Halo Burger facts for kids
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A Halo Burger in Grand Blanc, Michigan
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Trade name
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Halo Burger |
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| Private LLC | |
| Industry | Fast food |
| Founded | Flint, Michigan, U.S. (1923) |
| Founder | Samuel V. Blair |
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United States
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Number of locations
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Area served
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MI: Central Michigan |
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Key people
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| Members | Chance Richie Daniel Stern |
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Number of employees
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350 (2013) |
Halo Burger is a popular American fast-food restaurant chain. It started in Michigan and is known for its tasty hamburgers. The first restaurant opened way back in 1923 in Flint, Michigan. It was originally part of another hamburger chain called Kewpee. Over the years, Halo Burger grew and became its own unique brand.
Contents
The Story of Halo Burger
Halo Burger has a long and interesting history, starting almost 100 years ago!
How It All Began
The very first restaurant opened in 1923 in downtown Flint, Michigan. It was started by Samuel V. Blair and was part of the Kewpee chain. This chain grew to have many locations.
A man named William "Bill" V. Thomas started working at Blair's Kewpee in 1938. In 1944, Bill Thomas began to run the original Flint location. He later bought this restaurant in 1958. Bill Thomas also opened a second Kewpee location in Flint in 1951.
Becoming Halo Burger
In 1967, the Kewpee chain changed how it worked with its restaurants. Bill Thomas decided not to join this new plan. Instead, he changed the name of his restaurants to Bill Thomas' Halo Burger.
The first restaurant opened only under the Halo Burger name in 1973. This was also the year Bill Thomas passed away. More Halo Burger locations opened in 1976, including one in Grand Blanc, Michigan. In 1979, the original Harrison Street location closed to make space for the University of Michigan-Flint. Its staff moved to a new Halo Burger on Flint's east side.
Growing Through the Years
The 1980s were a big time for Halo Burger. Ten more locations opened! This included new spots in downtown Flint in 1984 and in Birch Run, Michigan in 1985. Restaurants also opened in Saginaw and other parts of Flint. Some of these locations later closed, but Halo Burger kept growing.
In 2002, Halo Burger opened a location at the University of Michigan-Flint. However, this location closed in 2008 due to new student housing and food services. In 2007, all 11 Halo Burger locations had to close for a day. This was because of a possible food safety issue with their meat supplier.
New Owners and Expansion
In 2010, the Thomas family sold the Halo Burger chain to Dortch Enterprises. This company also runs many Subway restaurants in Michigan. Dortch Enterprises planned to open new Halo Burger locations and update the existing ones. They wanted the restaurants to have a "fast-casual" feel, which means a nicer, more relaxed dining experience than typical fast food.
New locations opened in places like Grand Blanc Township, Michigan in 2011 and Mount Morris, Michigan in 2012. In 2013, a joint Halo Burger-Subway location opened in Burton, Michigan. Halo Burger also opened its first restaurant in Oakland County, Michigan in Clarkston in 2013. This location, and others in Oakland County, focused on the fast-casual style without a drive-through.
Halo Country Takes Over
In 2016, Dortch Enterprises sold the Halo Burger chain to Halo Country LLC. Chance Richie became the main owner of Halo Country. During the Flint water crisis in 2016, the Halo Burger locations in Flint and Burton gave out free bottled water to help the community.
Halo Burger began updating its restaurants in 2016, starting with the downtown Flint location. They also launched a Halo Burger food truck for community events. Some locations, like those in Brighton and Novi, closed in late 2016 due to low sales.
In 2017, famous basketball player Andre Drummond became Halo Burger's first spokesperson. He even helped design his own burger, the "Dre Burger," which was added to the menu.
Halo Burger has received praise for its food. In 2017, Thrillist named it one of the top underrated burger chains. They highlighted the "Beefy Double" and the "Olive Burger" as must-try items. Halo Burger also brought back a fun coffee deal in 2018: the price of a regular coffee was the same as the day's high temperature!
By March 2018, the downtown Flint location started serving breakfast again, a service that had stopped about ten years earlier.
What's on the Menu?
Halo Burger is famous for its unique and classic items.
- Q.P.: This burger is named after the original Kewpee restaurant. "Q.P." also stands for "quarter pound," which is the size of the burger patty. It's still one of their most popular burgers, especially with olives!
- Olive Burger: This is a Q.P. burger topped with a special olive sauce.
- The Beefy Double: A favorite for those who love a bigger burger.
- Boston Cooler: A unique drink made with Vernor's Ginger Ale and vanilla ice cream.
- Specialty Burgers: Halo Burger often has special burgers like the BLT Cheddar Burger, Hula Burger, Thai Burger, and the HaloPeño Burger.
- Dre Burger: This special burger has two patties, bacon, cheese, pineapple, crispy and raw onion rings, and a mix of Halo and BBQ sauces.
- Hot Dogs: They serve hot dogs from Koegel, a local Michigan company.
- Coney Dog: A Flint-style hot dog topped with chili, mustard, and onions.
- Salads: For those looking for a lighter option.
- Turkey Burger: A burger made with turkey.
Special Locations
The Halo Burger in downtown Flint is in a building that used to be a Vernor's Ginger Ale store and sandwich shop. This building was built in 1929. You can still see a large mural of Vernor's Ginger Ale (with its gnome mascot!) on the building next door. Inside the restaurant, the iron railings even have big "V" shapes, a nod to its Vernor's past.
Awards and Recognition
Halo Burger has won several awards over the years:
- 1978: Named one of the Top 100 United States Burgers in a national radio survey.
- 1983: Voted Flint's #1 hamburger by a Flint Journal Newspaper survey.
- 2000: Voted Michigan's #1 hamburger by a Detroit News Reader Survey.
- 2011: Won Best Hamburger in the Genesee Readers' Choice Awards from The Flint Journal.
See also
- List of hamburger restaurants
