Burger Chef

Burger Chef was my favorite fast food chain restaurant as a kid. It even trumped the mighty McDonald's for my affection. Now, whether this was due to the quality of the food or the "Funmeals" (which predate the Happy Meal), I have no idea. Probably, it was a bit of both.

Somewhat amazingly, I still have some of my Burger Chef stuff from way back in the day. Some of the King Kong glasses (from the 1976 movie) are still in the cabinet in my mom's kitchen. I cannot tell you if I still have THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK posters, but I was the proud owner of all three back in 1980 (and they were wicked awesome). That was another thing Burger Chef had going for them - tie-ins to STAR WARS at its height. But they also had their own stable of characters, like Burger Chef and Jeff and an array of friendly monsters. In my record collection, I even have one of their flexi-discs featuring those characters.

Of course, Burger Chef did not survive the 1980s. I bet there are a lot of folks reading this that have never even heard of it. Many of our local stores were converted into Mr. Cook Restaurants, but that regional chain has since passed into memory as well. My personal favorite was the one on U.S. 171 (Martin Luther King Highway), where a motel currently resides. That one never became a Mr. Cook, and was torn down many years ago, but the memories still persist.

For more memories of this long lost chain, you can visit Burger Chef Memories and JSF's Burger Chef Tribute. I also found this collection of Burger Chef commercials which someone very thoughtfully strung together. You can glimpse a little of the KING KONG and STAR WARS themed promotions in them! Oh, and if you want to blame someone for this entry, blame David McRobie. I know I do, ha!