Krystal (restaurant)
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Krystal is a hamburger restaurant chain in the Southeastern United States. It is known for fresh, small, square sandwiches, and is often compared to (and thought to have been inspired by) the similar restaurant, White Castle. The two chains overlap in market area only in the greater Nashville, Tennessee area.
Founded October 24, 1932 in Chattanooga, Tennessee in the middle of the Great Depression, entrepreneur Rody Davenport Jr. and partner J. Glenn Sherrill theorized that even in a severe economic upheaval, "People would patronize a restaurant that was kept spotlessly clean, where they could get a good meal with courteous service at the lowest possible price." Krystal is the second-oldest hamburger chain in the United States and the oldest in the Southeast. Krystal still maintains corporate headquarters in Chattanooga, and has been owned by Port Royal Holdings, Inc. since 1997.
Krystal restaurants, both company-owned and franchised, operate in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.
Its burgers are also distributed in frozen boxes by grocery stores nationwide.
The first Krystal was at the corner of Seventh and Cherry Streets in Chattanooga. It is no longer standing. The oldest still-standing Krystal is on Cherokee Boulevard in Chattanooga's Northshore District. Like White Castle, its northern counterpart, Krystal is often seen as part of the so-called stoner culture.
Krystal is one of the few fast food restaurant chains to offer free wireless Internet access to customers with a laptop computer. Known as "The Krystal HotSpot", the service (as of 2004) is available at more than 50 of the store's total 425 restaurants for use by any computer equipped with an 802.11b Wi-Fi wireless network card.
See also
- White Castle — considered to be much like Krystal but for the northern part of the United States.
External link
- The official Krystal web site (http://www.krystal.com)