The Old School Fast Food Burger Chain That Didn't Stand The Test Of Time

Glory is fleeting successful the accelerated nutrient world, arsenic witnessed by the demise of Burger Chef, the forgotten accelerated nutrient elephantine that inspired Happy Meal toys, and the near-extinction of Big Boy, the concatenation that created accelerated food's archetypal double-decker burger. Yet different 1 of the failed restaurants that we privation would marque a comeback is Henry's Hamburgers, a concatenation that erstwhile rivaled McDonald's, backmost successful the day.

Henry's, an offshoot of Bresler's Ice Cream Company, opened its archetypal determination successful Chicago sometime successful the 1950s when the drive-in concern was booming (as were babies). By the clip the adjacent decennary rolled around, Henry's had implicit 200 locations, which the concatenation says exceeded the fig of McDonald's stores astatine the clip (McDonald's besides reportedly clocked successful astatine astir 200). In December of 1960, the concatenation not lone claimed locations successful 29 states and Canada, but it besides boasted of being America's quickest-growing accelerated nutrient chain. Alas, Henry's enlargement play was short-lived. By the 1970s, Bresler's had ceased focusing truthful overmuch clip and attraction connected burgers, truthful galore Henry's Hamburgers locations closed up shop.

Read more: Fast Food Chains That Serve The Highest And Lowest Quality Burgers

The Last Remaining Henry's Outpost

It mightiness beryllium implicit six decades since the concatenation peaked, but Henry's Hamburgers isn't finished yet. The determination that opened successful Benton Harbor, Michigan, backmost successful 1959, is inactive successful business. It really occupies a antithetic gathering these days, albeit 1 close crossed the thoroughfare from the original. It's been done a fewer changes of management, too, and is nary longer affiliated with Bresler's (which was sold to Oberweis Dairy successful 1987). The past remaining Henry's has besides agelong since switched from drive-in to drive-thru, and burgers are nary longer 10 for a buck. They are, however, inactive cooked according to the archetypal recipe.

After going into business, the Benton Harbor Henry's Hamburgers introduced an innovative caller product: the Brown Bag Special, a value-priced combo repast from backmost successful the days earlier that was a thing. McDonald's dollar paper dates to 2002, but Henry's Brown Bag debuted successful 1987. To this day, it remains a champion seller, accounting for implicit fractional of the store's regular sales. Henry's besides has a paper that's acold much extended than thing McDonald's has ever offered. While it hasn't jumped connected the chickenhearted sandwich bandwagon, it does connection chickenhearted wings and fingers arsenic good arsenic blistery dogs, chili, food sandwiches, and fried shrimp. (And burgers, of course.)

The TripAdvisor reviews for Henry's Hamburgers successful Benton Harbor are a mixed bag, but this seems to beryllium driven successful portion by the chain's nostalgia value. Some radical spell looking to recreate aged memories precisely arsenic they were and are understandably disappointed. Others, however, are gladsome to sojourn the past remaining outpost of a burger concatenation they retrieve fondly.

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