As soon as I learned about Druther’s Restaurant in Campbellsville, Kentucky, I contacted them through Facebook. Until then, I thought all the Burger Queen and Druther’s restaurants had shut down.
After speaking to Druther’s owner, Steve McCarty, I learned that his parents opened this location as Burger Queen #18 in 1970. It’s cool that Steve is doing his part to preserve burger history.
Burger Queen and Druther’s
Druther’s Meal Before the Book Signing
Lucky for me, he was all about it. Before the signing commenced, we enjoyed a meal.
Marcela ate biscuits and sausage gravy with country ham and hash browns. As you read this, we’re still talking about the deliciousness of the country ham.
It was tough to choose between the Royal Burger (a Double-Decker with lettuce, tartar sauce, and cheese) and the Quarter Deluxe (a Quarter-pound cheeseburger with mayo, lettuce, tomato, pickles, and onion), so I won’t.
You need to bring someone with you so you can try both. The regular burger is a pretty standard-size patty. I sampled also known as shared the double with cheese.
It’s fresh meat, folks, not the frozen pucks that pass for burgers nowadays. It was great and reminded me of what the Whataburger chain in Texas serves in look, taste, and texture.
It’s a historical spot with great food; what other reason do you need to stop here?
Druther’s
101 N Columbia Avenue
Campbellsville, KY
(270) 465-3870
Website – https://druthersrestaurant.com
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/DruthersRestaurant
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/druthers_restaurant
Monday 5:00 am – 5:00 pm
Tuesday 5:00 am – 5:00 pm
Wednesday 5:00 am – 5:00 pm
Thursday 5:00 am – 5:00 pm
Friday 5:00 am – 5:00 pm
Saturday 5:00 am – 5:00 pm
Sunday 6:00 am – 4:00 pm
Burger Queen History
Year Founded: 1956
City Founded: Winter Haven, Florida
Type: Regional
Founders: Harold and Helen Kite (Burger Queen); Tom Hensley and Bob Gatewood (Druther’s)
Number of Locations at the Chain’s Peak: 217
Locations Still in Operation: 1
Signature Burgers: Queen Burger, Royal Burger, Imperial Burger, Huckleburger, and Deluxe Quarter
Mascots: Queenie Bee (1970s) and Andy Dandytale (1980s)
Slogans: “Something Big’s Cooking at BurgerQueen,” “Let’s all follow Queenie Bee, it’s Burger Queen for me!” and “I’d Ruther Go to Druther’s Restaurant!”
The Burger Queen Story
Harold and Helen Kite opened the first Burger Queen restaurant in 1956. Outside that Winter Haven, Florida, was a twenty-foot-tall sign featuring a voluptuous woman wearing a crown with a wand. “Burger Queen Shake ‘n’ Burger,” “Thick Shakes,” “19-cent Broiled Burgers,” and “Broasted Chicken 79 cents” were in bold lettering. Tampa neon craftsman John F. Cinchett created the eye-catching sign.
George Clark and Michael Gannon, who were in the Air National Guard together, wanted to enter the fast-food business, taking the United States by storm. They had attempted to open Dairy Queen, Henry’s Hamburgers, and McDonald’s franchises but had been turned down for lack of funds. Gannon, who worked in the Taylor Freezer business, met Harold Kite in Florida and found out about his small but burgeoning Burger Queen chain.
Clark and Gannon bought a Burger Queen franchise for five thousand dollars in 1961. It took almost another year to convince a bank to lend them the money for the build-out. Their first location, in Middleton, Kentucky, opened on September 23, 1963. At that point, it was still selling out of a takeout window, while at a Burger Queen restaurant, you could enjoy your meal in the dining room. It was a success from the get-go. Fifty Burger Queens had spread across Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee in ten years.
Dairy Queen Lawsuit
In March 1970, American Dairy Queen Inc. of Minneapolis, a.k.a. Dairy Queen, brought a lawsuit against Burger Queen for using “Queen” in advertising. DQ claimed that BQ was infringing on fourteen different registered trademarks it owned. As part of the claim, Dairy Queen asked for monetary damages and wanted all advertising using “Queen” destroyed. This turn of events was interesting, considering what would happen in 1990.
Burger King purchased the Florida trademark for Burger Queen in 1966. It prevented Harold Kite from expanding in Florida for the next decade until he bought the trademark in 1976. By then, George Clark’s Burger Queen of Louisville (Gannon having left the company in 1970) had expanded to well over a hundred locations and had become the dominant part of the company. Clark even branched out to a short-lived seafood concept named King Neptune’s Seafood Galley in May 1976.
Expansion Plans and Name Change
The next few years saw Burger Queen expand internationally into Canada, Kuwait, Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. In the UK, Burger Queen rebranded the business as Huckleberry’s because it didn’t want to offend the Queen of England.
Near the end of March 1980, the decision to rename the company and its stores became a reality. In November, the Burger Queen restaurants in Fulton, Kentucky, and Union, Tennessee, were the first to convert to the new name of Druther’s.
A New York consulting firm, Lippincott and Margulies Inc., suggested changing Burger Queen‘s name to Druther’s and designed the logo. Lippincott and Margulies also told Humble Oil Company to change its name to Exxon, which worked out well for them.
The main thought behind the name change was that Druther’s was more than just a burger joint, which seemed lost on many people. All stores officially changed their names in June 1981. Druther’s now had 180 restaurants in five states (Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, and West Virginia) and franchise rights worldwide, except for Florida and Georgia.
Converting Stores to Druther’s
In September 1982, Tom Hensley and Bob Gatewood acquired the company entirely. By then, all of the Burger Queen restaurants in Florida were closing their doors, and they never converted to Druther’s.
All seventeen of the Huckleberry’s locations in the United Kingdom were sold to Grand Metropolitan in 1984; Grand Metropolitan converted them to Wimpy. Ironically enough, Wimpy was known initially as Wimpy Grills. It was founded in Bloomington, Indiana, back in 1934 and crossed the pond in 1954. Shortly after the passing of Wimpy Grills founder Edward Gold in 1977, all the United States locations closed.
Druther’s Locations Become Dairy Queen
In September 1990, Druther’s signed an agreement to become the territory operator for Dairy Queen. Before this, all the Burger Queen locations in the UAE and Kuwait closed.
By July 1991, one hundred Druther’s locations had converted to Dairy Queen, leaving only the twenty restaurants owned by the company and another fourteen franchises to turn. Many restaurants that never switched to Dairy Queen continued operating as Druther’s. They all eventually closed their doors over the next twenty-four years.
Druther’s Today
Druther’s International lives on as Bob Gatewood and Druther’s Systems. They co-own eight Dairy Queen restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, and West Virginia and are the landlords to another dozen DQs in the region.
One independent Druther’s Restaurant still fights the good fight in Campbellsville, Kentucky. Steve McCarty, a second-generation owner-operator, runs what was initially Burger Queen number eighteen. I’ve been there and met Steve, and I can tell you that eating at his restaurant was a highly enjoyable experience.
Burger Queen Locations
I’m currently working on listing all Burger Queen and Druther’s locations. If you know of one I may have missed, please leave a comment.
| State | Address | City |
|---|---|---|
| Florida | Arcadia | |
| Florida | 859 Cape Coral Parkway | Cape Coral |
| Florida | 705 7th Street | Dade City |
| Florida | 1130 N Tamiami Trail | Fort Myers |
| Florida | 3727 Palm Beach Boulevard | Fort Myers |
| Florida | 8717 Palm Beach Boulevard | Fort Myers |
| Florida | Haines City | |
| Florida | Lake Wales | |
| Florida | 619 E Memorial Boulevard | Lakeland |
| Florida | Grove Park | Lakeland |
| Florida | 1301 8th Ave W | Palmetto |
| Florida | 517 S Tamiami Trail | Punta Gorda |
| Florida | 1636 South Trail | Sarasota |
| Florida | Sebring | |
| Florida | N. Havendale Boulevard | Winter Haven |
| Florida | 620 Third Street S.W. | Winter Haven |
| Illinois | Hwy 1, K-Mart Shopping Center | Carmi |
Indiana | 905 W Main Street | Boonville |
Indiana | Clarksville | |
Indiana | 122 Patoka Bridge Road | Jasper |
Indiana | Jeffersonville | |
Indiana | New Albany | |
Indiana | Seymour | |
| Kentucky | Bardstown | |
| Kentucky | Bowling Green | |
| Kentucky | 101 N Columbia Avenue | Campbellsville |
| Kentucky | Falls Highway | Corbin |
| Kentucky | Cynthiana | |
| Kentucky | 462 W Main Street | Danville |
| Kentucky | Elizabethtown | |
| Kentucky | 109 Elm Street | Eminence |
| Kentucky | Fern Creek | |
| Kentucky | Franklin | |
| Kentucky | 268 Versailles Road | Frankfort |
| Kentucky | Georgetown | |
| Kentucky | 803 Happy Valley Road | Glasgow |
| Kentucky | Henderson | |
| Kentucky | Highway 68 | Hopkinsville |
| Kentucky | Jeffersontown | |
| Kentucky | Lebanon | |
| Kentucky | Main Street | Leitchfield |
| Kentucky | Lexington | |
| Kentucky | London | |
| Kentucky | 3933 Bardstown Road | Louisville |
| Kentucky | 4523 Bardstown Road | Louisville |
| Kentucky | 9150 Dixie Highway | Louisville |
| Kentucky | 902 DuPont Lane | Louisville |
| Kentucky | Eastern Parkway and Preston Highway | Louisville |
| Kentucky | 286 Hubbards Lane | Louisville |
| Kentucky | 5414 New Cut Road | Louisville |
| Kentucky | 5608 Outer Loop | Louisville |
| Kentucky | 8316 Preston Highway | Louisville |
| Kentucky | Madisonville | |
| Kentucky | 1002 Paris Road | Mayfield |
| Kentucky | Maysville | |
| Kentucky | Middletown | |
| Kentucky | Mt. Sterling | |
| Kentucky | Muldraugh | |
| Kentucky | Murray | |
| Kentucky | 902 S. Main | Nicholasville |
| Kentucky | Owensboro | |
| Kentucky | Paris | |
| Kentucky | Princeton | |
| Kentucky | Radcliff | |
| Kentucky | Richmond | |
| Kentucky | 101 W 2nd Street | Russellville |
| Kentucky | Scottsville | |
| Kentucky | 30 Main Street | Shelbyville |
| Kentucky | Somerset | |
| Kentucky | U.S. 27 | Stanford |
| Kentucky | Versailles | |
| Kentucky | 111 River Road | Whitesburg |
| Kentucky | Winchester Shopping Plaza | Winchester |
| Tennessee | Broadway and Odell Streets | Jefferson City |
| Tennessee | 2518 S Roan | Johnson City |
Tennessee | Paris | |
Tennessee | Springfield | |
| Virginia | 232 Tanyard Road | Rocky Mount |
Burger Beast Book Signing in Kentucky
The book signing was a blast. I was happy to finally meet Brian Easley, Vice President of Druther’s Systems (which co-owns several Dairy Queen locations in Indiana, Kentucky, and West Virginia).
He was integral in helping me gather many of the historical facts about Burger Queen and Druther’s for my book. While on that topic, please contact Brian if you have any stories, old pictures, or memorabilia of Burger Queen or Druther’s Restaurants that you’d like to share.
He is currently working on a coffee table book about the company’s history.
One last shoutout to my bud Jody High of High’s Trip and Roadside Facebook page, who drove from Durham, North Carolina, to Druther’s for the book signing. It was great seeing him again.
I also think I trained Steve’s dad.for his franchise. His partner was Logan Crume and if I am not mistaken his dad had a limp.
I worked as manager for the 1st burger queen franchisee in Radcliffe Ky. Before that I worked for the company at the Okolona store which came after Middleburg store in east end. I also worked for corporate in the capacity of area supervisor and in training department.I also assisted in the writing of the 1st owners manual.Did you ever hear the name Mick Gannon. My knowledge of Burger Queen is abundant and I would be more than happy to talk with you about it. The Real story.I look forward to hearing from you.