Sandy's

Last updated
Sandy's
FormerlySandy's Drive-In (1956–1981)
TypePrivate
Industry Fast-food restaurants
FoundedJune 1958;65 years ago (1958-06) as Sandy's Drive-In in Peoria, Illinois
Founders
Defunct1979;44 years ago (1979)
FateCompany became a Hardee's franchisee
Successor Hardee's
Headquarters Kewanee, Illinois, U.S
Number of locations
Over 120
Area served
  • Midwestern United States
Key people
 Gust "Brick" Lundberg, W.K.Davidson
Products Hamburgers

Sandy's was a chain of American fast-food restaurants begun in 1956 by four entrepreneurs from Kewanee, Illinois: Gus "Brick" Lundberg, Robert C. Wenger, Paul White and W. K. Davidson. Sandy's was the ancestor of the midwestern franchises of the Hardee's restaurant chain.

Contents

History

Beginnings

In 1956, the four men set out to start one of the first McDonald's franchises outside the McDonald brothers' home state of California. Ray Kroc had just begun selling McDonald's franchises outside California, and the four friends partnered to buy the right to open McDonald's restaurants in central Illinois. In June 1956, they opened their first restaurant in Urbana, Illinois, only the third McDonald's restaurant to open outside California. The Urbana store proved popular with students, professionals, and young families at the University of Illinois. It did so well that the group decided to open additional stores in Decatur, and Peoria, Illinois. [1]

However, Ray Kroc notified them that Peoria and Decatur were not included in the central Illinois territory, and furthermore, that changes to the terms of the franchise meant they would owe a higher percentage of their profits to McDonald's. Having invested heavily in the Peoria location, including erecting the building, Lundberg and his partners decided instead to open their own restaurant, and settled on the name Sandy's. The chain adopted a Scottish-based theme to combat the Scottish-rooted McDonald's, even though the latter was not based on a cultural theme of any kind. Lundberg was named president. [1]

Early success

The menu of the first Sandy's restaurant included a 15¢ hamburger, a 20¢ milkshake, and a 10¢ bag of french fries, much like McDonald's. However, none of the four founders were interested in expanding their local chain. Lundberg, in particular, viewed the enterprise as a chance to build a "people-oriented organization whose members worked hard but also had some fun while earning a legitimate profit." [1]

Sandy's was different in a number of ways from other fast food chains of the time: [1]

Ray Kroc did not act indifferently. He filed an ongoing series of lawsuits which finally ended with an out-of-court settlement in 1965. Despite this distraction, Sandy's grew from seven stores in Illinois in 1959 to 121 in five states in 1966. In 1961, insurance man Jack Laughery was so impressed with Lundberg and his business approach that he left a successful practice to join Sandy's, becoming president in 1967.

Bill Schelly in his memoir Sense of Wonder reminisced about visits in the mid-1960s when in downtown Pittsburgh he made to "a handy hamburger joint named Sandy's (a McDonald's imitator) for greasy cheeseburgers, mounds of salty fries, and massive sodas". [2] In 2009 Schelly posted further comments on a Sandy's fan website:

"The Sandy's we went to was an inner-city variety, sandwiched (so to speak) between two other stores, it was small and if it had tables at all, these were circular with small diameters, like 18". The decor, as I recall, had a lot of orange & yellow, but my memory could be playing tricks on me. We'd buy 3 burgers and 2 orders of fries a piece, because the burgers weren't very big, and huge Cokes, and take all the food back to my Dad's office downtown. ... " [3]

Takeover by Hardee's

By the end of the 1960s, Sandy's, though still successful, was short of cash, a major handicap with the pricey new television advertising being actively employed by its competitors. Meanwhile, the successful Hardee's chain in the Southern U.S. (founded by Wilbur Hardee) had money and was looking to expand its operations. The solution was a merger. On November 30, 1971, a Hardee's purchase of all of Sandy's stock was announced, and Sandy's plaid berets were soon to be seen no more. [4] [5] Sandy's had expanded to Belgium and Canada before its dismantling.

Originally, Sandy's was only to merge with Hardee's and maintain its own identity, but in 1973, ninety percent of the locations agreed to switch to Hardee's; the other ten percent remained Sandy's. In 1979, the last Sandy's location in Muscatine, Iowa, became a Hardee's. [6] Any remaining locations went under independent ownership and changed their names to avoid infringing on the Sandy's name. These locations included Zandy's in Great Falls, Montana until it closed in January 2009 after a break in and declining profits, Sandee's in Billings, Montana, Andy's in Cincinnati, Ohio and Bucky's in Lawrence, Kansas and Winona, MN until it closed down on December 14, 2007 and November 5, 1989 respectively.

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Frazer, Timothy & Frazer, June (Fall 1988). "Gust E. "Brick" Lundberg". Journal of Business Leadership. 1 (2). Archived from the original on November 7, 2014 – via American Business Hall of Fame. Note: a new version of the reprint appears at http://anbhf.org/laureates/gust-e-brick-lundberg-2/ .
  2. ↑ Schelly, Bill (2001). Sense of Wonder: A Life in Comic Fandom. Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 94. ISBN   9781893905122 – via Google Books.
  3. ↑ "Sandy's Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania". Captain Ernie's Showboat (fan site). Archived from the original on 2011-04-29. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
  4. ↑ "Hardee's Plans to Buy Midwest Fast-Food Firm" . Wall Street Journal . December 1, 1971. p. 17. Alternate Link via ProQuest.
  5. ↑ "Sandy's Chain Plans to Merge Into Hardee's" . Chicago Tribune . December 1, 1971. p. G7. Alternate Link via ProQuest.
  6. ↑ Rector, Rick (March 8, 2016). "McDonald's is our kind of place". Quad-City Times .
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