And speaking of Burger Chef, did you know that there was one in Vermilion? I didn't, until I saw the ad above, which ran in the Lorain Journal back on April 1, 1975. I was aware of the one on 28th Street near Broadway (a girl I was dating worked there) but had no idea that my current town of Vermilion had one.
The ad reflects that it was under different ownership that the one in Lorain. The Vermilion ad is pretty unique, and seems to be channeling Wendy's old-fashioned shtick. Here's an ad for the Lorain Burger Chef from a day later on April 2, 1975 for comparison.
What's that? You don't remember Burger Chef and Jeff?
They were the animated cartoon mascots for Burger Chef, featured in TV commercials and ads, and doing battle against Ronald McDonald and the Burger King. Here they are on a plastic hand puppet that somehow survived over the last 50 years, currently on eBay. The duo seem to be joined at the hip.
Today the location is home to Fiesta Cancun Authentic Mexican Food & Cantina.
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For a time, Burger Chef featured the Fun Burger, apparently designed to compete with McDonalds' Kids Meal. Here's a commercial with Burger Chef and Jeff introducing it. (Note that the Burger Chef is voiced by none other than Paul Winchell, the voice of Tigger in the Winnie-the-Pooh movie features, Dick Dastardly on Wacky Races, and Gargamel on The Smurfs.
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Here's the Grand Opening ad for the Rax Restaurant that replaced the Burger Chef in Vermilion. It ran in the Journal on October 30, 1984.
9 comments:
That must be a typo in the newspaper ad announcing the new Rax would be open by October. There is no way they tore down and built a new restaurant in 2 months. It would take 6 months or more just to deal with city council and the building dept. Both Rax and Pondersoa would be welcome additions to Vermilion today as the food choices have become rather blah in Vermilion the last 30 years.
Although it's hard to believe, the Grand Opening for the Rax Restaurant in Vermilion was October 30, 1984.
That really is impressive. A complete demolition and rebuild of a restaurant in 3 months. Could you imagine a dairy queen burning down in June, but opening back up in September before the end of the season?
That owner had some bad luck - by '84, Hardee's was either taking over BC locations or closing them down. I wonder if his business was good enough to be converted to Hardee's?
The owner had tried previously to convert his Burger Chef into a Rax business, but was denied. Rax locations were growing and becoming popular at the time. Sales at that Burger Chef location had dropped, mainly due to the recent opening of the Vermilion McDonald's, and turning the store into Rax would boost sales. The electrical fire was Kistler's salvation, as he most likely would have gone out of business continuing as a Burger Chef restaurant.
I always enjoyed Raxes
Not sure what it posted as anonymous. This is Matt Nahorn, haha
I remember Burger Chef and its replacement, Rax! Wasn't Rax like an Arby's?
Hi Kimberly! Yes, Rax was very similar to Arby's, it had the same kind of processed roast beef. Their gimmick was the 'greenhouse' look to their restaurants with a sort of sun room in the front. They also had a salad bar, which was popular back then.
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