Burger Chef logo used from the 1970s

Burger Chef was an American fast-food restaurant chain that started in 1954 and lasted until 1996. Image File history File links 1973burgerchef_logo. ... Image File history File links 1973burgerchef_logo. ... A fast-food restaurant is a restaurant characterized both by food which is supplied quickly after ordering, and by minimal service. ... Year 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ...

History

In 1954, Frank and Donald Thomas patented the Flame Broiler and started one of their own restaurants in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was under another name, but in 1956, they changed the name to Burger Chef. In the late-1950s, they created the first "value combos" as a burger, fries, and soft drink for 45¢ (50¢ with a milkshake). Burger Chef was enormously popular and spread across both West Coast and East Coast, eventually becoming second only to McDonald's in terms of number of locations. They offered a signature double burger called the Big Shef (the company quirkily spelled their burgers with an "S"), and later pioneered the "works bar", where customers could dress their burgers exactly as they wanted. Year 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Nickname: Location in the state of Indiana Coordinates: , County Founded 1821 Government  - Mayor Bart Peterson (D) Area  - City  372 sq mi (963. ... Year 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This does not cite any references or sources. ... A soft drink is a drink that contains no alcohol. ... A strawberry milkshake topped with whipped cream and strawberry syrup A milkshake is a sweet, cold beverage which is made from milk, ice cream, and sweet flavourings such as fruit syrup or chocolate sauce (in Canada and most regions of the United States, and the United Kingdom. ... Regional definitions vary from source to source. ... Regional definitions vary from source to source. ... McDonalds Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is the worlds largest chain of fast-food restaurants, primarily selling hamburgers, chicken, french fries, milkshakes and soft drinks. ...

Final Burger Chef Logo, used from 1980 to the chain's closing in 1996

In 1968, the chain was purchased by the General Foods Corporation, who continued its rapid expansion. By 1970, they had nearly 2,400 locations and re-designed the buildings and logos. However, the corporation soon proved unable (or unwilling) to support the company's growth. Image File history File links Burger_Chef_Logo. ... Image File history File links Burger_Chef_Logo. ... Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... General Foods Corporation was a company established under that name by Marjorie Merriweather Post in 1929. ... Year 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In 1982, General Foods sold Burger Chef to the Canadian company Imasco (which also owned Hardee's). Many locations were converted into Hardee's restaurants, except for ones that were located near existing Hardee's. The franchisees of those locations were allowed extra time to convert to other brands; one Burger Chef in Cookeville, Tennessee, through the courts, was able to keep its original name until 1996, when it finally changed its name to Pleasers. Several Burger Chefs in southern Indiana had converted to the Pleasers name after the initial buyout, with the Pleasers in Cookeville remaining open until 2002 and one in Bedford, Indiana lasting until 2004. Many Burger Chef locations located in Louisiana and Mississippi became the fast-food restaurant chain called Mr. Cook, but this chain died off by the late-1990s. Financial troubles caused the chain to close many of the restaurants from 1993 to 1997. Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... Hardees is an American fast-food restaurant chain, located primarily on the Eastern half of the United States in Southern, Southeast and East Coast regions. ... Nickname: Cookevegas, Cookieville Location in Putnam County and the state of Tennessee. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... Bedford is a city in Lawrence County, Indiana, United States. ... Official language(s) de jure: none de facto: English & French Capital Baton Rouge Largest city New Orleans [1] Area  Ranked 31st  - Total 51,885 sq mi (134,382 km²)  - Width 130 miles (210 km)  - Length 379 miles (610 km)  - % water 16  - Latitude 29°N to 33°N  - Longitude 89°W... A fast-food restaurant is a restaurant characterized both by food which is supplied quickly after ordering, and by minimal service. ... For the band, see 1990s (band). ... Year 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar). ... For the band, see 1997 (band). ...

Revival?

Hardee's brought back the Big Shef burger on a limited-time basis in 2001 at select Midwestern locations, and has done so again as of April 2007. ^[1]

Trademark Controversy

Coinciding with the "limited" return of Hardee's version of the Big Shef is the challenge filed against Hardee's Food Systems, Inc in the U.S. Patents and Trademarks Office by River West Brands, LLC of Chicago, IL. The challenge cites the "abandonment" of the Burger Chef trademark. Not long after the January, 2007 challenge was filed, Hardee's did a "test run" of the Big Shef in Terre Haute, IN. After an apparently strong response to the product, Hardee's expanded its Big Shef offering to other Indiana, Ohio and Missouri stores. The Big Shef reissue is accompanied with advertisements utilizing the Burger Chef name and logo. While Hardee's claims that re-releasing the Big Shef was to provide Burger Chef fans their nostalgic "fix", it has been claimed that the move was little more than an attempt to prevent the revival of the Burger Chef restaurants by trying to protect itself from the trademark challenge. The case is still pending.

Menu

Burger Chef, in the mid-1970s, toasted the buns for its Super Shef, Big Shef, cheeseburger and hamburger on a hot-plate conveyor mechanism that used coconut oil. This was accomplished in less than 60 seconds using a temperature of about 400° Fahrenheit. The open flame broiler was used to cook frozen meat patties from frozen to fully cooked in less than a minute. The broiler ran at a temperature of about 700° Fahrenheit. The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, also called The Seventies. ... This article is about industrial conveyor belts. ... Coconut oil, also known as coconut butter, is a tropical oil extracted from copra (the dried inner flesh of coconuts) with many applications. ...

Other offerings included: the Skipper's Treat (fish) and apple & cherry turnovers (which were deep fried). In the mid-1970s, Super Shefs sold for 89¢, Big Shefs for 79¢, cheeseburgers for 25¢, hamburgers for 20¢, and large & small soft drinks for 25¢ and 20¢, respectively. Burger Chef switched from animal-based shortening to vegetable-based shortening during this period. A turnover is a kind of pastry made by placing jam or another kind of fruit filling on a square of pastry dough and folding it over. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, also called The Seventies. ... Shortening is a semisolid fat used in food preparation, especially baked goods, and is so called because it inhibits the formation of long gluten strands in wheat-based doughs, giving them a short texture (as in shortbread). ...

Tuesdays at Burger Chef were called "Family Fun Nites" where Funmeals were offered for a special price. Usually, one employee costumed as a pirate, ape or clown, would wave at passing traffic to attract business.

Regular fries were to weigh approximately 2.25 ounces and were packed in a small white paper sack. Large fries weighed approximately 3.5 ounces, and were packed in a red collapsible paperboard carton.

Beverages on the menu included coffee, non-carbonated orange and lemonade, a type of Coca-Cola, Sprite and root beer. Milkshake flavors were vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. Strawberry shakes were made by adding flavoring syrup to the vanilla shake. The wave shape (known as the dynamic ribbon device) present on all Coca-Cola cans throughout the world derives from the contour of the original Coca-Cola bottles. ... Sprite is a clear soda, lemon-lime flavored, caffeine free soft drink, produced by the Coca-Cola Company. ... A glass of root beer with foam Root beer is a mainly American beverage that comes in two forms: alcoholic and soft drink. ... A strawberry milkshake topped with whipped cream and strawberry syrup A milkshake is a sweet, cold beverage which is made from milk, ice cream, and sweet flavourings such as fruit syrup or chocolate sauce (in Canada and most regions of the United States, and the United Kingdom. ...

Some Burger Chefs offered hot "ham & cheese" and hot roast beef sandwiches in a styrofoam container. They came pre-assembled and were kept refrigerated. They were heated in a microwave oven before being served. These were not big sellers.

The sandwich used for the Funmeal was the standard hamburger with ketchup & mustard. A good number of parents found that their children would only eat the hamburger if it had ketchup only. Thus, hamburgers with ketchup only, were frequently asked for when the Funmeal was ordered.

Other innovations

In the mid 1970s Burger Chef fryers were fitted with temperature compensated french fry timers. If one basket of frozen fries was dropped into a fryer, a lesser time was required to complete the cooking than if two baskets were dropped at the same time. By measuring oil temperature, the timing cycle was altered so that the alarm would always signal perfectly cooked french fries.

Ketchup and mustard were applied in exact amounts at a station by pumps that were operated by electrically powered solenoids. The bun heel was put under nozzles that were surrounded by a trigger ring. As the bun heel was raised against the ring, two dime size spots each of ketchup and mustard were applied to the regular hamburger. Since the Super Shef required only ketchup, the same station was used, but a button needed to be depressed to dispense ketchup only. The mustard and ketchup had to have exactly the proper consistency for this machine to work. If too thick, the machine would quickly clog; if too thin, the mustard and ketchup would "splat" past the bun when the ring was engaged.

Another innovative device was the electric bun toaster. The two bun pieces were placed on a chain conveyor inside section down. The small entrance conveyor pushed the bun onto a stainless roller that applied a mixture of coconut/palm oil to the bun. After leaving the roller, the bun was dragged over a teflon coated hot plate by an overhead chain conveyor that drooped upon the top of the bun. The process took less than 1 minute, and the bun followed along with the corresponding meat patty that was cooked in the broiler from frozen to final in about the same length of time.

For awhile, Burger Chef experimented with a plastic sandwich bag. The problem with the plastic bag was that it captured too much condensation given off by the hot sandwiches. It thus made part of the bun soggy, and customers did not like the moisture droplets that collected in the bag. After this experiment, Burger Chef switched back to sandwich paper.

Many of the earlier designed Burger Chefs had the feature of glass windows on both sides of the area where the sandwiches were assembled. Thus individuals dining inside the Burger Chef could watch sandwiches being made. This encouraged the employees keep the assembly area generally neat and clean, and convinced the customer that the premises were basically sanitary. When an employee dropped a bun on the floor, several pairs of customer's eyes ensured that the bun usually made it quickly into the nearest trash receptacle.

Burger Chef frequently ran promotions for special products during holidays like Halloween and Christmas. Burger Chef also ran one of the earliest television tie-ins when during the early 1970s it periodically offered a "Batburger" based on the original Batman television show. The "Batburger" was a regular small hamburger that came in a paper wrapper with Batman's "bat shadow" logo printed on it.

Burger Chef was also notable for pioneering the children's meal with toy premium (called the "Fun Meal"), later adopted by McDonald's as the Happy Meal, and was among the first companies to offer Star Wars related premiums when the original Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope was released in 1977. The Burger Chef Fun Meal consisted of a paperboard tray that kept a burger, fries, drink and toy in cut-outs designated for each. A pop-up background with interesting scene completed the tray. Also offered as a kids meal in the 80's was a thin plastic two piece boat that separated in the middle, food was placed inside this plastic boat when kids meals were ordered. McDonalds Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is the worlds largest chain of fast-food restaurants, primarily selling hamburgers, chicken, french fries, milkshakes and soft drinks. ... Happy Meal logo, English Happy Meal logo, Japanese. ... Star Wars is an epic space opera saga and a fictional universe initially developed by George Lucas during the 1970s and expanded since that time. ... This movie poster for Star Wars depicts many of the films important elements, such as Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, X-Wing and Y-Wing fighters Star Wars, retitled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope in 1981 (see note at Title,) is the original (and in chronological...

Sandwich specifications

Super Shef - (assembled in this order) - Bun heel, ketchup (4 quarter size drops), 3 dill pickle slices, one large slice of American cheese and topped with a salted & peppered large meat patty. Bun top, mayonnaise or miracle whip (cover the entire top with a thin coating) shredded lettuce, two or three tomato slices, 3-5 raw onion rings. Combine halves, and wrap with sandwich paper. Place in heated trays until needed. Make to order whenever practical.

Big Shef - Bun heel, small slice of american cheese, salted & peppered small meat patty, bun center, second meat patty. Bun top, Burger Chef proprietary Big Shef sauce (similar to tartar sauce) shredded lettuce. Combine parts & wrap.

Cheeseburger - Bun heel, dime size portions of mustard & ketchup (2 of each), salted & peppered small meat patty, small slice of American cheese, bun top.

Hamburger - same as cheeseburger but without the cheese.

Double Cheeseburger - same as cheeseburger with one extra meat patty and slice of cheese.

Skipper's Treat - Bun heel, small slice American cheese, fish patty (deep fried breaded Icelandic Cod in a rectangular shape). Bun top, tartar sauce, shredded lettuce. Preparation: Icelandic Cod arrived frozen. An estimate was made for the number of fish sandwiches expected to be sold that day. That number of frozen fish patties were par-cooked (partially deep fried for 5 minutes) and placed in refrigerated storage. When an order was placed, the par-cooked fish was deep fried for an additional 2 minutes before being served. Par-cooking refers to the technique of partially cooking foods so that they can be finished later. ...

References

External links

• Indianapolis Star Article About the Hardee's Burger Chef Trademark Challenge
• Hardee's is being challenged for the Burger Chef Trademark in 2007
• Burger Chef at Lost Indiana
• Shawn Wolfe's Burger Chef photo galleries