Favorite Fast Food Chain from Childhood

OP were you born before the 70s?

Combo burrito from Naugles. "Prepare food fresh. Serve customer fast. Keep place clean!"

R1 No, I've been doing marketing research for a company that is considering (ill-advisedly, IMO) entering the quick service restaurant market.

Part of that entails studying why once successful ventures like Burger Chef no longer exist.

Well, OP/R4, tell 'me that if they can create a place that uses fats like beef tallow for their fries, I'll be there.

*tell THEM

I've always liked Burger King.

LOL R4, I'll pass it along. You'd be surprised by the number of people who reminisce rapturously about the old McDonald's fries cooked in beef fat.

Fries are actually the weakest item on most menus. I can't think of one fast food chain with fries worth recommending.

Carrol's, which I understand was subsumed by Burger King, which I never liked. This was in NJ in the 1960s. McDonald's was two or three towns away.

the A&W drive-in - There was also a local chain, Prince's, that made a great burger.

We had a Stewart's Root Beer nearby. And their burgers were so much better. But Opdyke's, not a chain, was the best burger around, on the Highway, rt. 22 in New Jersey.

R10 did you just call OP a dyke?

I had never heard of burger chef in my life until a read about it on these fast food threads.

Borden still exists OP! In the Midwest

Arbys because my parents would seldom take us there since it was ridiculous to pay "that much" for a Roast Beef sandwich.

What I miss are diners where you could get a "plate lunch" that was different every day - like meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans - or corned beef and cabbage, etc. - and they'd have different kinds of pie or cake. Often several choices of entrees and veg - and at reasonable prices. What happened?

Oh and btw, I remember Burger Chef - you could get a sort of plate lunch with a ground beef patty, salad, potato salad - oh I can't remember - but it was more like a plate lunch than a bag of burger and fries. Why did they go out of business?

Carrols.

Loved Burger Chef when I was a kid. I think that was my first experience with a place I loved going out of business

OP, when I look back I think big fast food chains that don’t change with the times fail. They really need to follow the latest trends.

I agree that fries in beef tallow are excellent. But I think any fast food place now has to have healthy options and offer cheap breakfasts, preferably with good coffee.

I disagree about following trends. Trends don't last. You have to have a superior product that you are known for and you have to keep making it that way forever. You can add new things to keep it interesting but any kind of food place should never stray too far from what they do best. The menu should be streamlined and as simple as possible, in n'out is a good example of this.

"Part of that entails studying why once successful ventures like Burger Chef no longer exist."

Is it wise to study trends from fast food restaurants from 40-50 years ago?

Tastes and styles have evolved.

I grew up in the '60s in the SF suburbs; where I lived the only fast food options were Jack-in-the-Box (when they still had the clown you talked into) and Taco Bell (the old school, outdoor type, where everything was 25 cents.) No McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's etc. Just those and some local mom-and-pop types, like one where burgers were 19 cents each.

Arby’s.

Loved Burger Chef, even though the only time my mother would take me was after doctor and dentist appointments. Got the FUN MEAL every time.

Going to Long John Silvers's was a treat back in the 80s. They were decorated like pirate ships on the inside. Now I wouldn't cross the street to eat there.

Dairy Queen

I went to Dairy Queen too as a kid in the late 60's. Also Krystal which is basically a southern White Castle, with thin beef patties on little square buns. Still love those steamed onions stuck inside the soft bread, never mind the horrific glycemic index. They also have mini hotdogs now but back in the day, I think it was just little square burgers and fries. I've always loved Kentucky Fried Chicken, original recipe, but they keep closing in my area - the only is too much trouble to get to. A teen I know said the picture of the old man on the sign was a turn-off lol. I never thought of that, even as a kid. It's all image now I guess.

R23 Same here. There was on in the city my doctor was in. We stopped after appointments. Very special memories and, since I was a sickly child, we stopped there frequently. RIP Burger Chef and Jeff.

R20 Burger Chef was still around in the 80s so not "40-50 years ago." And their menu items were pretty much what's available in burger places now. Plus ça change...

[quote]big fast food chains that don’t change with the times fail

Most of the trendy, new offerings fail as well. There's a huge difference between what people claim they want (say, in focus groups) and what they actually order. The (truly) healthier options have largely been flops. When people want fast food, they want full flavor.

Why can’t they just bring back beef tallow as an option? 99% of people would order them.

Hardee’s - where the burgers are charcoal broiled

Howard Johnson's

R23 Burger Chef invented the kids' meal with a toy, and later sued McDonald's for copying them but lost. (You could argue that Burger Chef's Big Shef [sic] was a knock-off of the Big Mac but they were both copies of the earlier Big Boy sandwich.)

R25 I meant to include Dairy Queen in the poll but ran out of room.

Wimpy

Roy Rogers had the best salad bar. Approximately 33 years ago.

Bob's Big Boy. Fortunately, there is still one in Toluca Lake.

Lum's. Their hot dogs steamed in beer were amazing.

Red Barn Fried Chicken

Horn & Hartart Automat, Schrafft's

Gino's

There was nothing quire like the Gino Giant

Lafayette Coney Island

Top Hat

Saunders

Elias Brothers Big Boy

Shoney's was a treat after church. Great when it was still Shoney's Big Boy. Krystal was definitely Southern White Castle. We called it the Stall, cause it was shit, but good late night drunk food. I'm not sure it matters for the modern food industry what we liked decades ago, though. There will always be a market for salty fried foods and pizza because they're literally addictive. But the fast food and chain restaurant industry has changed so much that most of those old brand names are either dead or dying. Are you trying to figure out what little kids like? They like chicken fingers, French fries, ice cream and sugary drinks. Doesn't matter what the rest of the menu is.

I grew up in the 50's/60's on Long Island and the only one I know of that we had was McDonald's. I don't ever remember seeing any of the other's until the early 70's.

Roy Rogers. I spent an entire summer eating almost nothing but fried chicken.

People are developing more sophisticated palates (especially younger people). You can’t serve them crap. Even McDonald’s has started using fresh beef, and you really can tell the difference. Far from gourmet, but the patties are definitely juicier and more flavorful.

As to the OP’s question, McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, and KFC are the only one from the list that were around and in the area where I grew upwhen I was a child in the ‘80s. Wendy’s might have also been around, but their food was awful until the last decade or maybe less.

And out of those, I only remember having McDonald’s and KFC. I never liked fried chicken all that much, so McDonald’s wins by default.

I liked chicken McNuggets (and I still do, knowing this because a couple of coworkers have made me offers I couldn’t refuse a few times over the past 10 years), but I would never, ever buy them now.

I grew up on the poor side of middle class, but my mom was raises in the 50s and 60s by an anemic mother and she was convinced red meat was the font of life, and so we had a big fat steak once in a while and, more often, ground sirloin that we ate as big fat broiled balls without buns, and occasionally on buns. So that was my idea of a hamburger. McDonald’s “hamburgers” and breakfast sausage seriously freaked me out as a kid. I am sure I’ve never eaten more than two fast-food burgers in all my life.

Some of you don't seem to understand the definition of "fast food." If there are wait staff and table service, it is NOT fast food. Cafeterias and automats are generally not considered fast food either.

I once got stuck for 45 minutes at a McDonald’s drive-in in a dangerous neighborhood in southeast DC at 3:00 am. There were barriers on either side of the car and the cars in front of and behind mine didn’t move, so neither could I. Someone a few cars ahead got out and woke up the person working inside eventually. Since I had to wait 45 minutes, does this McDonald’s location not count as fast food, R46?

A&W Root Beer floats were for the 11 year old me the equivalent of great sex to my adult self.

BBF in Columbus Ohio, my parents had stores on High St right near the OSU campus and use to take us to the local BBF frequently, they had a clown that would freak me out.

Still remember getting balloons from them that came with cardboard feet so they would stand up.

Captain D’s

Wetson's, a NYC burger chain in early 70's NYC.

Another vote for Howard Johnson's. It was fast back in the late 1950s.

I also miss diners. In Houston we'd go to Phil's Diner, where you could get chicken-fried steak, two sides, and a quart-sized glass of iced tea, all brought to you by a skinny waitress named Ruby with hair dyed black. When Black-Eyed Pea first came out, I'd eat there just so I could eat meat and vegetables. Now I go to a Mediterranean restaurant that serves cafeteria style.

Roy Rogers.

[quote]Another vote for Howard Johnson's. It was fast back in the late 1950s.

It was a sit-down restaurant where I lived (NJ), with waitresses. This was the 1960s.

I miss Compton’s Cafeteria in SF, in the Tenderloin.

Dairy Queen!! And the Dairy Queen that was in my hometown still exists today. With huge lines any time I happen to drive by.

Der Wienerschnitzel

KFC for chicken

Mcdonalds and white castle. Poor when growing up, so eating there was rare. McDonald's used to serve cookies in a box which were better than anything else offered in the menu.

White house burgers were the bomb.

White Castle 10 cent burgers. Small but delicious. Now I buy the frozen WC burgers in Rite Aid.

Chikfila

Fun thread.

R46 is right. I loved Howard Johnson's as a kid, too, but it wasn't a fast food chain. It was mostly a motel chain by the time I was growing up, don't remember stand alone restaurants. But the motels had restaurants with really great food to a kid's tastebuds. Odd stuff like "Boston" baked beans and wieners. I remember my dad ordering clams which you'd never see now in a "family restaurant."

R57 No lines that I notice but the local Dairy Queen definitely has a following as they're still open.

A guy I used to work with came back from lunch break regularly with Dairy Queen hot dogs that smelled great. Coney dogs or chili dogs, meaning hot dogs with meat sauce.

So, thinking these hot dogs must be exceptional, I went there and they were pretty bland and unexceptional. I told my co'worker, "You know, there are better hot dog places in town, little local joints." He laughed and said he went home every day at lunch for some strange reason (really, probably to get high) and passed Dairy Queen in the way back.

I've never been back, R57. Are the burgers good?

R62= Jennifer Horton

The HoJo's of my childhood was attached to a motel. I remember a similar pair across the street from the Watergate at one time.

R55

Bring back Beef Tallow Fries and you'll make a fortune!

McDonald's has tanked since they stopped doing that.

The fries WERE the only reliable good thing they had...

The beef tallow troll not only types fat, but is likely fused to his creaking bed. The only way he gets his beef tallow fries is when a crane sends them in through the bespoke car-sized hole cut into his bedroom wall.

Fries cooked in duck fat are the best, but obviously you'd never find them at a fast food place.

Gregg's

Frisch's Big Boy was great in the '60s. As said here before, the Big Mac was copied from the Frisch's Big Boy double decker cheeseburger with lettuce and sauce. The Big Boy was far superior to the Big Mac. My first job at 17 was at a Burger Chef and their food was much better than McDonalds. We made the french fries from scratch, starting with a 100 pound bag of potatoes, then dumping them into a huge spinning machine that removed the peels and then slicing each potato one at a time in a slicing machine, then soaking all the slices in ice cold water until the water turned milky white (which was the starch from the potatoes) then pre-fry them for 5 minutes and send them upstairs on a little elevator where they would complete the frying process and then bag them and put them out ready to eat. Fresh as fresh could be and hot!

Fat Cunts!

Only fast food in my small NC hometown (2,000 people) was a Hardees. The town finally got a McDonalds the year I left for college.

The kids meal at Burger Chef had a chocolate cookie in it. Divine.

MINNIE PEARLS FRIED CHICKEN