Burger Chef Ad – October 5, 1971

Hamburgers used to rule the fast-food world, but times have changed.

These days, it’s impossible to find a simple ‘hamburger' even listed on the giant McDonald’s digital menu board, as the classic fast food item has been crowded out by more exotic (and expensive) offerings. 

I often wonder how many hamburgers are even ordered there these days? 

Anyway, back in 1971, hamburgers were still king, and the burger barons – McDonald’s, Burger King, Sandy’s, Casey's and Burger Chef – were all battling it out in Lorain.

Burger Chef seemed to run the most ads in the Journal, and here’s one of them. It ran in the paper on October 5, 1971 – fifty years ago this month.

The theme of the ad is giving mothers a break from cooking on Wednesdays, with specially priced Burger Chef burgers on that night. It’s a great idea, and I’m sure it drummed up business on perhaps what was normally a slow weekday.

Nowadays, of course, eating out is something that happens several times a week for many families, and every day for some people.

But fifty years ago, like I’ve mentioned many times on this blog, having food from McDonald’s or Sandy’s was a rare treat for us, something that only happened when Mom and Dad were going out to eat themselves with some friends. Then they would ask my siblings and me what we would like, and Dad would be dispatched (like a true food gatherer) to pick it up.