Читать книгу All about the Burger - Sef Gonzalez - Страница 17

White Castle Innovates

Billy Ingram started to differentiate White Castle from everyone else through innovation, pioneering new methods and ideas:

Better spatulas

Pancake turners were used to cook hamburgers, but they were not made to stand up to the job. So they cut old saws into pieces that were roughly about two inches square, then soldered a handle to make a custom spatula. Eventually, they found a manufacturer.

Electric dishwashers

White Castle was one of the first to install under-the-counter electric dishwashers. These forced them to redesign their mugs so that the rinse water would drain through slots on their bottom rims.

Better exhaust systems

Billy created an exhaust system that allowed the fumes from the hot flat-top to escape upwards via an enamel hood and later a glass hood.

Improved meat sources

As they expanded into new cities, White Castle would locate a meat supplier that only used US government-inspected beef from specific cuts to give it the right flavor.

Paper hats

They procured a patent for folded-paper hats to replace the linen ones of the day. Four years later, as the Paperlynen Company, they manufactured paper hats not only for themselves, but for other restaurants.

Custom buns

White Castle had two bakeries making all of their buns.

Special cartons

A cardboard carton with heat lining was created (the first of its kind in the food industry) so that the burgers at the bottom of the sack would not get soggy or crushed.

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In 1924, the company transitioned from partnership status to incorporating as the White Castle System of Eating House Corporation. The following year, they opened their twentieth location.

To encourage closer relationships between the home office and its employees, plus customers who might be interested, Billy Ingram created a company newsletter named the Hot Hamburger. The name was later switched to The White Castle Official House Organ after a December 1925 contest.

The creation and patenting of a moveable, all-metal White Castle building design with enamel panels on the outside happened in 1928. Due to constant design changes in their early days, fifty-five of them were built. Six years later, White Castle created a new division, Porcelain Steel Buildings Company, to fabricate their castles and equipment.

The switch to frozen beef from fresh happened in 1931 when one of the larger meatpacking companies was able to ship square frozen beef patties to anywhere that White Castle wanted. As they rolled out the frozen patty program over the next few years, it also helped to standardize the hamburgers at every restaurant.