were reasonably priced and tasty.

Through the late 1970s, Burger Chef was the best burger chain in the country, better than McDonald's or Burger King (Steak and Shake and White Castle were entirely different from the chains above, as they were regional chains). BChef went downhill for some reason, and was bought by Hardee's/Carl's Jr. BK seems to be the best of the chains right now.

Interesting. That means I was one of the first to chow down on Burger Chefs because I frequented that Burger Chef on West 16th Street in Indianapolis quite frequently. It opened when I was in high school so I would guess that would have to have been around 1960.

some Burger Chef commercials


http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=burger+chef

Burger Chef was the siamese twin to Burger King, as both chains were based around the same flame broiler machine. Burger Chef operations were smaller, with inside seating areas flanking both sides of the clear glass-enclosed food prep area. Much classier than "Stay in Your CAR!" MacDonalds with their cold tile OUTDOOR benches and frosted glass windows.
My younger sister and I used to sit inside at "Our Table" so we could look right into the flamebroiler and watch the burgers burn. It was a fun show! (And looking back, I'm realizing now just how much fat must have been in that meat in order to produce those flamboyant flames!)

quote:

Originally posted by DavidEMartin

Burger Chef was the siamese twin to Burger King, as both chains were based around the same flame broiler machine. Burger Chef operations were smaller, with inside seating areas flanking both sides of the clear glass-enclosed food prep area. Much classier than "Stay in Your CAR!" MacDonalds with their cold tile OUTDOOR benches and frosted glass windows.
My younger sister and I used to sit inside at "Our Table" so we could look right into the flamebroiler and watch the burgers burn. It was a fun show! (And looking back, I'm realizing now just how much fat must have been in that meat in order to produce those flamboyant flames!)

Great memories! I'm not sure, though, that I'd call them twins, siamese or otherwise.

My recollection, from much of New England, is that Burger King was in it ascendancy while Burger Chef was dying out. In our area, Burger Chef was a 60s phenomenon, BK was 70s.

The Chef seemed to sprout up in the 60s in areas where McD's hadn't yet taken root. I remember them in places like New Bedford, Mass. and Manchester, NH when most of the industrial cities in NE were pretty depressed and didn't have much left open.

BK pretty much went head-to-head with the golden arches, moving into growing suburbs that had shopping "plazas" and then malls. Once they had to compete with each other they spread out to the hinterlands and Burger Chefs suddenly converted to local donut shops and chinese restaurants.

I still remember their chocolate shakes. They had a flavor unlike anything else - wasn't chocolate (but none of them are) - but I liked it.

does anyone remember a Burger Chef in either West Hartford or Wethersfield,CT. ?

quote:

Originally posted by Al-The Mayor-Bowen

The "BIG CHEF" was a pretty good challenge to the Big Mac and Whopper for awhile. I think there are some other references to Burger Chef on the 'Long Gone Chains' thread

The Big Shef was the original and started when the chain started. The Big Mac did not make an appearance until 1968.

I consider the Whopper a different sandwich altogether because it was not a double-decker burger. The Whopper was born in 1957 by the founder of BK.

Speaking of any relation between BK and Burger Chef, in 1955 the Thomas brothers were the ones who made modifications to Insta Burger King's flame broilers to make them work. Prior to that, IBK's flame broilers continually jammed up.

i love this thread!!!!!!!!!

Hardee's may have brought back the BIG CHEF, but they did it without making it the way I remember it being made.

BIG Shef's were made just like Big Mac'c with 3 buns. I got a sack full tonight and its just double cheeseburgers, with hardly any sauce on it at all. I was SOOOOO ANGRY.

Hey, everybody!

A couple of weeks ago I decided to dine at Schroder's Drive-In in Danville, Illinois, which just so happened to be an old Burger Chef restaurant that has a LOT of the original decor intact! Even the menus look like that of Burger Chef!

Getting there: The location is at 432 N. Gilbert Street (US 150/IL 1), right next door to Marathon on the west side of the street--follow Exit 215B from I-74 in case you want to go.

Personal note: I have a "Danville, Illinois, Things To Do & Places To Go" booklet from the Danville Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, dated 1989. It says that a Burger Chef exists at 432 N. Gilbert Street, or should I say existed back then?

Hello All,

If you didn't know about this yet, just a note to let you know that a company called River West Brands- A brand revitalization company- is currently challenging Hardee's Food Systems for the rights to the Burger Chef trademarks. This case is currently pending at the US Patent and Trademark Office. Suposedly they are in negotiations as well. River West Brands would like to resurrect Burger Chef as a new and better than ever restaurant franchise. We shall see.

The Burger Chef on South Main Street in North Canton, OH was one of my family's regular after-church stops, because somehow my dad always had coupons for them - that's why we went there instead of the Red Barn or McD's that were also on the way home! The Works Bar was the other thing we liked about them - us kids liked it because we could make our regular hamburgers into something like a Whopper, and my parents liked it 'cuz we'd actually get some vegetables with our fast food! That location probably went under when I was away at college in the early 80's. A number of other restaurants came and went quickly at the location, until it was turned into a (pretty darn good) Mexican place called El Rincon, which has been going strong for probably 10 years now. It's one of my nephews' favorite restaurant, and it's fun to eat with my sister's kids in the same place we used to eat when we were their age - though not exactly the same kind of food!

From what I recall, the Burger Chef in Wethersfield became a pie shop (early 70's) for a few years and was eventually converted into a Burger King - still a BK today.

I remember Burger Chef fondly. Went to the on 66th street in St. Pete, FL a few times, After BC was no more the person who owned that place kept it open with much the same menu. Just changed the name.

Be we mostly went to the one on Park Blvd in Pinellas Park, not to far for US 19 in front of Zayre's store and a stones throw from a Sambo's. A few years after BC colsed this location became an upscale ice crem place in the mid 80's

I used to stop in the burger chef on my way home from school for a shef when I was a kid in Dayton oh. lots of cool burger chef videos on you tube.

They were all over St. Louis Used to be one up at Belle Park Plaza that became a CWP pizza until recently but it never had a drive thru. There was one at 12087 Bellefontaine Road next to a Dairy Queen that only serves ice cream stuff it got converted into a Hardees and closed later because it didn't have a drive thru. I used to have the red monster record from Burger Chef and remember getting the star wars funmeals. Why did they let Hardees ruin everything. Everyone I meet has fond memories of Burger Chef.

Ok I also worked for Burger Chef for 14 years. We were the First restaurant built. And it was only built as a test market to sell the Chain CharBroilers. It did so well that they decided to expand. Just a note I managed to save all recipes and for the menu and there was no TARTAR SAUCE on a Big Shef, In the early days we made our own sauce which was ketchup and tartar mixed, it was very much like a 1000 island dressing. And it was also on a triple bun with to 10/1 patties and chees and shredded lettuce. As an employee, I moved up from the age of 14 and was the youngest Store manager in the Indiana area at 17. Trained by John Grider The King of the Restaurant managers in Indiana and a !@%& to work for. I later went on to ready stores they had that were mis-managed and get them ready for new management to take over. In my opinion Burger Chef was alot better than McDonald's which at the time was our competition. Then Burger King came along and we had even more. But even by the time that Burger Chef was acquired by Hardee's they had top sales. Unfortunately that all changed when Hardee's bought them out.

gingerpcurry,

This Burger Chef?



BTW, Welcome to Roadfood.com

quote:

Originally posted by gingerpcurry

Ok Just a note I managed to save all recipes and for the menu and there was no TARTAR SAUCE on a Big Shef, In the early days we made our own sauce which was ketchup and tartar mixed, it was very much like a 1000 island dressing. And it was also on a triple bun with to 10/1 patties and chees and shredded lettuce.

Things must have changed by the mid 60's because when Burger Chef came to our town (Grand Rapids, MI) my favorite sandwich over the Whopper was the Big Shef and it never had a single drop of ketchup on it or in the sauce which was a very oniony-dill pickle tartar sauce the same as was on their fish sandwich and every one I had till the day the chain shut down did not either.

As I said the sauce was like a Thousand Island dressing. In the beginning we made our own and it was TARTAR SAUCE with ketchup but we made it from scratch until it was no longer feasible to do so because of cost. So they had it shipped in.........lol..........anyways no biggy.........everyone has thier own opinion of what the secret sauce really was................hahahhahha

quote:

Originally posted by gingerpcurry

As I said the sauce was like a Thousand Island dressing. In the beginning we made our own and it was TARTAR SAUCE with ketchup but we made it from scratch until it was no longer feasible to do so because of cost. So they had it shipped in.........lol..........anyways no biggy.........everyone has thier own opinion of what the secret sauce really was................hahahhahha

Didn't want to imply you were wrong. Me and some friends used to kill about 90 minutes each school day in our senior year at a B/C between classes around 10:30 am downing 25 cent fried pies and coffee as they set up for the lunch crowd and with the big glass windows on the sides of the kitchen you saw everything. I remember them filling the stainless tubs with condiments including a very white tartar sauce. Back then Hardees used to use thousand island dressing on their Big Twin sandwich as did our local Big Boy's on their triple decker burger

The previously-mentioned Burger Chef in Cookeville, TN was apparently the last one to close- close to the TN Tech University campus, next door to the Junior High. And Hardee's has actually made good on their purchase... the current Mushroom-Swiss Thickburger (while, well, thicker) uses the original Burger Chef recipe for the mushroom sauce. In fact, you'll sometimes even see the Burger Chef logo hidden in the corner of advertisements for that burger. Go grab one- it'll bring back the memories.

In st. louis on my way to STL University there was one on north grand ave. i ate there many times. as a student on limited funds, i used to go to the condiment bar and make a salad out of all the fixinx and then blend catsup & mayo for a quickie dressing. i remember that the burgers used to bagged in plastic...buns would be all soggy and steamy.

Ahhh! My personal favorite Burger from Burger Chef

The incomparable "Big Shef".

Click this link for a photo of a true classic
http://www.flickr.com/photos/87362701@N00/391714921/sizes/o/

In my younger days would always order 2 of them and at 49 cents a piece when first introduced they were a great value.

When the Big Mac came around a few years later they never matched the unique flavor of the Big Shef with the sweet flavor of the Mac sauce.

i'm not old enough to remember eating at burger chef, but i do remember the place in philly.
in fact there is still at least one building still standing.

right on oregon near front street.


google "70 w oregon ave 19148"
then google maps then use street view.
the building is right at the back of the bus.

it looks like a food market in that shot.
here is the google map link.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=70++w+oregon+ave+19148&sll=39.915102,-75.149043&sspn=0.001876,0.004581&layer=ct&ie=UTF8&ll=39.918657,-75.146849&spn=0.007504,0.018325&t=h&z=16&cbll=39.913916,-75.148905&panoid=Mkm-WORV_kYY751REd_4tg

I hear Burger Chef first time. I will try it once i have chance.

quote:

Originally posted by thomasz

I hear Burger Chef first time. I will try it once i have chance.

Get a SuperShef. It's the best item.

I just came across these:

At the same time that General Foods purchased Burger Chef, McDonald's bought back the Washington DC territory and stores from their franchisee.  McD paid more for Washington DC than General Foods paid for the entire Burger Chef corporation.

I just found this awesome photo of a Burger Chef location. Anyone know where it was?

It appears to be one of the last locations - In the Lynn Garden  district of Kingsport, TN.

We had a Burger Chef in Kenosha, WI. I was very little at the time & don't remember eating there, they closed in the early 80's I think.

The building stayed empty for a lonnnng time. Not sure if there is anything there even now. They were on Sheridan Road near 7th Avenue, very near the lake. There is a nursing home across the street, and next to that another restaurant that was open when I was little but then was just an empty building for a long time, like 20+ years.

Thanks for posting the pic, it's interesting to see what it would have looked like when it was open.

SD: There is a Burger Chef fan site which has a picture of the site:
http://www.agilitynut.com/eateries/bchef.html
http://www.agilitynut.com/06/7/kenbc.jpg

Google Maps has a street view, but I don't know what I am looking for.  I do see the nursing home.
Go to
http://maps.google.com/
Put in this address:
3480 Sheridan Rd, Kenosha, WI
Click on the 3480 hyperlink next to the letter A, then click on street view. By use of zoom and rotate, you can see the neighborhood. Change the street address by 20 or so at a time and you will see different portions of the street.

Here's a direct link

John Riordan

 Kenosha, Wi My dad open 4 Burger Chef. I grew up working behide the cook counter since 1967 when I am 3 yrs old till 1985, We were very successful, the customers love it. During early 80's My dad was forced to do costly all store remodels and left us idle, the Corp.who bought "burger chef", was not experience in fast ...food business, begun to neglected us, force us to give up Burger Chef names I don't know why my dad didn't converse into Hardee or carljr?{will ask my dad} Instead he had to come up with his own name "Burger Unlimited" Served same of everything but it didnt work out the customer assumed under different name, the debts grew, dad lost everything, family lost everything from home to personal effects. I had to give up college education during 80's ever since My family are still struggle financial hardship to this day Burger Chef was our best memories, alot of people missed it as much as I missed it too. I would love to bring it Burger chef back in business myself!!

Craig
Hey, I remember the BC on Sheridan Rd, it's all boarded up now...very sad. I'm a vegetarian now, but I had real fond memories of going there with my folks....

http://vi-vn.facebook.com...tory_fbid=206382845353

David_NYC


SD: There is a Burger Chef fan site which has a picture of the site:
http://www.agilitynut.com/eateries/bchef.html
http://www.agilitynut.com/06/7/kenbc.jpg

That building didn't have brown bricks, so I'm not sure that pic is from our actual BC.

Google Maps has a street view, but I don't know what I am looking for.  I do see the nursing home.
Go to
http://maps.google.com/
Put in this address:
3480 Sheridan Rd, Kenosha, WI
Click on the 3480 hyperlink next to the letter A, then click on street view. By use of zoom and rotate, you can see the neighborhood. Change the street address by 20 or so at a time and you will see different portions of the street.

You're looking for the one story building. The two story one is the nursing home. I remember that now. The small one story building has been there since 1993-1994? Some kind of medical clinic, word on the street at the time it was built was that it might be a Planned Parenthood type of place? Anyway, the BC was not as far back as the medical clinic is, it was closer to the street.

I used to order the burger without and just pile on ANYTHING I wanted.  Sure did love doing it that way.

EatingTheRoad


I just came across these: