Burger Chef
| Burger Chef | |
|---|---|
| legal form | |
| founding | 1954 |
| resolution | 1996 |
| Seat |
Indianapolis , Indiana United States
|
| management | Frank and Donald Thomas (1954–1968) General Foods (1968–1982) Imasco (1982–1996) |
| Branch | Quick service system catering |
Burger Chef was an American fast food chain . The company was founded in Indianapolis , Indiana , in 1954 and had approximately 1,050 branches in the United States and Canada in 1973 .
In 1982, General Foods Corporation, as the owner of the brand, separated from the fast food chain and gradually sold it to Hardee’s . The last restaurant called Burger Chef was closed in 1996.
history
In 1954 Frank and Donald Thomas patented their flame broiler and founded their own company in Indianapolis in the US state of Indiana. Three years later the first restaurant was founded under the name "Burger Chef". More openings followed across the country, with a focus on small towns. In 1972, the number of locations (1,200) was only exceeded by McDonald’s (1,600). The products on offer included the double hamburger Big Shef and the quarter-pound burger Super Shef . The Works Bar was added later, offering customers the opportunity to have the hamburger as they wish.
In 1968 General Foods bought the chain and continued to expand. At the time of purchase, Burger Chef had 600 locations in 39 US states. The chain had two mascots: Burger Chef (voiced by Paul Winchell ) and his assistant Jeff as a sidekick . In the early 1970s, the chain introduced the Funburger and Funmeal , a menu designed for children. In addition to the meal, the menu contained stories, little toys and puzzles about the adventures and friends of Burger Chef and Jeff (including the magician Burgerini, the vampire Count Fangburger, the talking monkey Burgerilla and the witch Cackleburger). When McDonald's introduced the similar Happy Meal in 1979 , Burger Chef sued unsuccessfully.
1982 General Foods sold the fast-food chain for 44 million US dollars to the Canadian company Imasco , which also Hardee's part. As a result, the restaurants were converted into Hardee's system catering. The remaining burger chefs that haven't switched to Hardee's or new brands have been closed.
The Big Shef hamburger was briefly available in 2001, 2007 and 2014 at some locations in the Midwest .
In January 2007, Hardee's was sued in the US Patent and Trademark Office by River West Brands, LLC, demanding that the Burger Chef brand be abandoned. On April 16, 2009, the lawsuit was dropped.
Trivia
The Burger Chef murders in 1978 are an unsolved criminal case. On the night of Friday, November 17, 1978, four young employees disappeared from a burger-chef joint in Speedway, Indiana . On Sunday afternoon, hikers found the bodies of the missing in Johnson County forests more than 20 miles away . The murders remained unsolved.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Scott R. Sanders: Burger Chef . Arcadia Publishing , 2009, ISBN 978-0-7385-6098-4 , p. 9.
- ↑ Hersh Shefrin: Behavioral Risk Management: Managing the Psychology That Drives Decisions and Influences Operational Risk . Palgrave Macmillan US , 14 December 2015, ISBN 978-1-137-44562-9 , p. 409.
- ↑ General Foods Says It Plans To Buy Burger Chef Systems . In: The Wall Street Journal , October 16, 1967, p. 17. Alternate Link via ProQuest .
- ↑ Mike Ferguson, Mike Gibson: Ep110 - The Burger Chef Murders . In: True Crime All The Time Unsolved . April 21, 2019. Retrieved May 9, 2019.