Up in Greensboro, Havis is similarly committed to carrying on the Biff legacy. “But for us to tear this building down, it would ruin everything. “The plumbing and wires are all getting old,” Musser says. The restaurant regularly hosts classic car rallies and generally thrives on the flashback appeal embodied by its five-decade old home, he says. “We’re still here, alive and kicking,” general manager Troy Musser says. Petersburg location is the only former Biff franchise with its original name, which, Catherman says, stands for “Best in Fast Food.” Opened in 1958, it operates out of its original building and uses original recipes. In the 20 years following the company's founding, the Branes opened at least 127 Biff locations from Florida to Canada. Eventually, all the Biffs closed except for two. went belly-up in the mid ’70s, leaving its former franchisees to fend for themselves. What is clear, however, is that National Biff-Burger System Inc. The story is hard to follow, the facts uncertain. Catherman’s theory is that Resorts International was more interested in gambling than burger flipping and, in 1976, when New Jersey legalized gambling, it washed its hand of Biff-Burger and tried its luck at casinos. He’s done his best to chronicle Biff-Burger’s demise, poring through the company’s franchise booklet and piecing together information from customers who contact him through his website to share their memories of the chain.Ĭatherman says the Mary Carter Paint Company, which allegedly owned National Biff-Burger System Inc., was sold to Resorts International for $9.9 million in 1968. (Catherman also considers Ronald McDonald a descendent of Biff-Burger’s mascot, Biffy the Clown.)Īfter their turn on the broiler, Biff’s burgers go for a dunk in a tangy, 27-spice sauce, which Catherman calls “the heart and soul of a classic Biff-Burger.”Īs for the company’s eventual failure, Catherman says it remains mostly a mystery. The process imparts a charbroiled taste to the burgers that set Biff apart in its hey-day, says Catherman, who believes Burger King took cues from Biff-Burger in developing its own signature cooking method. The Roto-Broiler takes Biff’s patties on a circular ride between two infrared heaters. He’s also substantially beefed up, including in-depth detail on Biff’s two culinary signatures, the Roto-Broiler and Biff’s Secret Sauce, which he says largely accounted for Biff-Burger’s success. locations in 14 states, as well as seven in Canada. In the 10 years since his local Biff closed, Catherman has documented the existence of 120 former U.S. “I can remember as a kid during the 1970s, before McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy's came into town, there stood an interesting little multicolored burger joint named Biff-Burger … which was as popular and nostalgic as an old diner,” Catherman wrote in a tribute at the time. He launched the website when his local Biff closed its doors in 2001, leaving just the Greensboro store and another in St. In the 20 years following the company’s founding, the Branes opened scores of Biff locations from Florida to Canada-at least 127, says Biff historian Christopher Catherman, but possibly hundreds more.Ĭatherman, a geologist at a private engineering firm in Hummels Wharf, Pennsylvania, has taken it upon himself to piece together the history of Biff-Burger on his website,. The Brane brothers’ first store opened in Clearwater, Florida, near the town of Largo, where they built broilers in their manufacturing warehouse. Staying in business for half a century is a big accomplishment for any restaurant, but it is particularly impressive for this eatery, which is one of only two remaining stores in a largely forgotten fast food empire called Biff-Burger.īiff-Burger was founded by brothers Bruce and Earl Brane in 1956, just as McDonald’s and Burger King were laying the groundwork to eventually dominate the American burger market. “I thought we’d never serve all the people waiting in line, but we just wanted to give something back to the community.” “We had a line from the window all the way out the back door and all the way across the back parking lot,” owner Ralph Havis says. On May 3, the fast food restaurant Beef Burger in Greensboro, North Carolina, celebrated its 50th anniversary by offering customers burgers for 50 cents.
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