The title of the first fast-food restaurant that started cooking hamburgers belongs to White Castle, opened in Wichita, Kansas, in 1921 by entrepreneur Billy Ingram. White Castle is that famous place where for the first time, back in 1929, burgers became the basis of the menu.
On August 13, 1921, the first White Castle restaurant was founded in Kansas, USA. It was the first fast-food restaurant and later the first large restaurant chain.
The founders of “White Castle” Billy Ingram and Walter Anderson considered their main task to be fighting stereotypes: the interior and even the exterior walls of their establishment were decorated with white tiles (hence the name), and the tables and doors were made of stainless steel whenever possible to create a sense of cleanliness. Moreover, the kitchen was located so that the cooking process was visible to customers.
This approach worked: the restaurant was popular and allowed to start expanding the business. By the end of the 1920s, White Castles was not only in Kansas and neighboring Nebraska but in all major cities in the “Midwest” of the United States.
And it all began with the fact that a cook named Walter Anderson worked in the city of Wichita (Kansas) in a grocery store. Later he opened his first diner in a converted streetcar. After his second and third locations, he was about to open a fourth, but one day he met Billy Ingram, an insurance and real estate professional. History omits the details of this meeting, but what we do know is that it was with it, in 1929, that the story of the White Castle burger restaurant chain began.
The owners of White Castle used some tricks: for example, they hired special people who wore doctors’ uniforms and stood in line for burgers. Thus, they convinced visitors that burgers are so safe and healthy that even doctors can eat them. In general, the work was tremendous, and it did pay off.
In a few years, the famous White Castle square burgers won a place in the hearts of Americans. And in 1933 White Castle began to turn into a huge network.
In the 1980s, White Castle tried to launch a worldwide franchise. Several restaurants were opened in Singapore, Japan, and Malaysia, but eventually, closed. However, a White Castle restaurant is quite successful in China, and Canadians enjoy their burgers in a convenience store format – they can buy frozen burgers from White Castle at almost any store in Canada.
The first White Castle restaurant is still in operation in New York City, and it’s not only a place for a tasty bite to eat but also something of a mecca for burger lovers.
Enjoying a delicious burger isn’t just for the very first White Castle, it’s more for those who came for the history rather than the snack. And for those who are just hungry, White Castle establishments open their doors and menus in almost every state. And there’s already speed and variety there, all in the best tradition of a thriving franchise in a thriving industry.
What is White Castle?
White Castle is the name of the very first fast-food chain in the world. It started to develop even earlier than McDonald‘s. At the very beginning of its development it was more successful, but, alas, due to conflicts among the directors, the company did not get a proper development and now has about 345 restaurants in the United States.
In terms of visual identity, White Castle is not a big fan of experiments and dramatic changes. The logo of the fast food chain is still based on the lettering style from the 1920s, with just small alternations in colors and graphics.
The original White Castle logo was introduced in 1921 and featured only a stylized lettering set on a plain white background with no graphical additions. It was a dark-blue inscription in a Gothic-style typeface, which perfectly suited the name of the restaurant chain, transmitting the medieval castle spirit.
The first redesign of the White Castle logo was held only sixty years after the establishment of the brand. The lettering remained the same but was now set in two levels, on a black-and-white rectangular banner. The banner had rounded angles, a thick black frame, and a geometric emblem in its upper part. The emblem was a square White Castle wall on a solid black background.
In 1996 the White Castle logo had changed its color palette to purple, black, and white, where the graphical elements remained monochromatic, and the lettering turned light-purple. The name of the fast-food chain was now set on an angular castle wall, with the characters going vertically expanded to the middle of the composition. This version of the logo stayed in use by the company for the next seven years.
The redesign of 2003 has introduced a modernized version of the iconic White Castle logo in a new blue, yellow, and white color palette. The inscription was refined and now has its characters slightly extended, with the modified contours. The blue lettering got its playful rhombus above the “I” colored in yellow. The wordmark is now set in two levels on a stylized castle wall, drawn in yellow, blue, and white.
The bold gothic lettering from the primary White Castle logo is set in a stylized typeface with elegant details and clean contours of the characters. The closest fonts to the one, used in this insignia, are, probably, Ravenholm Bold, Vivala Bl Medium, or Dark Angel, but with significant modifications of the contours.
As for the color palette of the White Castle’s visual identity, it is based on a bright and light combination of blue, yellow, and white, which looks very friendly and welcoming and evokes a sense of freshness and cleanliness, reflecting the original idea of the brand’s founders.