|
White Castle's name was no accident. "White" and "Castle"
were selected to help promote the idea that the meat was both clean and
safe. The kitchen was moved from the back to the front of the house,
intentionally exposed to patrons so they could see the raw beef was fresh
and no hobo was being mixed in. So concerned was White Castle with American
perceptions about burger meat being tainted that it used to boast fresh raw
hamburger was delivered twice a day.
White Castle also hired a respectable scientist at
the University of Michigan to conduct a test of the hamburger's nutritional
value. For13 weeks the scientist fed a student nothing but White Castle
hamburgers and water. The student was pronounced healthy at the end of the
three-month ordeal. In some ways, the experiment never really ended on
college campuses.
To help promote the idea that a visit to White
Castle could be a nice family event, the chain started running coupons in
middle-classed newspapers. White Castle was the first fast food restaurant
to promote its business via coupons. It was also the first fast food
restaurant to invent (and subsequently patent and manufacture) the paper
food prep hat.
In 1942, White Castle added its famous five holes
to its micropatties. It was found that adding the holes helped cook the
meat more evenly. White Castle also patented this. The burger --small,
greasy, with onion, encased in a bun steamed to a custard-like consistency
-- became known derisively as the "slyder". Much in the same way
Coca-Cola first rejected then accepted "Coke", White Castle has
embraced (and trademarked) the term slyder for its burgers. Fries are known
as "spikes".
While McDonald's likes to promote itself as having
served billions and billions, White Castle was the first burger chain to
break the billion burger barrier. It did so in 1954, just about the time
Ray Kroc began expanding McSqueakies. The chain has sold over 7 billion
burgers to date.
Although primarily a Midwestern chain (operating
about 350 stores)White Castle has restaurants in Japan and Malaysia. The
chain has long believed in slow, steady growth. New locations are opened
using profits, not by borrowing. White Castle only opens about 20 new
restaurants a year.
White Castle now distributes frozen, microwaveable
burgers to grocery stores all over the USA. Check your frozen food section,
next to the giant pretzels. White Castle formed its own frozen food
distribution company after a highly publicized 1982 airlift of slyders to
marines in Beirut. White Castle is actually a privately held company. It's
still in the hands of the founder's family, run by the grandson, E. W.
Ingram III.
-- Karl
Mamer
|