Henry's Hamburgers

History

In 1954 the Bresler's Ice Cream Company decided to expand into the growing fast-food drive-in industry. Company executives were looking for a new outlet to promote higher sales of their malts and shakes without altering their existing ice cream shop franchises. Under the name Henry's Hamburgers a large number of franchises were eventually established. The name Henry was chosen to honor the memory of the late Henry Bresler, one of the brothers who had founded the ice cream company.

Growth

Just two years later, by 1956, Henry's Hamburgers had thirty-five locations in the Chicago area. By the early 1960s there were over two hundred Henry's restaurants across America with operations headquarters in Chicago. At the time that outnumbered some of the industry's current giants, such as McDonald's. Henry's used the advertising slogans "Aren't you hungry for a Henry's?" and "Head for Henry's", and offered burgers for as low as 15 cents or "ten burgers for a buck".

Decline

Although the reasons remain mostly unclear, by the mid-1970s Henry's Hamburger locations were closing at a fast rate. Mergers and ownership changes within the Bresler company no doubt played a large role. Among other reasons could be a failure to add popular features like drive-thru pickup, diversifying of menu items like competitors, and massive national advertising campaigns by McDonald's, Burger King and other competitors. The only remaining location is in Benton Harbor, Michigan.

In the early 1970s, several Chicago-based franchise units of Henry's Hamburgers began incorporating horse meat into their hamburger patties. At the time, horse meat, which was FDA-approved, was a less expensive alternative to beef and was used as a filler. However, the franchises did not disclose the use of horse meat to their customers. Once the public became aware, there was significant backlash, leading to the closure of all Henry's Hamburgers franchise units in the Chicago area due to the controversy.