White Castle (pc- rd.com)
Walter Anderson changed American culture. In some ways single-handedly. He is the father of the fast food craze that continues to dominate so many of our mainstream storefronts in the United States. You may be someone who wrote off fast food after college or belong to every award club offered, but there is no denying the relevance of the chain. 1916 wasn’t the best time in America to begin selling hamburgers at mass. The 1906 release of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair had exposed the meat packing industry and turned off so many Americans to beef. Anderson along with Billy Ingram saw that challenge as an opportunity and opened a restaurant that was both clean and transparent. Using porcelain appliances, kitchen transparency and the white color of the building exterior; the chain quickly convinced Americans that the food was safe and sanitary. They also came up with a unique way to prepare the food, creating the first restaurant assembly line while putting holes in the patties so they wouldn’t have to be turned over. The original taste they offered came in the form of the way they used onions in the preparation of the beef patties and the buns they developed. As life changes at a much faster pace today, it’s safe to say how unique and historical the chain is to our culture. All fast food chains in America today continue to use so many of the same practices dating back to the early 1900s.
General Restaurant Information
Food Type: Hamburgers
Restaurant Type: Fast Food
U.S. Locations: 384
States: 13 states, White Castle Locations
Company Slogan: The Crave Is A Powerful Thing
Contact Information
Website: whitecastle.com
Questions: Contact Information
Phone number: 800-843-2728
Email: Contact Us Page
Blog: No
FAQ Page: No
Ownership
Who Owns White Castle? White Castle
Headquartered: Columbus, Ohio
Contact Information:
Website: whitecastle.com/
Email/contact page: White Castle Contact Information
Phone: (614) 294-3753
Address: 555 W Goodale St, Columbus, OH 43215
Do They Franchise? White Castle does not franchise
What Is It Like To Work At White Castle?
3.8/5 or 76%; 1,400 Reviews (indeed.com)
3.4/5, or 68%; 238 Reviews (glassdoor.com)
Original White Castle Restaurant 201 N. Main (pc- kansas.com)
The History of White Castle
Original Location: 201 N. Main, Wichita, Kansas
Founded: May 19, 1921
Founded By: Walter Anderson (and Billy Ingram)
Biography Articles:
The White Castle Story: The Birth Of Fast Food & The Burger Revolution (consumerist.com)
Edgar Ingram (anb.org)
Catering To Cravers For 90 Years (familybusinessmagazine.com)
Keeping it in the family (qsrweb.com)
White Castle (qsrweb.com) (cooksinfo.com)
Founder Obituary:
Obituaries:
Walter Anderson (kshs.org)
Edgar Waldo “Billy” Ingram (findagrave.com)
Name Origin: Before White Castle began in 1921, the hamburger was a product sold by street vendors and widely seen as undesirable by most Americans. Walter and Billy set out to change that. They used transparency and cleanliness to rebrand how the beef patty was sold. “White” was used as a representation of the cleanliness and purity the restaurant stood for. As the story goes, the term “Castle” was derived from the water pumping station in downtown Chicago. They were to the hamburger, both as restaurants and menu best-sellers as Babe Ruth was to baseball or Henry Ford to the auto industry.
History Page: Company History Page
Current View of Original Location: 201 N. Main as it is today (link may not work on mobile devices without Google Maps)
Historical Articles:
White Castle Hamburgers: The Story (americacomesalive.com)
The White Castle Story: The Birth Of Fast Food & The Burger Revolution (consumerist.com)
The Origins of Cult-Favorite Fast Food Restaurants: White Castle (minyanville.com)
Social Awareness
Charity Focus: Academic support for disadvantaged students
Green | Eco-Friendly:
White Castle Responsibility (whitecastle.com)
White Castle Shows Off Its Green Side On Earth Day (prnewswire.com)
Animal Cruelty:
Switching to Cage-Free Eggs by 2025 (wattagnet.com)
Commits to 100% Cage Free Eggs by 2025 (cagefreefuture.com)
Discounts At White Castle
Rewards Program: Not offered
Do Kids Eat Free at White Castle?
What day do kids eat free? Sunday
Summary: Kids eat free from 4-8p on Sunday’s with the purchase of an adult meal
Does White Castle Offer Military Discounts?
Summary: Free combo meal on Veteran’s Day
What Does White Castle offer for My Birthday!?
Summary: The chain does not offer any promotions or discounts for birthdays.
Does White Castle Offer First Responder Discounts?
Summary: No resources found
Does White Castle Offer Senior Citizen | AARP Discounts?
Summary: The restaurant offers 10% off for seniors 62 and older
Are There Any Other Discounts or Benefits at White Castle?
Summary: They do not offer a reward or discount program to their customers
White Castle (pc-thrillist.com)
Amenities
Order Online: Online Order
WiFi Available: Yes
Use Apple Pay: Yes
Reservations: No
Catering: No
Drive-Thru: Yes
Open 24 Hours: Most locations
Customer Reviews of White Castle
Yelp: 3.0/5 or 60%, 2,175 reviews sampled
Tripadvisor: 3.6/5 or 71%, 944 reviews sampled
Overall (weighted) Average: 3.16/5 or 63%, 3,119 reviews sampled
White Castle & Related Items on Amazon
Food & Nutrition
Menu: White Castle Menu
Kids Menu: No
Secret Menu:
Seasoned Fries (couponsherpa.com)
Loaded Fries (ranker.com)
Sweet Potato Fries With Cinnamon Sauce (ranker.com)
Harold & Kumar’s Order (ranker.com)
Surf & Turf Sliders (ranker.com)
Most Popular Menu Item: Sliders, Chicken Wings & The Impossible Burger
Coke or Pepsi: Coke
Serve Alcohol: No
Nutritional Information: White Castle Nutrition Guide
Vegetarian | Vegan Options:
Try These Vegan Fast Food and Chain Restaurant Options on the Go (peta.org)
Your Best Vegan Option at 35 Popular Restaurants (eatthis.com)
17 Fast Food Chains That Secretly Have Vegan-Friendly Options (refinery29.com)
Here’s How to Eat Vegan at Your Favorite Chain Restaurants (chooseveg.com)
Yes, Vegan Options Exist at Your Favorite Fast-Food Chains (chooseveg.com)
Farm to Table | Organic Options | Clean | Non-GMO: No resources found
Miscellaneous Nutrition Resources:
25 Ways to Slim Down Any Fast Food Order (#9) (eatthis.com)
The Nutrition of White Castle Hamburgers (livestrong.com)
How to Eat Healthy at White Castle (healthyliving.azcentral.com)
Nutritional Information (fatsecret.com) (fastfoodmenunutrition.com) (nutrition-charts.com)
The Bizarre White Castle Experiment Of 1930 That “Proved” Hamburger Diet “Healthy” (gothamist.com)
Allergy Information
Allergen Information: White Castle Allergen Guide
Gluten Free Options:
White Castle Gluten-Free Menu (urbantastebud.com)
32 Best Gluten Free Burger Joints You Must Experience at Least Once (#1) (urbantastebud.com)
Dairy Free Options:
Dairy Free Options at White Castle (godairyfree.org)
Restaurant Guide For Dairy-Free Dining (godairyfree.org)
Peanut Free Options:
White Castle Peanut & Allergy Information (whitecastle.com)
Food Allergy Guides For Many Chain Restaurants (verywellhealth.com)
Ways to Eliminate Risks of Peanut Allergy When Dining Out (healthguidance.org)
White Castle (pc-wsj.com)
Does White Castle Have Any Secret Recipes?
Secret Recipes:
Burgers (topsecretrecipes.com)
Cheeseburgers Reduced-Fat (topsecretrecipes.com)
Sliders (allrecipes.com) (favfamilyrecipes.com)
Did You Know?
Fun Facts:
White Castle, opening in 1921 proudly carries the title of the oldest fast food restaurant in the world. They are older than McDonald’s by close to 20 years, McDonald’s opening in 1937.
Walter Anderson began his “restaurant” business when he used a converted streetcar to open his first dinner in 1916. It was so successful, he went on to open three more locations before partnering with his real estate agent, Billy Ingram to open the fourth location. Anderson and Ingram initially met in 1908.
Many people wonder why the meat patties have holes in them. Walter coined this method so that the burgers could cook all the way through without being turned over. The patties were also cooked on a bed of onions which gave them a unique and desirable flavor.
The company faced an uphill battle initially due to the hugely popular 1906 book (and still popular today), The Jungle by Upton Sinclair which exposed and was a devastating blow to the meatpacking industry.
Porcelain was used in the interior of the restaurant to emphasize cleanliness and the kitchen was viewable by the customers for transparency turning the challenge of The Jungle into their advantage.
Billy Ingram paid employees $18-30 per week in 1921 which was far beyond what the competitors were paying (littlethings.com)
The first burgers (sliders) at the time were $.05
Ingram would later buy out Anderson in 1933 moving the headquarters from Kansas to Columbus, Ohio. His descendants still own the majority share of the company and the restaurant does not franchise to this day.
The restaurant chain introduced coupons to the industry in 1932
They were the first restaurant to use the assembly line in the kitchen
By 1961 they had sold over a billion hamburgers
The restaurant was made famous with the Millennials with the movie Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
The restaurant offers reservations for Valentine’s Day (littlethings.com)
They have a Hall of Fame
They debuted a vegetarian slider in 2014
In 2014, Time magazine said the White Castle Slider was the most influential burger of all time
If you’re like me and always thought somehow White Castle was related to Krystal, we would both be wrong. There were a lot of restaurants that tried to mimic the famous chain and failed. Krystal is the exception. Having started only 10-15 years after White Castle, Krystal’s founder, Rody Davenport modeled Krystal after White Castle’s success and business model. Today the two companies are different in many ways, but the biggest is simply by the Mason-Dixon line as the original chain is primarily a northern restaurant while Krystal occupies the south.
Interesting Articles:
White Castle marks the 90th anniversary with a one-day return to Wichita (kansas.com)
The 17 Most Influential Burgers of All Time (time.com)
A List of Things You Might Not Know about White Castle (before Back of the Menu existed) (littlethings.com) (thrillist.com) (rd.com) (thedailymeal.com) (foodbeast.com) (tastemade.com)
What you don’t know about White Castle’s famous sliders (mashed.com)
White Castle introduces Impossible Burger sliders (nrn.com)
Review: White Castle’s Impossible Slider Is One of America’s Best Fast-Food Burgers (eatr.com)
Here Are 12 High-ly Interesting Facts About ‘Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle’ On Its 10th Anniversary (uproxx.com)
We Now Live In A World Where White Castle Sells ‘Bleeding’ Vegan Sliders From Impossible Burger (brobible.com)
White Castle & Related Items on Amazon
Social Media
Followers (as of September 2018) –
Facebook: 1,309,513
Twitter: 90,300
Instagram: 44,500
Mobile Apps
Alternatives
Better Options: Coming Soon
Similar Restaurants:
In Summary
Fewer companies have been so influential in American culture than White Castle. For good or bad, drive down so many streets in America, and you’ll find a wide variety of fast food restaurants. Although they may be selling different menu items, almost every single one uses so many of the processes and methods put in place by White Castle over 100 years ago. Today, you could argue that most of those fast food restaurants are more desirable (and family friendly), but they all trace their roots back to White Castle in some form. They are genuinely the Henry Ford of the fast-food (restaurant) industry. To the question of whether they are worth a visit today if you happen to drive by (they’re only in 13 states) is a different matter. They do offer kids eat free option on Sunday evenings, but their ingredients most likely won’t meet your family health standards. They don’t have a kids menu or offer healthier options for them if you ‘re looking for one. If however there is no doubt that they are worthy of a stop once to see and experience the restaurant that started it all.
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