Beloved burgers
Hamburger Day is always on Memorial Day so here’s a look at one of America’s favorite foods and quick-service restaurants.
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The first fast-food burger
White Castle, which opened in Wichita, Kansas, in 1921. White Castle brought Henry Ford’s assembly line to the kitchen. Every inch of the grill was used to give customers a quick and exact experience each and every time.
We’ve come a long way in 100 years, but the idea to maximize efficiency with fast food is still the same.
Castles, kings and colonels
A timeline of American chains (not all listed)
1921: White Castle opens the first fast food hamburger stand in Wichita, Kansas.
1925: Roy W. Allen and Frank Wright decide to franchise their A&W root beer stands, which first opened in Lodi in 1919.
1930: Harland Sanders begins Kentucky Fried Chicken, the first fast food chicken chain.
1937: Vernon Rudolph launches Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, a doughnut company and coffeehouse chain in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
1940: Brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald create their “Speedee Service System” and incorporate it in their restaurants, called McDonald’s.
1940: John Fremont McCullough, the inventor of soft-serve ice cream, opens the first Dairy Queen in Joliet, Illinois.
1946: Dave Barham opens the first Party Puffs in Santa Monica, which is later renamed Hot Dog on a Stick.
1948: In-N-Out opens. Harry and Esther Snyder‘s Baldwin Park joint is the first drive-thru hamburger stand.
1948: Bill Rosenberg of Quincy, Massachusetts, opens Dunkin’ Donuts.
1951: Robert O. Peterson founds Jack in the Box in San Diego. It is one of the first drive-thru chains to use an intercom system.
1954: James McLamore and David R. Edgerton Jr. open their first Insta-Burger-King restaurant in Miami, which later becomes Burger King.
1956: The first two Carl‘s Jr. restaurants are built in Anaheim and Brea. They are called Carl’s Jr. because they are smaller than Carl and Margaret Karcher‘s full service restaurant, Carl’s Drive-In Barbecue.
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1961: John Galardi starts with one Wienerschnitzel hot dog stand in Wilmington, California, then builds the largest hot dog chain in the United States, with more than 360 outlets. The company has hamburgers and chili cheeseburgers.
1961: Brothers Tom and James Monaghan buy DomiNick’s pizza store in Ypsilanti, Michigan. It later becomes Domino’s.
1962: Glen Bell opens the first Taco Bell in Downey. The company has sold burgers off and on.
1964: Brothers Forrest and Leroy Raffell open the first Arby’s in Boardman, Ohio.
1964: The first Casa Del Taco is opened by Ed Hackbarth and David Jameson in Yermo. The name is eventually shortened to Del Taco. Del Taco sells burgers and fries.
1965: Frederick DeLuca of Bridgeport, Connecticut, opens a sandwich shop that later becomes Subway.
1969: Dave Thomas founds Wendy’s in Columbus, Ohio.
1971: The first Starbucks store opens in Seattle.
1972: The first Chicken on the Run opens in Louisiana. It fails but owner Al Copeland rebrands as Popeyes Mighty Good Chicken and starts what is now the second-largest fast-food chicken chain.
Hamburger history
An excerpt from Heritage Foods says, “The hamburger, a quintessentially American dish. Like so many of our national symbols, its history is up for debate and reflects the multicultural roots of our nation. Some say the hamburger originated in Hamburg, Germany, while others argue German-American immigrants were the first to serve fried ground beef in a sandwich. Hannah Glasse’s 1758 edition ‘The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy’ — published in England — includes a recipe for ‘Hamburgh sausage,’ which calls for it to be served with toasted bread. However, the concept of hamburger solidified the following century across the Atlantic.”
One of the first premier restaurants in the United States was New York’s Delmonico’s, founded by Giovanni Del-Monico, a Swiss retired sea captain who presided over ships carrying cargo across the Atlantic. He and his pastry chef brother, Pietro, opened up a cafe and bakery in 1826. The two, joined by their nephew, opened Delmonico’s as a restaurant in 1830. While they primarily served French food, they were not limited to one country’s cuisine. In 1836, Delmonico’s first printed menu featured a “hamburger steak,” one of the most expensive dishes at the time.
How quick?
McDonald’s continues to place an emphasis on speed when it comes to selling its burgers. A hamburger, for example, can be cooked and fully assembled on average in 112 seconds. According to McDonald’s corporate, if there are no other orders, a customer should be able to have a Quarter Pounder on their tray in 180 seconds, with 122 of those seconds being the patty’s cooking time.
McDonald’s moved beyond the hamburger business by acquiring Chipotle Mexican Grill (1998), Donatos Pizza (1999), and Boston Market (2000) in the U.S.
Sources: Smithsonian, Historyoffastfood.com, timetoast.com, restaurant websites, Business Insider, Ranker and Mental Floss, Heritage Foods, Pennlive.com
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