Burger Chef was an American fast-food restaurant chain. It began operating in 1954 in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...

, expanded throughout the United States, and at its peak in 1973 had 1,050 locations, including some in Canada. The chain featured several signature items, such as the Big Shef and Super Shef hamburgers. In 1982, the

General Foods Corporation General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the United States by Charles William Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The company changed its name to "General Foods" in 1929, after several corporate ...

, owners of the Burger Chef trademark and name, divested itself of the restaurant chain, gradually selling to the owners of Hardee's. The final restaurant to carry the Burger Chef name closed in 1996.

History

In 1954, Frank and Donald Thomas patented the flame broiler in their parent company General Equipment Corporation and started their restaurant in

. In 1957, they opened their first Burger Chef. Burger Chef spread across the United States, following a strategy of opening outlets in smaller towns. By 1972, its number of locations (1,200) was surpassed only by

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

(1,600). They offered a double burger, called the Big Shef, and later the quarter-pound (113 gram) hamburger, Super Shef. Subsequently, they added the Works Bar, where customers added their own toppings to hamburgers. In 1968,

purchased the chain and continued its rapid expansion. At the time of the purchase by General Foods, Burger Chef had 600 locations in 39 states.Alternate Link
via

ProQuest ProQuest LLC is an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based global information-content and technology company, founded in 1938 as University Microfilms by Eugene B. Power. ProQuest is known for its applications and information services for libraries, provid ...

. By 1969, international expansion was underway with General Foods building ten Burger Chef outlets in Australia. The expansion ended in 1975 with a US$1.3 million loss (equivalent to $ million in ). It was stated that Australians disliked the limited burger menu compared to varied options available from

milk bar In Australia, a milk bar is a suburban local general store. Similar, but not identical, establishments include tuck shops, delicatessens or "delis", and corner shops or corner stores. Milk bars are traditionally a place where people buy new ...

s. The chain had two

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

s: Burger Chef and Jeff (the chef's juvenile

sidekick A sidekick is a slang expression for a close companion or colleague (not necessarily in fiction) who is, or is generally regarded as, subordinate to the one they accompany. Some well-known fictional sidekicks are Don Quixote's Sancho Panza, ...

). In

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

, the chain introduced the Funburger, a hamburger with packaging that included puzzles and a small toy. The following year, the chain introduced the Funmeal, the first kid’s meal that included a burger, french fries, a drink, a cookie, and a small toy; with expanded packaging that included stories about Burger Chef and Jeff's adventures and friends (including the magician Burgerini, vampire Count Fangburger, talking ape Burgerilla, and Cackleburger the witch), with riddles and puzzles. When McDonald's introduced their

Happy Meal A Happy Meal is a kids' meal usually sold at the American fast food restaurant chain McDonald's since June 1979. A small toy or book is included with the food, both of which are usually contained in a red cardboard box with a yellow smiley fac ...

in 1979, the chain sued, but ultimately lost. In 1982, General Foods sold Burger Chef to the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

company

Imasco Imasco Limited was a Canadian corporation headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was founded in 1970 as Imperial and Associates, Co. History Imasco was the former owner of Imperial Tobacco Canada, Canada Trust, Shoppers Drug Mart , Gen ...

, which also owned Hardee's, for US$44 million (equivalent to $ million in ). Imasco converted many locations to Hardee's restaurants and let franchises and locations near existing Hardee's locations convert to other brands. Remaining restaurants that did not convert to Hardee's or new names and branding simply closed. Hardee's brought back the Big Shef hamburger for a limited time in 2001, 2007, and 2014 at some Midwestern locations.

Trademark suit

In January 2007, River West Brands, LLC, of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

, sued Hardee's Food Systems in the US Patents and Trademarks Office, claiming abandonment of the Burger Chef trademark. On April 16, 2009, River West Brands dropped their petition for cancellation, and both parties agreed to pay their own attorneys' fees.

Slogans

*1980–1996: "Nowhere else but Burger Chef." *1976–1980: "We really give you the works." and "Open wide America, you never can forget. You get more to like at Burger Chef." *1971–1976: "You get more to like at Burger Chef." *1970–1971: "There's more to like at Burger Chef." and "Burger Chef goes all out to please your family."

References

External links

Hardee's trademark trial
on the US Patent and Trademark Office
Burger Chef Memories

JFS' tribute site

Burger Chef former locations
at Waymarking.com {{Authority control Defunct fast-food chains in the United States Restaurants established in 1954 Fast-food hamburger restaurants Defunct companies based in Indianapolis Restaurants in Indiana Restaurants disestablished in 1996 1954 establishments in Indiana 1996 disestablishments in Indiana Defunct restaurant chains in the United States General Foods

History

Trademark suit

Slogans

See also

References

Further reading

External links