Kewpee

Infobox Company
name = Kewpee

type = Private
foundation = Flint, Michigan, U.S., (1923)
founder = Samuel V. Blair
location_city = Lima, Ohio
location_country = United States
locations = 5 Restaurants (2008)
area_served = Midwest United States
key_people = Harrison E. Shutt, President [ cite web |url=http://www.limacityschools.org/apps/alumni_inductees.nsf/Web%20Past%20Inductees/08D16690C4D46D4D85256B4100582ACE?OpenDocument |title=Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame Inductee |accessdate=2008-06-03 |date= |work= |publisher=Lima City Schools ]
industry = Fast Food
products = Fast food, including hamburgers, french fries, pies, and Frozen Malts
slogan = "Hamburg pickle on top, makes your heart go flippity-flop!"
homepage = [http://www.kewpee.com Racine, WI] , [http://www.kewpees.com Lansing, MI]

Kewpee Hamburgers is the second known chain of hamburger fast-food restaurants founded in 1923cite book |last= Hogan |first=David Gerard |title=Selling 'em by the Sack: White Castle and the Creation of American Food |url= http://books.google.com/books?id=PT6s4ZbznHMC&pg=PA50&lpg=PA50&dq=Samuel+V.+Blair+Kewpee&source=web&ots=baIRvwIuqL&sig=6nt64erA2i8yJbdBYalUm8D0cVs&hl=en |format= |accessdate=2008-06-04 |accessyear=2006 |accessmonth=06 |edition= 1st |series= |volume= |date= |year= 1997 |month= |publisher= NYU Press |location=
language= |isbn=0814735673 |oclc= |doi= |id= |pages= 50 |chapter= |chapterurl= |quote= |ref= ] in Flint, Michigan under the name "Kewpee Hotel Hamburgs". Kewpee's current headquarters is located in Lima, Ohio. cite web |url=http://home.comcast.net/~steelbeard1/flinn052104.htm |title=A Tasty Part of Flint History |accessdate=2008-05-30 |author=Gary Flinn |date=2004-5-21 |work=Flinn's Journal |publisher=Gary Flinn ] The chain is named after the Kewpee doll.cite web |url=http://www.lansingbusinessmonthly.com/article_read.asp?articleID=4027 |title=Dining Delights |accessdate=2008-06-03 |author=Jack Schaberg |date= |work=Lansing Business Monthly Magazine |publisher=The Greater Lansing Business Monthly, Inc. ] Kewpee was one of the first to institute curbside service, which is now know as the drive thru window.cite book |last= Hogan |first=David Gerard |title=Selling 'em by the Sack: White Castle and the Creation of American Food |url= http://books.google.com/books?id=PT6s4ZbznHMC&pg=PA50&lpg=PA50&dq=Samuel+V.+Blair+Kewpee&source=web&ots=baIRvwIuqL&sig=6nt64erA2i8yJbdBYalUm8D0cVs&hl=en |format= |accessdate=2008-06-04 |accessyear=2006 |accessmonth=06 |edition= 1st |series= |volume= |date= |year= 1997 |month= |publisher= NYU Press |location=
language= |isbn=0814735673 |oclc= |doi= |id= |pages= 50 |chapter= |chapterurl= |quote= |ref= ] Blair also claim to be the first use the flat bun and developed the ‘deluxe’ hamburger. cite web |url=http://home.comcast.net/~steelbeard1/flinn052104.htm |title=A Tasty Part of Flint History |accessdate=2008-05-30 |author=Gary Flinn |date=2004-5-21 |work=Flinn's Journal |publisher=Gary Flinn ]

Their advertising slogan is: "Hamburg pickle on top, makes your heart go flippity-flop!" While an earlier slogan was: "Mity Nice Hamburger".cite book |last= Hogan |first=David Gerard |title=Selling 'em by the Sack: White Castle and the Creation of American Food |url= http://books.google.com/books?id=PT6s4ZbznHMC&pg=PA50&lpg=PA50&dq=Samuel+V.+Blair+Kewpee&source=web&ots=baIRvwIuqL&sig=6nt64erA2i8yJbdBYalUm8D0cVs&hl=en |format= |accessdate=2008-06-04 |accessyear=2006 |accessmonth=06 |edition= 1st |series= |volume= |date= |year= 1997 |month= |publisher= NYU Press |location=
language= |isbn=0814735673 |oclc= |doi= |id= |pages= 50 |chapter= |chapterurl= |quote= |ref= ]

History

Kewpee Hamburgers is a chain of fast-food restaurants founded in 1923 in Flint, Michigan by Samuel V. Blair under the name "Kewpee Hotel Hamburgs". cite web |url=http://home.comcast.net/~steelbeard1/flinn052104.htm |title=A Tasty Part of Flint History |accessdate=2008-05-30 |author=Gary Flinn |date=2004-5-21 |work=Flinn's Journal |publisher=Gary Flinn ] At its peak, before World War II, there were more than 400 Kewpee restaurants in operation with half closing during the Great Depression.cite book |last= Hogan |first=David Gerard |title=Selling 'em by the Sack: White Castle and the Creation of American Food |url= http://books.google.com/books?id=PT6s4ZbznHMC&pg=PA50&lpg=PA50&dq=Samuel+V.+Blair+Kewpee&source=web&ots=baIRvwIuqL&sig=6nt64erA2i8yJbdBYalUm8D0cVs&hl=en |format= |accessdate=2008-06-04 |accessyear=2006 |accessmonth=06 |edition= 1st |series= |volume= |date= |year= 1997 |month= |publisher= NYU Press |location=
language= |isbn=0814735673 |oclc= |doi= |id= |pages= 50 |chapter= |chapterurl= |quote= |ref= ] The early Kewpees were not franchises and there was no group association. Each differently-owned Kewpee had its own menu with their own different style of hamburger. A later attempt at a franchise agreement lead to some Kewpees closing or changing names leaving even less Kewpee restaurants around. cite web |url=http://home.comcast.net/~steelbeard1/flinn052104.htm |title=A Tasty Part of Flint History |accessdate=2008-05-30 |author=Gary Flinn |date=2004-5-21 |work=Flinn's Journal |publisher=Gary Flinn ]

Kewpee began operating out of a wagon then from a location on Harrison Street Downtown Flint. cite web |url=http://home.comcast.net/~steelbeard1/flinn052104.htm |title=A Tasty Part of Flint History |accessdate=2008-05-30 |author=Gary Flinn |date=2004-5-21 |work=Flinn's Journal |publisher=Gary Flinn ] In Lansing, Michigan, the Weston family has owned and operated the Kewpees restaurant since it opened in 1923, that makes it the oldest restaurant in the city of Lansing. The Weston family has had as many as two Kewpee restaurants open at one time in Lansing. The Weston's are in their third generation of operating Kewpee.cite web |url=http://www.lansingbusinessmonthly.com/article_read.asp?articleID=4027 |title=Dining Delights |accessdate=2008-06-03 |author=Jack Schaberg |date= |work=Lansing Business Monthly Magazine |publisher=The Greater Lansing Business Monthly, Inc. ] Kewpee's early plans under Blair and Adams seem to stay out of major city. After Prohibition, some Kewpee restaurants add real beer to its staple of root beer, which was on many Kewpee menus joining the standard coffee of other hamburger chains.cite book |last= Hogan |first=David Gerard |title=Selling 'em by the Sack: White Castle and the Creation of American Food |url= http://books.google.com/books?id=PT6s4ZbznHMC&pg=PA50&lpg=PA50&dq=Samuel+V.+Blair+Kewpee&source=web&ots=baIRvwIuqL&sig=6nt64erA2i8yJbdBYalUm8D0cVs&hl=en |format= |accessdate=2008-06-04 |accessyear=2006 |accessmonth=06 |edition= 1st |series= |volume= |date= |year= 1997 |month= |publisher= NYU Press |location=
language= |isbn=0814735673 |oclc= |doi= |id= |pages= 50 |chapter= |chapterurl= |quote= |ref= ] In 1928, the Lima, Ohio location opens under the ownership of Stub Wilson. In 1936, a Kewpee location is already located in Findlay, Ohio, so Stub Wilson opens a restaurant called Wilson's Sandwich Shop. [cite web |url=http://www.limaohio.com/articles/lackey_23392___article.html/motz_kewpee.html |title=Final words (maybe) on a few recent topics |accessdate=2008-06-10 |author=Mike Lackey |date=2008-05-24 |work=Lima Ohio.com |publisher=Freedom Communications, Inc.]

Blair upon his retirement on April 1, 1944 starts renting the original location. Blair dies in 1945 and licensees continues to leases the location and pay royalties for use of the Kewpee name from the estate until the Kewpee trademark goes up for sale in 1955 and Blair estate owned locations go up for sale in 1958. The original location and the rights to the Kewpee are split up in sale with the original location going to leasor William "Bill" V. Thomas while the trademark goes to Ed F. Adams's Kewpee Hotels partnership of Toledo, Ohio cite web |url=http://home.comcast.net/~steelbeard1/flinn052104.htm |title=A Tasty Part of Flint History |accessdate=2008-05-30 |author=Gary Flinn |date=2004-5-21 |work=Flinn's Journal |publisher=Gary Flinn ] cite web |url=http://www2.sos.state.oh.us/reports/rwservlet?imgc&Din=B407_0661 |title=Assignment of Registration |accessdate=2008-06-04 |author=Ed F. Adams |date=1965-05-13 |work= Business Filing Information |publisher=Ohio Secretary of State ]

Ed Adams's partnership, Kewpee Hotels transfer the Kewpee trademark to Kewpee Hotel Systems, Inc. in 1965.cite web |url=http://www2.sos.state.oh.us/reports/rwservlet?imgc&Din=B407_0661 |title=Assignment of Registration |accessdate=2008-06-04 |author=Ed F. Adams |date=1965-05-13 |work= Business Filing Information |publisher=Ohio Secretary of State ] of which Ed Adams was president.cite web |url=http://www2.sos.state.oh.us/reports/rwservlet?imgc&Din=B407_0662 |title=Trademark Renewal Application |accessdate=2008-06-04 |author=Ed F. Adams |date=1965-05-17 |work= Business Filing Information |publisher=Ohio Secretary of State ] The number of Kewpee locations dropped considerably in 1967 when the Kewpee Hotel Systems, Inc. demanded a full franchising arrangement and a percentage of the profits. The locations which objected either closed or changed their names. The original Flint location changed its name to Bill Thomas' Halo Burger which is still a thriving business, but not at the original location which was torn down in 1979. cite web |url=http://home.comcast.net/~steelbeard1/flinn052104.htm |title=A Tasty Part of Flint History |accessdate=2008-05-30 |author=Gary Flinn |date=2004-5-21 |work=Flinn's Journal |publisher=Gary Flinn ] cite news | first = | last = | authorlink = | author = Christy Ryan | coauthors = | title = Halo Burger reluctant to leave in fall | url = http://media.www.themichigantimes.com/media/storage/paper620/news/2008/04/21/Campus/Halo-Burger.Reluctant.To.Leave.In.Fall-3341091.shtml | format = shtml | work = Michigan Times | publisher = University of Michigan-Flint | location = Flint, Michigan | id = | pages = | page = | date = 2008-04-21 | accessdate = 2008-06-02 | language = | quote = | archiveurl = | archivedate = ] Hortense M. Adams took over as president of Kewpee Hotel System, Inc. by March of 1975.cite web |url=http://www2.sos.state.oh.us/reports/rwservlet?imgc&Din=E052_1696 |title=Trademark Renewal Application |accessdate=2008-06-04 |author=Hortense M. Adams |date=1975-03-25 |work= Business Filing Information |publisher=Ohio Secretary of State ] In August of 1985, a Kewpee International partnership, (later most likely incorporated as Kewpee of Toledo) lead by former Kewpee Hotel System Vice President Robert L. Dane, purchase the Kewpee rights from Kewpee Hotel System, Inc. cite web |url=http://www2.sos.state.oh.us/reports/rwservlet?imgc&Din=F731_0749 |title=Trademark Assignment |accessdate=2008-06-04 |author=Robert L. Dame |date=1985-08-15 |work= Business Filing Information |publisher=Ohio Secretary of State ] The Kewpee, Inc. forms in 1969 by Harold J., James F. and Richard E. Meredith based in Lima, Ohio. cite web |url=http://www2.sos.state.oh.us/reports/rwservlet?imgc&Din=B647_0355 |title=Articles of Incorporation |accessdate=2008-06-04 |publisher=State of Ohio |date=1969-11-17 ] The Kewpee, Inc. of Toledo assigns the trademark of Kewpee to the The Kewpee, Inc. [cite web |url=http://www2.sos.state.oh.us/reports/rwservlet?imgc&Din=F813_0280 |title=Assignment of Trademark |accessdate=2008-06-04 |publisher=State of Ohio |date=1985-12-12 ]

According to a 2001 interview with Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy's, as a child, he lived near the intersection of Douglas and Kalamazoo Avenue in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Thomas used to love eating at a Kewpee restaurant, which stood at Burdick and South. He said it’s what inspired him to go into the business. Kewpee’s sold square hamburgers and thick malt shakes, much like that famous restaurant that Thomas eventually founded in Columbus, Ohio in 1969. [ cite web |url=http://www.kewpee.com/davethomas.php |title=Wendy's Founder, Dave Thomas, and the Kalamazoo Kewpee |accessdate=2008-06-04 |date=2002-01-08 |work=WWMT |publisher=Freedom Broadcasting of Michigan, Inc. ]

Locations

There are five known remaining Kewpee restaurants, as follows:

Lima, Ohio

* Kewpee Hamburgers Downtown
* Kewpee Hamburgers West
* Kewpee Hamburgers East cite web |url=http://www.kewpee.com/history.php |title=The Kewpee's History |accessdate=2008-06-03 |author=David Kristopeit |date= |work= |publisher=kewpee.com ]

Lansing, Michigan

* Kewpee Sandwich Shoppecite web |url=http://www.lansingbusinessmonthly.com/article_read.asp?articleID=4027 |title=Dining Delights |accessdate=2008-06-03 |author=Jack Schaberg |date= |work=Lansing Business Monthly Magazine |publisher=The Greater Lansing Business Monthly, Inc. ]

Racine, Wisconsin

* Kewpee Sandwich Shopcite web |url=http://www.kewpee.com/history.php |title=The Kewpee's History |accessdate=2008-06-03 |author=David Kristopeit |date= |work= |publisher=kewpee.com ]

References

ee also

* Halo Burger

External links

* [http://www.kewpee.com The official web site for Kewpee in Racine WI]
* [http://www.kewpees.com The official web site for Kewpee in Lansing MI]
* [http://www.haloburger.com The official web site for Halo Burger in Flint MI (formerly Kewpee)]
* [http://home.comcast.net/~steelbeard1/flinn052104.htm A Tasty Part of Flint History]