Spangles (restaurant)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Spangles is a family-owned, fast food chain located in and around Wichita, Kansas. It is best known for its Gourmet Supreme hamburger. Other menu items of note are flatbread pita wraps, the Western Burger with onion rings and barbeque sauce on the burger, and many blended soft serve desserts.
The chain started as the Coney Island hot dog restaurant in 1978 by siblings Dale and Craig Stevens. Their sister, Rene, is the Director of Operations and despite having a speech impediment, has appeared in numerous commercials. By 1984, they determined the name "Coney Island" would limit future growth and decided to rebrand their restaurant under a new name. A citywide contest was held and Spangles was the winning entry. In 2001, the buildings were redecorated in 1950s era diner memorabilia.
Today, Spangles operates 19 restaurants and posted revenues of $19 million in 2001 [1].
On April 24, 2006, Spangles had a competition in the parking lot outside of the new Lawrence, KS location where the first 100 customers would receive free Spangles food for a year. Roll was called at unspecified times where numbers 1 through 100 would be called and the person who received that number would hold up a yellow arm bracelet with the number on it. Tents were set up all though the parking lot, with some making their tent out of cardboard boxes. People brought many different things to keep them entertained, but due to a lack of power outlets to place power spliters, some tents had to go without playing Donkey Kong Country 3 on their SNES. Different teasers were given throughout the night (e.g. Spangles' mudslides at 10 p.m., fries and cherry Cokes at midnight, and Spangles' orange juice or coffee at 4 a.m.). Around 6 p.m., a storm began and everyone had to go inside their tents. To keep warm, Tanner Weatherwax brought his charcoal grill inside his tent. An Elvis impersonator was scheduled to arrive at 10 p.m., but he was delayed due to the storm. At 3:30 a.m., the people running the competition started telling people to take down their tents so that they would have enough time to clear the parking lot for the first day of business. At 4 a.m., the local Country radio station came and set up speakers which thrilled the sleep deprived contestants. At the very last roll call, Spencer Lott and Zach Morgenstern were the last two people to take places of those who didn't make the roll call. A neon light busted above the line right before the doors opened. The names of all 100 were supposed to be put on a plaque, but that hasn't happened yet. KUJH-TV, the T.V. station for KU, made a report on the night, which featured Alex Jacobson as the High School student that skipped school to be in line [2].
