| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Food |
| Founded | 1932 |
| Headquarters | Chattanooga, Tennessee |
| Number of locations | 420+[1] |
| Key people |
Rody Davenport, Jr., J. Glenn Sherrill, Founders James F. Exum, Jr President, CEO, Michael C. Bass, Senior Vice President[2] |
| Products | Fast food, including hamburgers, french fries, dairy desserts, and signature breakfast offerings. |
| Employees | 6,800+[1] |
| Website | krystal.com |
Krystal is an American fast food restaurant chain known for their small, square hamburger sliders with steamed-in onions and 24/7 business hours. Krystal is often described as the Southern equivalent of the Midwest American hamburger chain White Castle. Krystal is popular with college students, and has become known for competitive eating contests, including one where a record-holding participant ate over 100 hamburgers in a matter of minutes.[3]
Contents |
Founded October 24, 1932, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, 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." The restaurant's first customer, French Jenkins, ordered six "Krystals" and a cup of coffee, all for the "bargain" price of $0.35, thus proving their theory true.[4]
Davenport visited White Castle restaurants taking notes of successful features before setting forth on his own venture. 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. Krystal is the seventh or eighth-oldest hamburger chain in the United States (the oldest being White Castle)[5] and the oldest in the South.
As for the origins of the Krystal name, company legend states that Davenport and his wife were riding down a mountain road when Mrs. Mary McGee Davenport saw a lawn ornament in the shape of a crystal ball. While gazing at the lawn ornament, Mrs. Davenport commented that since Davenport and Sherrill felt cleanliness was a cornerstone of the concept, they should name the restaurant Crystal for "clean as a crystal" - yet with a "K" to add a little twist.[5]
During the 1950s and early 1960s, the chain served much of its food not in take-out containers but on inexpensive porcelain dishware labelled "Krystal." The waiters and waitresses wore white uniforms, and food was offered through counter service. In the 1950s, Krystal opened its first drive through window - which most locations maintain today.[6]
In the 1950s, cake doughnuts were served as a breakfast and dessert item. From about 1970 until 1986, fried chicken, coleslaw, potato salad, and rolls were offered. These items were usually sold from a small addition to the back of the hamburger restaurants. The chicken was introduced around the same time that singers Minnie Pearl and Mahalia Jackson entered the fried chicken business.
Krystal restaurants, both company-owned and franchised, operate in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, 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 on the other side of the state in Springdale. Krystal is often compared to the similar Midwest restaurant chain White Castle, but other than Kentucky and Tennessee markets, the two restaurants do not overlap.
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 proceeding 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 square hamburger patty slider with a steamed bun called a "Krystal". Small hot dogs, named "pups" are also featured menu items. The restaurant recently expanded its menu to include the "Big Angus Burger," a full-size hamburger made of 100% Angus beef.
Krystal is known for a diverse breakfast menu, which includes a made-to-order "country breakfast," meat and egg sandwiches, and other items. One particularly popular breakfast item is the "Scrambler," which includes a layered stack of scrambled eggs, sausage, grits, and cheese served in a styrofoam cup.[7] Other variations of the Scrambler also feature pancakes, sausage gravy, or southwestern-style spices.
In 1998, Krystal introduced the "Krystal Chik," a fried chicken breast filet slider served on the signature steamed square bun.[6] Krystal Chiks remain popular, along with other chicken and salad items. Krystal continues to focus on its core menu products but continues to redesign and upgrade its stores to appeal to a mobile and multi-tasking audience.
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. The chain is also testing a prototype for a drive-in that features individual television monitors for ordering and watching television (audio is accessed via car stereo), and indoor and outdoor seating areas with multiple big-screen television monitors and free digital jukeboxes.[8]
Krystals remain enormously popular in the South, especially in its East Tennessee "backyard". Fans are known to drive great distances to "get a Krystal" or pine for them when they're out of reach.[9] 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.
As of July 2006, Krystal has confirmed that they are expanding the chain into other Southern and Mid-Western states such as West Virginia and Missouri, respectively. The company also said they are expanding further into Virginia and Kentucky.[10]
Currently Krystal has over 420 locations in 11 States and sells more than 239 million hamburgers a year.[1]
Krystal restaurants are the host of the Krystal Square Off, a competitive eating contest. The current world record is 103 Krystal burgers consumed in 8 minutes by Joey Chestnut, set on October 28, 2007.[3]