How White Castle Gave Rise to Modern Burger Chains

In the early years of the 20th century, millions of Americans were afraid to eat meat. It had nothing to do with religion or health mandates. It was because of The Jungle. A fictionalized account of journalist Upton Sinclair’s real-life experiences in the Chicago stockyards, the book featured stomach-turning scenes of meatpacking workers rubbing rotten meat with baking soda to remove bad smells and making canned meat last longer by dumping in dead rats. While the book did result in the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906, fears lingered. Few understood this better than a man named Edgar Waldo "Billy" Ingram. Ingram was an insurance man searching for a new career. His friend Walter Anderson, who’d run a few hamburger stands in Wichita, Kan., convinced him that restaurants were the future. Understanding that they’d need to overcome the reservations the public still had about beef, Ingram and Anderson resolved to open the cleanest place anyone had ever eaten in. The interiors would be covered in white porcelain tile, and the cooks would dress in white. White would also dominate the outside of the burger joint—and the name. Thus, White Castle was born. In 1921, with $700 of startup capital, they opened their first location. Ingram and Anderson served only 100% beef patties with the cooking line in full view of the customers. The sliders were tiny, square and each cost a nickel. “Buy ’em by the sack,” White Castle advertised, and the public did just that. By the end of the 1920s, White Castle was all over the Midwest. A Man's Home Is His Castle: Ex-insurance man Billy Ingram (1) co-founded White Castle in 1921, taking pains to make sure both interiors and employees (2) looked spotless. Because the burgers were small and inexpensive, customers bought bags of them, leading to the "Buy 'em by the sack" slogan (3). In 1987, headquarters made the then-unusual decision to sell its menu items in supermarket freezer cases (4), a tactic that's much imitated today. Thanks to the 2004 film Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle (5), the chain became a singular destination for appeasing the munchies. Today's units (6) still resemble castles, a name chosen to suggest permanence. Without quite planning it—and 27 years before the McDonald’s brothers did it—White Castle pioneered not only the modern burger chain but the idea of marketing sanitation and pure ingredients. “Right from the very beginning,” said marketing vp Jamie Richardson, “we were fixated on cleanliness and quality in terms of always [serving] 100% ground beef, no artificial ingredients or fillers. It's been that way since day one.” A century later, White Castle now tops 360 locations in 12 metro markets. And while the restaurant company is as contemporary as any—frozen sliders hit supermarket freezer cases in 1987, and Harold and Kumar visited in 2004—White Castle is still the same reliably clean burger joint serving the same square, steam-grilled beef burgers. With such a head start, White Castle could have been the biggest burger chain in America. But it never really wanted that. “Our focus has never been on being the biggest,” Richardson said. “It’s been on being the best.” For that, one must thank Billy Ingram, Walter Anderson and—maybe, just a little—Upton Sinclair. Hole-y Cow Anyone who’s peered onto the grill line at a White Castle has probably noticed that the beef patties aren’t just square; they have five holes punched in them. Is this a way for the company to save money on beef? “It isn't,” Richardson said. “In fact, we keep the weight of the sandwich the same. But what it does allow is all the moisture in steam from the grill to meld the flavors of the bun in the onion and the beef together.” The idea goes back to 1947 when Earl Howell, the operator of a White Castle in Cincinnati, was looking for a way to speed up his grill times. Howell submitted the five-hole idea to the company suggestion box, and by the early 1950s, White Castle made it the systemwide standard.

Perspective

Founded on a Reputation for Clean Eating—Literally—White Castle Gave Rise to Modern Burger Chains

Maybe Upton Sinclair is to thank

Robert Klara

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Robert Klara