Retroist Burger Chef Podcast – The Retroist

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When I say Burger Chef to most people, they might recognize the name from its appearance on Mad Men, but most people haven’t heard of. This, despite it being the second largest fast food chain in the United States by 1973. Its rise was dramatic, its fall, sad. On this episode of the show, I want to talk to you about this wonderful fast food restaurant.

I start the show talking about my childhood visits to the chain. They were all solo trips with my mom and I loved all of them. The place had character and tasty food, plus they had some great options for kids. All things I will talk about during the show. After my story I move on to the chain itself, I talk about its connection to Burger King, its growth, franchising, innovations, sale to General Foods and its decline.

My mom lamented the loss of this chain. She was convinced it was a higher quality offering than other chain. It just goes to show that a lot can go wrong when managing a fast food chain and that it can be difficult to recover when things go wrong.

Starting in the early eighties, they start converting Burger Chefs, mostly to Hardees. Bu the memory of BC lingered and Hardees has re-released the Big Shef a few times. Its been a decade since they release it last and I don’t see it happening again. I think that is a good indicator of people’s interest in the chain. My hope is that by talking about Burger Chef, I can inspire a few people to remember or seek out more info about it.

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This is the 333rd episode of the Retroist Podcast and episode 8 of the new season. This is the first episode of 2025.
I wanted to do this podcast a few years ago when it was mentioned on Mad Men, but I didn’t like what I attempted to record.
They had some great fun meals that would inspire other chains. Actually the more you look at Burger Chef, the more you realize how much other restaurants “borrowed” from the chain.
Look at the reviews of the Ghost Chefs I mention. People have snapped photos of the interiors and some great Burger Chef details have survived.
I really think Hardees could do more with this brand for special offerings.
Bonus Clipping should be up on Patreon tomorrow. I didn’t dive to deeply on this round and didn’t review them during the show. It just didn’t seem to go properly with the theme.
Music on the show is, as always, by Peachy.