Krystal (restaurant)
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| Krystal | |
 |
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| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1932 |
| Headquarters | Chattanooga, Tennessee |
| Key people | Rody Davenport, Jr., J. Glenn Sherrill, Founders |
| Industry | Food |
| Products | Fast food, including hamburgers, french fries, dairy desserts, and signature breakfast offerings. |
| Website | www.krystal.com |
Krystal is a hamburger restaurant chain in the Southeastern United States.
It is known for small, square sandwiches, and unique breakfast food like the "Scrambler", a mixture of eggs, sausage and other items such as pancakes or grits.
Krystal restaurants are known world-wide as the host of the prestigious Krystal Square Off. In only its third year, it is recognized as one of the premier competitive eating events in the World. The current World Record is 97 Krystal burgers in 12 minutes by Takeru Kobayashi, set on October 28, 2006, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Second place was close behind with 93 hamburgers.
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[edit] History
Founded October 24, 1932, in Chattanooga, in the first years of the Great Depression, entrepreneur Rody Davenport Jr. and partner J. Glenn Sherrill theorized that even in a severe economic upheaval, "People would patronize a restaurant that was kept spotlessly clean, where they could get a good meal with courteous service at the lowest possible price." Krystal is the second-oldest hamburger chain in the United States (the oldest being White Castle) and the oldest in the South.
Davenport and Sherrill set up the first Krystal at the corner of Seventh and Cherry streets in Chattanooga. While the building still stands, the original Krystal restaurant is no longer in operation. The oldest Krystal still in operation is located on Cherokee Boulevard in Chattanooga's Northshore District.
[edit] Business
Krystal restaurants, both company-owned and franchised, operate in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. There is also a single Krystal in Bristol, Virginia (which lies on the Tennessee-Virginia border), and two in Arkansas, one in West Memphis (directly across the Mississippi River from Memphis), and one in Jonesboro (in northeast Arkansas, not far from Tennessee). Krystal is often compared to the similar restaurant White Castle. As of March 2007, the two chains overlap in market area only in the following areas:
- Nashville, Tennessee
- Bowling Green, Kentucky
- Glasgow, Kentucky
- The Bluegrass region of Kentucky, although the two chains do not directly compete in any one city.
- Later in 2007, White Castle will open a location in London, Kentucky, where Krystal already has a location.
Krystal still maintains corporate headquarters in Chattanooga, and has been owned by Port Royal Holdings, Inc. since 1997. In the late-1990s, Krystal emerged from a bankruptcy petition and sale of assets that placed majority ownership outside the heirs of the founding families. Krystal's period of structural change and uncertainty in the late-1990s has led to a successfully re-born restaurant chain with high levels of reported customer satisfaction and an evolving menu.
Krystal's product line centers on a small, square hamburger called, simply enough, a "Krystal." Small hot dogs, named "pups" also anchor the menu. The restaurant has since expanded its menu to include the "B.A. Burger," a full-size hamburger made of 100% black angus meat. Krystal is known for a diverse breakfast menu, and now offers a limited but popular selection of chicken and salad items. Krystal continues to focus on its core menu products, and continues to progress in a redesign of its stores.
Krystal is one of the growing number of fast food restaurant chains offering free wireless Internet access to customers with Wi-Fi compatible devices. Known as "The Krystal HotSpot", the service is nearly universally available at Krystal locations offering inside seating.
Krystals remain enormously popular in the South, especially in East Tennessee, where it is based. Fans are often known to drive great distances to "get a Krystal" or "gutbombs". Long time fans can show new patrons how to combine the boxes that Krystals come in to make Krystal houses. Krystal is a perennial favorite with college students, due to most (but not all) Krystal restaurants being open 24/7, making them a popular stop off point during late-night study sessions or while returning home from a party.
Frozen Krystal hamburgers are also available in supermarkets, although Krystal purists insist that the store-bought ones are simply not as good as the real thing.
As of July 2006, Krystal has confirmed that they are expanding the chain into other Southern states such as West Virginia and Missouri. The company also said they are expanding further into Virginia and Kentucky. [1] [2]
[edit] See also
- White Castle — similarly sized and shaped hamburgers; common in the Midwestern part of the United States (as well as New Jersey and the New York metropolitan area).
- White Tower Hamburgers
- Little Tavern - in the Baltimore - Washington area.
