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EARLY BURGER WARS Long before there were golden arches on nearly every corner, the burger and fries routine was dominated by two extinct species known as BBF (short for "Burger Boy Food-O- Rama"), and Burger Chef. In fact, the only McDonald's I can even remember from the late 1960s was located at the end of Fairway Blvd. at Hamilton Road. It was one of the old style outside walk-up window designs, and still occupies the same location today (although no traces of the original restaurant remain). When Eastland Mall opened, a McDonald's was opened on Winchester Pike in Berwick (since closed), and eventually in my high school days, McDonald's surfaced at the corner of Livingston and Brice (also closed). Unlike the kids of today, our family rarely visited McDonald's even though they had the best fries (back when they cooked them in animal fat!). Burger King, which
began in South Florida in the mid-1950s, did not experience nationwide
expansion until the late 1960s and early 1970s. In fact, the only
Burger King I can even recall on our side of town was built at its current
location just west of Hamilton Road on East Main Street in
Whitehall. Our only Wendy's, which I tried for the first time ever
at their Ohio State Fair tent outside the Agriculture & Horticulture
Building, was also in its current location on East Livingston Avenue, just
west of Yearling. I always remember visiting this location
specifically for my father, who was finally being offered the ultimate
burger for the mansized appetite...the Wendy's Triple. And for Mom,
she had to have her White Castles which, in the 1960s, involved a trek all
the way into Bexley. I vaguely remember the Capital University White
Castle, which was no larger than a meat freezer, and how it seemed as
though it took hours to get there from home just to satisfy my Mother's
craving for sliders.` Finally, although my memory is somewhat hazy on this due to their closing when I was probably about five or six, Eastsiders had both a Hasty Tasty* and a Sandy's. One of them was located at the corner of Hamilton and East Main in Whitehall, and I also recall one of them being shut down by the Board of Health for leaving traces of the peel on their french fries! Both of these restaurants were well known in the Dayton-Springfield area before staking a claim in Columbus, and their demise was probably assisted by customer loyalty to BBF. * in 1970 Jules Sokol purchased the Hasty Tasty Drive-in on Parsons Avenue. His wife, Nita, renamed the chain Tee Jaye's. "Tee" comes from her love of golf and "Jaye" is her son Randy's middle name. |
Our burgers of choice were available only at the
BBF, located under "the whirling satellite" on Hamilton Road, across the
street from the Great Eastern Shopping Center (the spot is now occupied by
a Ponderosa Steak House and a Waterbeds 'N Stuff). BBF sold my
favorite burgers, simple cheeseburgers with ketchup and mustard. No
secret sauce, just plain old burgers. The fries were good, they had
decent shakes, and although I never tried it, I think they even sold fried
chicken. Flippo the Clown 
The first
Burger Chef opened in Indianapolis in 1954. Between 1966 and 1969,
they experienced outstanding growth under the new ownership of General
Foods and had opened their 1000th restaurant. It was during this
growth that Burger Chef arrived on Columbus' eastside. I remember
two locations--one on East Livingston at Beechwood, just east of
Courtright Rd., and the other on East Main Street in the front of the
Zayre's Department Store special parking lot (currently an
AutoZone). What made Burger Chef special, to my taste at least, was
the "flame broiled" burgers and real milk shakes. I fail to realize
that many who read this may not even remember that "shakes" were once
cold, and manufactured from dairy products, unlike today's warm vegetable
shortening globs that have the texture of a nasty sinus infection.
Burger Chef shakes, especially the chocolate and strawberry, resembled
current Steak and Shake products. And Burger Chef was cutting edge
on marketing, advertising, and product expansion. Who can forget the
"Big Shef" (similar to McDonald's "Big Mac")? And everyone over the
age of 40 knows who "Burger Chef and Jeff" were. Burger Chef was
actually one of the first fast-food restaurants to introduce the salad bar
as far back as 1969. General Foods also owned the Jax
Roast Beef Restaurants, which we'll discuss shortly.
Unfortunately, as a result of their meteoric growth in a short period of
time, General Foods would eventually abandon their interest in further
Burger Chef expansion, and by 1982 had sold out to Hardee's. It was
at that time that Burger Chef and Jeff disappeared from Columbus
forever. Throughout the country, all Burger Chefs followed suit and
either joined the Hardee's family, or closed.