Swensons Drive-In is an Ohio

drive-in A drive-in is a facility (such as a restaurant or movie theater) where one can drive in with an automobile for service. At a drive-in restaurant, for example, customers park their vehicles and are usually served by staff who walk or rollersk ...

restaurant

chain A chain is a wikt:series#Noun, serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression (physics), compression but line (g ...

with locations in the

Akron Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city pro ...

, Canton,

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U ...

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

and

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...

areas. Swensons'

signature A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a Handwriting, handwritten (and often Stylization, stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and ...

hamburger is the Galley Boy, a

double cheeseburger A cheeseburger is a hamburger topped with cheese. Traditionally, the slice of cheese is placed on top of the meat patty. The cheese is usually added to the cooking hamburger patty shortly before serving, which allows the cheese to melt. Chees ...

prepared using two sauces, and the restaurant also purveys 18 different

milkshake A milkshake (sometimes simply called a shake) is a sweet beverage made by blending milk, ice cream, and flavorings or sweeteners such as butterscotch, caramel sauce, chocolate syrup, fruit syrup, or whole fruit into a thick, sweet, cold mix ...

History

Wesley T. "Pop" Swenson started selling hamburgers at

Buchtel High School John R. Buchtel Community Learning Center, formerly known as John R. Buchtel High School and often referred to as Buchtel High School or Buchtel CLC, is a public high school in Akron, Ohio, United States, serving grades 7–12. It is one of seven ...

out of a station wagon in 1933. In 1934, he opened a restaurant on South Hawkins Avenue in

, near West Market Street. Swenson sold the restaurant in 1949 to Robert Phillips, who began expansion in 1952 with a second location in North Akron on East Cuyahoga Falls Avenue. Other locations include Stow (1987), Montrose (1995), Jackson Township, Seven Hills (2001), North Canton, University Heights (2017),

North Olmsted North Olmsted is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 32,442. North Olmsted is a west side suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, and is the 8th most populated city within Cuyahoga County. History ...

(2018),

Avon Avon may refer to: * River Avon (disambiguation), several rivers Organisations *Avon Buses, a bus operating company in Wirral, England *Avon Coachworks, a car body builder established in 1919 at Warwick, England, relaunched in 1922, following ...

(2018) and Willoughby (July 2021). Expansion of the chain into the Columbus area is complete with locations in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

, New Albany,

, and Hilliard.

Reception

* ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

'' noted Swenson's as "America's Best Burger" in 1999.

In popular culture

On an episode of

The Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ( ...

's series

Food Feuds ''Food Feuds'' is a weekly series hosted by Iron Chef Michael Symon that premiered on Food Network October 10, 2010. The show features food rivalries or "feuds" between local restaurants in cities around the United States. Synopsis In each episod ...

entitled ''Beef Feuds'', Swensons was pitted against the Skyway drive-in in the Akron suburb of Fairlawn for best double cheeseburger in the

area. Celebrity fans include Black Keys drummer

Patrick Carney Patrick James Carney (born April 15, 1980) is an American musician and producer best known as the drummer of the Black Keys, a blues rock band from Akron, Ohio. Early life Carney's father, Jim, is a retired reporter for the ''Akron Beacon Journa ...

, actor

Matt Lanter Matthew MacKendree Lanter (born April 1, 1983) is an American actor and model. He began his modeling career in 2004. The same year, he acted in the film '' Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius'' and the television series '' Point Pleasant''. He went o ...

, and basketball player

LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. (; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is widely considered one of the greatest pl ...

References

External links

* {{Fast-food chains of the United States Companies based in Akron, Ohio Restaurants in Ohio Family-owned companies Fast-food chains of the United States Restaurants established in 1934 Drive-in_restaurants Hamburger restaurants 1934 establishments in Ohio