Our family used to eat at the Burger Chef at Chambers & Bellefontaine Rds. in St. Louis. After we ate there was a Dairy Queen next door so we'd have dessert there. Great times! Sure miss those days.
I used to eat at Burger Chef as a kid here in Cincinnati..I remember they are the first to introduce "the works bar" where you could put your create your burger with all the tomatoes, onions, lettuce and pickles etc..mmmmmm
@john woodham Sorry for just getting to your question but we would eat at the Burger Chef on Vine at Compton. The building is still there. It's currently a sub joint I think...
I remember Burger Chef very well. My sister got her driver’s license in 1965. There was a Burger Chef about 5 miles from our parents house. On Friday nights, when our parents would eat out at a restaurant with friends, my sister and I were given ~$2~ (total) for us two kids to eat dinner out at Burger Chef. We could get our choose of hamburger or cheeseburger, an order (each ) of fries, and a soft dink OR shake for less than $.55! Amazing!! Their theme song used to go... “$15 cents, a nickel and a dime, at Burger Chef, you’ll eat better every time, cuz a nickel and a dime will get......(🎼)🎼 French Fried Potatoes, big thick shake, or the greatest 15 cent, Hamburger yet.. Eat at Burger Chef, for a nickel and a dime!! We love Burger Chef and went their for years, even after they became Hardee’s. Hated to see them go, because their food was much better tasting than McDonalds, and their burgers weren’t fried, but char-broiled. Hardee’s: “Hurry on down to Hardee’s where the Burgers are charcoal broiled”... Great Americana!
My family used to stop at Burger Chef every year from 1968-1975 only the long trips to Wildwood, NJ. They fit well into my dad's budget for feeding the 8 of us. Food was much better than McDonald's.
I used to work at one in Mt Holly, NJ. No remnants of its existence left sadly! Worked there during my junior and senior year of high school, it was a great experience.
I remember in the late 60’s we’d have family supper at burger chef. My dad liked Sinatra, I loved The Rolling Stones. The TV was always on in the background, Vietnam playing in the background, the news would win every night. We were starving, but not just for dinner. My dad would say let’s go to another dinner table where everyone can get what they want when they want. He would say it would be bright and clean with no laundry and no telephone.; and no TV. Dad would say we could go there and get the connection we were hungry for. Mom would say ‘sure there’s chaos at home, but there’s family supper at Burger Chef.’
I remember eating at a Burger Chef back in the late 60s in Santa Ana California. Burgers were excellent. One of my best memories is this Burger Chef having the actual Batmobile from the 60s and the Munsters mobile for the day. Getting to see something from Hollywood was a big deal even if we were not too far from there. I lost track but I believe this store closed in the early 70s.
I remember Burger chef when I was a little kid, I would ride my bike with my friends and always buy cheeseburger...fries... and soda for $1.05, plus buying the Star Wars movie posters.
I used to go to Burger Chef in North Attleboro, MA when i was a kid, it was right across the street from an amusement park (that is also long gone) called Jolly Cholly's. I have no doubt Burger Chef wasstrong Competition to McD's as I remember the food there much fonder than McD's by far
Ohh thats so funny! I live in Mass, and my mom worked at a Burger Chef when I was little little and Id get excited when we had to pick her up! She had me quite young, so this was in the 70s but I def remember picking her up! The restaurant itself was in either in New Bedford, Ma or Fairhaven, Ma...I cant remember at the moment. I also remember being very sad when she left there for a much better job, lol!! She was only there a couple months, but I remember it clearly! Lol!!
Our Burger Chef In Sulphur Louisiana, started out as Master Chef. Master Chef closed, and the big M signage was removed. It was replaced with the Burger Chef Sign. McDonald's opened on the opposite corner. A year later Burger King came to town, causing Burger Chef to close. Hardees took over Burger Chef. Signage was changed again. I visited my hometown in 2017. Hardees closed in 2016, and it's now a Circle K convence store.
There was a Burger Chef in Baton Rouge, La I use to frequent when I was a kid in the 70's when visiting my uncle there coming from New Orleans.... Loved it!!!
I worked at a Burger Chef on Merrimon Ave in Asheville NC from 1971 -1978 while I was in high school and college. Owner was Duffy Reints. Best job I ever had, and set the foundation for the rest of my management career.
I worked at Burger Chef in Kingsport Tn. in 1990 until I graduated High school that summer. Awesome food! Never will you get as good of a Mushroom burger as they made.
I haven't driven by it in the last couple of years, so I can't confirm it is indeed still there, but as of a couple of years ago, Wyoming Michigan, a suburb of Grand Rapids, still has the Burger Chef sign in front of what eventually became a pawn shop. The sign has been painted over several times over the years as the old location has seen lots of places come and go and each place that moves in keeps repainting the original Burger Chef sign with their own name on it. But the original shape of the Burger Chef was still plainly visible the last I knew.
There's an old Burger Chef restaurant in Richmond Virginia on Rt 1, Jefferson Davis Highway. It's the classic style building that had the big lighting structure over it. It's a used car dealer now..
Thanks for the video!!!! I adored the Burge Chef in South Bend Indiana...1966...I thought the Big Chef burger was the bomb!...is that how they say it??..Anyway, moved from SB in 1967 to Michigan and never saw another Burger Chef....one incident..I had just receivedmy drivers license...loaded the car with friends...headed to Burger Chef...went in and ordered..returned to the car...put the car in drive....wait..there was a huge metal trash can..the square kind that sort of looked like a building..should have been in reverse...droveatop the garbage can and we sat there. looking up into space...several people helped get the car down and freed....hey, I got my Big Chef...nothing was going to spoil my evening!!!
Glad you enjoyed it! I have a funny story about getting my drivers license too. It actually happened the day I got the license. I was moving my dads truck so I could get the lawn mower out. Well as I was driving it down the driveway I got the brake and the gas mixed up and I went through the side of the garage 🤣
Worked at the one we had here during high school, probably 1974-1975. Building still stands today. It has been several other kinds of restaurants and even a title loan company. I remember on a weekend night about 1:30 in the morning the delivery truck came in with the salad/works bar. We had to call the owner and get him there. My first job ever. I applied at Hardees and then Burger Chef and got the job there. Really enjoyed it.
As a kid in Louisville, Ky in the '70s it was a treat to go there. It was close to the public pool at Valley HS that my Mom would take us to. She would pile my sisters and a couple of the neighborhood kids into our station wagon for a fun day at the pool and Burger Chef afterward. I still remember the taste of those burgers! Awesome memories! Burger Chef had fun toys for kids as well. The yo- yos were a good backup for when you lost your favorite Duncan yo-yo. Haha.
I worked at one in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio 1973-74. We had two broiler chains and soaked the one not being used in SF-77 degreaser, that made it easy to clean. Best food ever, and very clean restaurant. They used real food so you didn't feel like you had a month full of grease (like their surviving competitor). The wrong restaurant chain closed, so sad.
my roommate was just looking up restaurants that no longer existed and Burger Chef was one. I grew up in Newark, Ohio and Burger Chef was a place my mom always took us to - my dad even worked there for awhile when he was laid off his job at Owens Corning. Amazing how memories came back of BC and also the FunBurger Meal!
Burger Chef was the first fast food restaurant in Hagerstown MD. Late 50s or early 60s when I was a kid. There is an Italian restaurant there now and the original sign is still there, modified for the new place. I'm not sure how much if any of the building is original. The other one built later went out around 1990 or before and is completely gone. Funny how a relatively small burger, small order of french fries and a small Coke was considered a meal. Today, if you don't strain to carry your lunch it isn't a meal.
I used to eat at Burger Chef in Newark , Ohio in the late 60`s and early 70`s after school. The Former Burger Chef closed and i had a good friend who bought the property and remodeled the building and opened a Family Style bar and restaurant until he retired in the mid 2000`s. It now belongs to The Pizza Cottage Family Restaurants that is a locally owned Restaurant having locations at the former Mt Vernon Road Burger Chef and a location in Buckeye Lake, Ohio.
Ah yes - I split my burger consumption between the Bellefontaine Rd and Cross Keys locations in St Louis and ended up working at the North Lindbergh (Cross Keys) one after it was converted into a Hardees. The Bellefontaine location was the "older" design with the sign featured in the video. I remember some large kids' party I was taken to about age 5 where BC did the catering and Burger Chef and Jeff made a "personal" appearance. Nothing made me happier than the kids meal - McD's Happy Meal did not compare, fun-wise.
I worked at Burger Chef for about two years during high school in Prattville Alabama. Paid a whopping $1.25 per hour in 1973! It was a fun place to work as a teenager.
There was a Burger Chef in Northern VA in the early 1970's (Tysons Corner or Vienna), and I ate there several times as a kid and had one of those fun meals. The commercials are great and I remember them on the afternoon commercials. I think that location did turn into a Hardees.
I loved Burger Chef when I was a kid back in the 70's. At one time around St. Patrick's Day, they sold green shakes. The food was always delicious, however around this time our poops were green. As a kid, I was a little freaked out. It didn't take too long to figure it out and all was good.
I used to get Burger Chef a lot more than I did McD's as a kid in 1970's Ohio which was usually 2x a month if we were lucky lol. One of the factors I heard later that caused their demise was poor meat quality. They started using soy in it and it wasn't too good.
There's a fully intact Burger Chef building in Tampa that's used as a used car dealership. It's clearly visible at 8502 N. Florida ave. using google maps street level, the concrete sign base still remains. This was my favorite fast food place, along with a Royal Castle a few block away, that building is long gone. I remember BC closing in the late seventies.
In the remains of the Westgate Shopping Center in Decatur ,Alabama is the late '70s style Burger Chef building and a classic KFC building(minus its' striped pyramid roof and rotating bucket). This was THE go to place of my youth, Santa wouid arrive by helicopter, it was u shaped, with Gibsons' & A&P as it's anchors. Majority has been torn down, piece by piece, over three decades, the above former restaurants being the only things recognizeable left.......and they can't survive much longer. ;0(
There were 7 locations of Burger Chef here in Louisville, Kentucky 1st Location: on New Cut Road near Iroquois Park, 2nd Location: on Preston Highway near Blue Lick Road , 3rd Location: on Dixie Highway near Ralph Avenue, 4th Location: on Dixie Highway near Heaton Road, 5th Location: on Dixie Highway near Valley Station Road, 6th Location: on Shelbyville Road, 7th Location: on Bardstown Road near Fern Creek Road.
I worked for Burger Chef for about 12 years, from the late 60's to the early '80's. I worked in New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, Indiana and Michigan, both in company operations and franchised stores. I think their biggest problem was they didn't exercise much control over their licensees, which created a lack of consistency.
I am 53 now. My mother would take my brothers and me to Burger Chef regularly in the mid 1970's. I would get the funmeal and load up my burger with the toppings from the works bar.
Wow !! Those Were the days!!! i'm 55 and as a child in Ohio ate there all the time!!! used to get there Orange pop that swirled behind the counter in the thing next to the shake machine.. bob
That Old Burger Chef in the end is in my town Petersburg, VA. I used to eat there. It has been a pizza parlor ever since Burger Chef left that building.
You know it's funny I shop at the food lion down the road and I always noticed that sign. when I started researching burger chef, I was like "why does that chef logo look so familiar!?"
I remember Burger Chef too. There used to be a few here where I live in North Carolina. The nearest one was in Charlotte, which I ate at quite a few times whenever we were in Charlotte.
I remember going to Burger Chef when I was young and when I first started. Hamburgers were very good and I love the shakes. And it didn't cost an arm and a leg either. Thanks Burger Chef For The Memories
We had a Burger Chef in Lancaster, Ohio but in about 1984 it became a Hardee's for a very short time before it closed for good. It is now a dry cleaning business. I miss Burger Chef it was much better than Mickey D's. I till have a set of Christmas books they gave away back in the early 80's.The books had facts about the holiday and songs with the music.The closest Hardee's is about 20 or 30 minutes away in Circleville, Ohio. It is a good place to eat also. The best hamburger restaurants in Lancaster are Wendy's, Rally's or Frisch's Big Boy. Take care, stay safe and GOD bless.
Although Burger King made it to New York State around 1974, Burger Chef remains fast food legend, hereabouts. I enjoyed a few "Charbroiled" Burgers at a Hardee's, in Westchester County back in '73 or '74. Unfortunately, there aren't any Hardee's where I live now
We started having Burger Chef at 38th and Arlingtton in Indy about 1959 or 60 when I was 6. Also a few times at the Burger Chef Headquarters on 38th across from the State Fairgrounds. Really liked their hamburgers and only 15 cents.
I remember the Burger Chef in Granada Hills, California. I also remember when they had on display in their parking lot, the Batmobile by George Barris. The place was simply swarming with people. I remember oooing and aaaahing at the site of the Batmobile! That event took place, as I recall in 1966, or 67.
We would alway eat at Burger Chef everytime we went to Benton Harbor or Niles Mi. In 1979 McD's came to our town, the first fast food chain to see us on the map. I remember my dad asking on Thursday nights, "does everyone want burgers from the Mac Donalds tomorrow night or Burger Chef Saturday when we take your mom shopping at the Kmart?" (You know where we were sitting on Saturday!) I still have a plastic record (red) of Burger Chef n Jeff's advertures.
Good job , we had one my older bro worked at. Actually was very popular and better than Mc D s. Fun to learn about what was once a normal stop in my youth. Kudo s.
I worked at a Burger Chef in NewPort News, Virginia in 1969 while I was in the Air Force. I needed extra money, so I worked part time. The one thing I recall was the day the manager told the new people that it was time to make the "secret sauce".Well, I thought, "Oh wow, I was going to make the 'secret sauce', this should be special. So, he takes out the biggest pot in the place' You could have bathed a German Shepard in this thing. Then he grabs two huge jugs of mayo, and two equally huge jugs of ketchup. He dumps all of it in the pot, and tells me to mix it. Ok, so I'm looking around for a paddle or something, didn't see one. "What do I use?" I ask naively. He looks at me like I was the stupidest person in the world, and plunges his hand(we didn't worry about gloves back then) in the pot, up to his elbow. "This is what God gave em to you for!" And that was my initiation into the mysteries of Burger Chef's secret sauce. I hope someone enjoys my little trip down memory lane.
Gerald Trudeau I lived right down Mercury Blvd in Hampton - right behind the Burger Chef on the corner of Mercury and Salem St 1965-75. The building is still there I believe ,- was Fran's Florist for years. Mercury still had the roundabouts and service roads both sides
Mercury blvd. and Salem sounds very familiar. My wife and I lived in an apartment complex, two story dark red brick duplex units. I remember them being just south of the Burger Chef, but it was almost 50 years ago. I could be wrong. Langley AFB was my new duty station right after I returned from Vietnam.
Gerald Trudeau I don't remember a Burger Chef in Newport news, but at that age, I didn't get to NN much. Spent most of our time on LAFB where dad retired in 73 with 30 years. The Burger Chef was on Mercury and Salem, but most considered the area Mercury and King intersection, with King running north to the main gate at LAFB. There were, in fact, brand new duplex apartments to south of BC on Doolittle Rd in a cow pasture. Dad was very well known on base, and chances are you may have dealt with him if you were there during those years.
Well, as I said, it has been 50 years, and I won't pretend that my memory for all the details is still sharp. I do however enjoy this feedback as it has stimulated a lot of fine old memories. I worked in the Life Support shop at LAFB. On the weekends when I manned the shop alone, my wife and 3 year old daughter ( she's 52, now. where did the time go ) would keep me company. I'd park the baby in the parachute trainer,and she would be happy swinging in it for hours Sorry for straying off topic.
I worked at the Burger Chef in Shelbyville IN during the summer of 1977. I remember we had two platters as well as sandwiches. There was a fish platter and a chopped steak platter..I am thinking they were called the Mariner and the Rancher, but I could be wrong. The fish platter was served on a blue plate and the chopped steak platter was served on a red plate. I worked the drive thru most of the time I was there. At that time there weren't the computerized registers, we had to write down orders and know the prices. One of my coworkers had a bad habit of grabbing all my order slips and not keeping them in order, so I would have to figure out which order went to which car. We had a Burger Chef here in Salem, IN, which became a Hardees, then Hardees sold out and it was converted to an Arbys. It is a real shame that McDonalds has muscled out a lot of the competition. Burger Chef, Sandys, Red Barn, Burger Queen...all had superior food but they have all fallen by the wayside.
I've eaten there before....right into the 90's, there was a location still in Massachusetts near the New Hampshire border, the building is still there.....you should have showed us the building where the sign was located, I was curious if it was a old Burger Chef building.
ThePodCastDojo ...I was a pre-teen at the time but I do remember we worked as a family one night a week at the location on rt 36 near keensburg. It was fun but I do remember It was always slow. My uncles owned a sheet metal shop In Bayonne NJ which built kitchen equipment which I guess lead to the purchase of these 3 stores. I'm sure the got them at a bargain, at that time I think the chain was on a downhill slide. I think the original plan was to convert them to just another burger joint catering to the NJ shore crowd. I was to young to really care about it all, I was just excited when it was our turn to drive down there to work..Free french fries!!!
There were several burger chef in southeastern Massachusetts. Notably, the quality and type of command were different from one to another, meaning they were franchise rather than corporate-owned. I think customers noticed the lack of consistency, and once Burger King edged in, consumers just went to BK more regularly.
Looks like they failed just before I got out of the US. Navy in the early 1970s. They had just burgers, cheese burgers, and fish sandwiches. Fries, drinks, and 3 flavors of milk shakes. The works etc. was after I joined up.
I loved Burger Chef. I remember getting those Fun Meals as a kid. Too sad that bad management did them in. They were clearly ahead of the times in fast food marketing.
On another video I saw, I remember those plastic records you would get with the fun meal. They were so innovative with kid's meals, the works bar, and variety of burgers. We had 2 Burger Chefs in our area. One closed in the mid/late 70s but the other one lasted till about 1985. I knew someone that worked there around 1983. He made student wage which was $2.85 per hour back then. I don't think they would have passed McDonalds but who knows. Its crazy to have such an amazing product but it fails because of bad management. Once our last Burger Chef closed, we missed it terribly. The nail in the coffin was a McDonalds that opened across the street.
I know that when making this video I had many cravings to try Burger Chef. I agree on the management part. I do think if it didn't surpass McDonalds, it could have at least been a very strong competitor
There are 4 or 5 identifiable burger chef buildings where I live. A couple of them are still Hardee's. One of the 60's style buildings lives on as a dive bar.
Also, in my own meanderings through Burger Chef history, i found this site run buy a guy whose family operated burger chef locations in my home town: burgerchef.m.webs.com/ They were long gone from my area by the time I was born, but if Hardee's ever brings back the Big Shef again, i'm grabbing one!
Used to eat at Burger Chef all the time. The food definitely rivaled McDonalds back then. I wish they'd bring it back so there was another fast food alternative.
ThePodCastDojo and it's worth mentioning the 4 employees killed didn't know each other other then working together and the killers where never caught. For all anyone knew in November 1978 this could be just the beginning of something horrific. Where these teens a target just because they work at burger chef? If so will these murderers return in broad daylight to that same restraunt or another burger chef a week from now? Holidays where coming, would they attack a thanksgiving or christmas crowd of customers? Would they repeat this in a year? No one knew. This leaves your hands tied as an owner: sales will fall due to the tragedy and you want to try to get people to come back but what if it happens again? Repercussions could very well effect general foods sales to. Even if they did nothing another incident could still bite them. That's my theory and they decided to simply sell it.
I worked for Burger Chef for a total of about 12 years in different areas. I worked in some company-owned stores and for some franchisees. I think one of the main reasons Burger Chef went away was a lack of consistency. They showed little control over their franchisees as far as consistencies in menus, procedures and cleanliness of the stores. Remember, I worked for both sides so I would know. Huge differences. So what happens then is the customer doesn't know what to expect from one experience to the next. As far as bringing back Burger Chef, I don't think the time is right for fast food in general. It isn't near the business opportunity it was back then and I don't see it getting any better.
It's very true. Someone told me that they thought mcdonalds would be gone in 20 years. I dont think that will happen but I dont see any new ones being built
i wonder how the food tasted? from the looks of it the burgers and fries remind of the the Cook Out fast food located like near every university or college in the east coast
@@ThePodCastDojo It was one of the Burger Chefs that was sold to Hardee’s. It was a Hardee’s for only a few months before before it became a Burger King.
