All language subtitles for The Food That Built America S02E09 Godfathers of Fast Food

- Hi!
Ya hungry?

- From
the backyard barbecue

to the fast-food counter-

- The hamburger is
a symbol of America.

- From beach
boardwalks to summer ballgames-

- Everyone's eating a meal of
fries, frankfurter, and drink.

-
Burgers and hot dogs

are as American as apple pie.

But a century ago,

almost no Americans eat them-

- People were repulsed
by the thought

of eating a chopped
meat sandwich.

- What was sold as hot
dogs could be rat meat.

- Until an ambitious
immigrant in New York-

- I want these to be

the highest quality
hot dogs on the market.

- And a pair of
innovative entrepreneurs

in the Midwest-

- We're shutting 'em all down.

- Fight
public mistrust-

- The whole country
is in shambles.

- And
internal conflict-

- Damn shame.

- What do ya say?

- To turn
these humble foods

into national icons,

change the way Americans
think about restaurants,

and give birth to a
$650-billion industry.

- The notion of fast-food,

being able to get it any time
you want, anywhere you go,

that could not have existed

without White
Castle and Nathan's.

- It's the 1910s,

and the First World War
is raging in Europe,

driving a new explosion of
immigrants in the United States.

- People didn't come
to the United States

necessarily for freedom.

They came because
they were hungry.

If you actually think about

the kind of quintessential
American story,

the story of immigration,
that's a story of food.

- Many immigrants
work long hours at factories,

with little time to
prepare hot meals.

- You're
working a long day.

People can no longer
produce their own food,

yet people still need to eat.

But eating out is something
that really only the rich do.

- Even in the
nation's largest cities,

restaurants are less common.

At the time, there are a
staggering 23,000 fewer of them

in New York City
than there are today.

Fine dining establishments
like Delmonico's

and Peter Luger
cater to the wealthy,

but poor factory workers
rely on unsanitary diners

called greasy spoons
for cheap meals

made from the cheapest
scraps of meat.

- When meat would go bad,

the butchers would
take it outta the case,

they would put in a meat grinder

along with sulfite additives,

and they would return it
to the case as ground meat,

and only the poorest
of the poor bought it.

- Slaughterhouses at the turn
of the century in America

were awful places.

They were unsanitary.

They smelled putrid.

Workers work on
the killing floor

covered with blood and feces.

These conditions didn't
produce the most sanitary meat.

- Nowadays, we laugh
and we're just like,

"Oh, it was so gross back
then, ha-ha," or whatever

and we don't really
give it any weight,

but people got really sick.

- Modern food chains

like the ones we rely on today
are practically unthinkable.

And in Wichita, one
small restaurant owner

is struggling to keep
his business alive.

- He started at college and
he didn't last long there

because he was known
as a ne'er-do-well.

He tried one thing after
another and never succeeded.

Wichita was industrializing
at a very rapid rate

in the early 20th century.

And of course, when you
have hungry workers,

you need people to
accommodate them,

and he saw the opportunity.

- He's
gambled his life savings

on an early version of a product

most Americans at the
time have never tasted

but he believes
has vast potential,

a little known dish
called the hamburger.

- The burgers that first
came onto the scene

beared little to no resemblance

to the burgers
that we know today.

It was essentially a meatball

between two slices
of white bread.

- His name
is Walt Anderson,

and one day the
empire he helps create

will generate $600
million in annual revenue,

reinvent the
American restaurant,

and be the spark that ignites

a $650-billion global
fast-food industry.

But for now,

he's battling ground
beef's dangerous reputation

by using nothing but the safest
high-quality ingredients.

- In the very beginning, he
would brine the meat himself.

And in fact, he creates
an open kitchen,

the first concept of its kind
in that kind of environment,

so that there was a
degree of transparency

and a degree of
reassurance to the customer

that this is well-made food.

- Anderson
believes he can continue

to build customers' trust,
but his sales are modest

and his ingredients
are expensive-

- We need groceries for
today's lunch shift.

I need you to go to the butcher,

get five pounds
of meat on credit.

- And it's
bleeding him dry.

- He didn't have any money,

so he actually bought
meat on consignment.

- How much longer
for my sandwich?

- I know, I
know, they're coming.

- Walt Anderson is a line cook

and by all accounts had sort
of a nervous disposition.

- Hey, man, I'm
starving, come on.

- No, they're coming.

- He would be rather
soft-spoken and calm

and then, when pushed,
could snap very easily.

- I gotta
get back to work.

Is it ready?

- It's fabled that Walt
Anderson was cooking his burgers

and they weren't
cooking fast enough.

- You know what?

You want it to cook faster?

- And he took his
big metal spatula

and slapped it down
on those meatballs-

- There you go.

- Creating the flat patty.

And he realized at that
point that the flat patty

was gonna cook much faster
and much more efficiently.

- After-hours,
Anderson begins experimenting

with his new flat patties.

- The burgers themselves,

being thin and small
helped them cook quickly.

Plus, those holes in the patties

allow for steam to pass
through the burger,

creating a juicy,
wonderful consistency.

They are cooked on
a bed on onions.

So, as the onions steam
and saute and sizzle,

they are giving that
flavor to the burger.

- To finish off
his signature creation,

all Anderson needs is the
perfect kind of bread.

- And because dinner rolls
were cheaper than sliced bread,

he also inadvertently created
the modern hamburger bun.

So, he saw that he had something

that was unique
and special there,

and it ends up being the birth

of the tiny burger that's
commonly known as a slider.

- In 1916,
decades before McDonald's

and Burger King will
build on his success,

Walt Anderson turns a
reviled peasant food

into the prototype for
the modern hamburger,

and Americans will
eventually consume

50 billion of them each year.

- The hamburger is
a symbol of America.

The first thing we think about

with other countries'
ethnicity is their food.

To the rest of the world,
when you think American,

the hamburger pops
into their head.

- Now,
all he has to do

is convince Wichita
locals to try it.

1,400 miles away,

a young Polish immigrant
works two jobs,

but can barely keep himself fed.

- Is Feltman working ya hard?
- He always is.

- He grew up one of 13 children,
with very little to eat.

When he first
arrived in New York,

he did what he knew,
which was to make shoes.

He eventually came
to Coney Island

because he was looking for
some extra work on the weekend.

- In the early decades
of the 20th century,

Coney Island represented
the leisure life,

the luxurious life.

You had ocean,
you had sideshows,

you had rides, you had games.

It very much was like a
modern-day Las Vegas or Miami

within a subway
ride of the city.

- His second
job is at Feltman's,

a sprawling seafood
restaurant and resort compound

that caters to the wealthy.

- You did hear what he was
saying today once again, right?

Just like one thing
after another.

- That's how Feltman
is, all right?

- Yeah.
- You just gotta roll with it.

- But
despite the long hours,

all he can afford to eat

is an afterthought
buried on the bar menu.

- I can't believe you
can eat those things.

They even look disgusting.

- A hot dog.

- I was gonna have
the stuffed lobster,

but turns out I'm poor.

- Feltman's restaurant
specialized in seafood,

like many restaurants did in
Coney Island at that time.

So, here is this
Polish-Jewish immigrant

who happens to notice
an item on the menu

that isn't quite as popular,
and that is the hot dog.

- Feltman's
founder Charles Feltman

claimed to have
invented the hot dog,

or Coney Island Red Hot,
when he first served

a spiced pork frankfurter
on a warm bun in 1867.

But by 1914, with no way of
knowing what they're made of,

they're considered
distasteful food for the poor.

- Now, in the
early 20th century,

what was sold as hot
dogs could be beef

or they could be rat meat, and
it was considered disgraceful

in the eyes of many Americans.

- Have you ever even tried one.

- I have no interest in
horse meat and pig butts.

- Well, I'm not
saying someone couldn't come up

with a better recipe,
but the price is right

and you can eat 'em

boardwalk or the beach.

- His name
is Nathan Handwerker,

and the iconic product
he helps popularize

will one day build a
$280-million empire,

revolutionize the
restaurant kitchen,

and make the hot dog as
American as apple pie.

But for now, he has no
idea how to make it.

- Mr. Feltman?

My name is Nathan Handwerker.

I'm a worker in your restaurant.

Anyway, I'd like to spend
more time in the kitchens,

if that's okay with you.

I really hope I'm not
overstepping my bounds,

but do you think
that would be okay?

- Why on Earth would
I possibly care?

You wanna work the
hot dogs, be my guest.

- Charles Feltman
agrees to let Nathan Handwerker

work the hot dog station
in his restaurant.

It's a move that will change
the American diet forever

and eventually cost
Feltman his empire.

- It's 1916, and New
York City's population has grown

to over five-and-a-half-million,
and nearly half of them

live in the city's 80,000
cramped tenement buildings.

- You've got immigrants

coming from different
European countries

coming in to urban America.

And then you think
about the living spaces,

you're in a tenement with
two, three, four families,

packed together,
poor ventilation.

You may not even have light
outside of your window.

- New Yorkers are
desperate to escape the city,

and Coney Island is
just a subway ride away.

- Coney Island, you could
actually get on the train,

get off, and be right there

in the middle of a
great amusement park

with all these things that
kinda takes you outta the mind

of being stuck in the city.

Felt like you'd been
transported somewhere.

That fantasy exists.

- Nathan
Handwerker has a dream

to feed the masses of tourists,

and he's been working
around the clock

at Feltman's restaurant
to make it a reality.

- He knew how to grind.

This was a hard-working
immigrant

who pinched his pennies

to such a degree that he
worked seven days a week

and slept in the back
of Feltman's restaurant

just to save money,

and he worked tirelessly
to save up $300.

- That's one of the
basic aspects

of being an entrepreneur.

The clock never stops ticking,

because an entrepreneur's gonna
work 12, 14, 18 hours a day

to get that business going.

But if you only wanna
work 9:00 to 5:00,

being an entrepreneur
is not for you.

- After two
years of saving every penny,

Nathan Handwerker invests
his $300 life savings

into a hot dog stand of his own-

- Every time they walk on the
boardwalk and on the beach,

they're gonna see our place.

- Opening it
just three blocks away

from his former employer.

- It takes a special kind
of maybe insanity or bravery

to open up a hot dog
stand down the street,

not only from the guy
who created the hot dog,

but from your former employer.

- In July 1916,

Handwerker opens his
doors for the first time,

offering hot dogs for 10
cents and lemonade for three.

But wary beach-goers
don't trust his products,

and nobody's buying.

1,400 miles away,

Walt Anderson's
groundbreaking new hamburgers

are gaining a reputation
among local workers

as a high-quality meal
served at lightning speed.

- The growth of fast-food

was really predicated
on innovators

thinking about efficiency
and price control

to make sure that
food gets delivered

as quickly as possible.

Fast-food could not become
the influential aspect

of American life
with the slider.

- The idea of fast-food,
meals in five minutes or less,

that was new and
people loved it.

- Anderson
plows his profits

back into the business,

and he plans to open
another location

in a building owned
by a local dentist.

- His success was
progressive, of course.

By virtue of the fact
that he was doing well

as a hamburger
stand gave him the,

essentially, the
financial strength

to move into a new location.

- Mr. Anderson?

- Yes, please, come in.

You must be the dentist?

- No, but I'm sure
my mother'd be

a lot prouder of me if I was.

I'm Billy Ingram.

- Billy Ingram
famously was impatient

and very detail-oriented,
and he's a real estate agent,

which is essentially a salesman.

- We spoke on the phone?

- The broker.

Where's the dentist?

- Well, that's why I'm here.

He's not coming,

and I felt I owed it to
you to tell you in-person.

Apparently, he's not comfortable

renting space in his building

to someone with your
particular,

clientele.

- And what is that
supposed to mean?

- You know what I mean,

the sorta people that eat
drunks, prostitutes.

I'm very sure I don't
have to tell you.

- A hamburger joint, as they
were called at that point,

were seen as rather
illicit operations.

It was grouped together with
crime, perhaps narcotics sales.

It was just considered very

questionable.

- That is the most ridiculous
thing I've ever heard.

We happen to serve
factory workers

and bachelors and,
hell, even families,

and we make a tidy profit
on every hamburger we sell.

Why do you think I'm looking
for another location?

- Billy came from
a sales background.

In Wichita, he was
selling insurance

and he was selling real estate.

He saw the hamburger
as a great opportunity.

- You know, if you're
making a tidy profit now,

imagine what we could do with
a hundred of these places.

- We?

- And he said,
"Why not take this

"to a broader customer base?"

- The
partnership formed

between Walt Anderson
and Billy Ingram

will change the face of
food in America forever,

but only one of them

will go on to reap
the greatest rewards.

Walt Anderson's new partner,

visionary entrepreneur Billy
Ingram, has a plan to expand

their fast, trustworthy
hamburger concept

beyond just factory
workers to all of Wichita

by taking out loans to open

not one additional
location, but seven.

- We wanna keep each spot small,

just enough room for a kitchen,
counter, and a few seats.

Smaller it is, less
there is to clean.

- People probably saw Billy
Ingram as insane in some ways

to leave a lucrative
real estate business

for something that was so risky,

but I would argue that
he probably saw something

that other people didn't.

And to him, it was
just about ambition

and passion for the product,

and that's what
really drove him.

- 10-by-15 across the board?

- I wanna create the
same exact experience

at every one of our locations.

- Hershey's chocolate
and Heinz ketchup,

those major brands
have established

over the many years
that they've been around

food purity and quality
and consistency,

but it still does not
exist for restaurants.

- Ingram and
Anderson plan to offer

a clean, consistent
experience for every customer.

All they need know is a name.

- Name recognition
is really the key

to drive customer perception.

It's all about how to
convince the customer

that you have a good product.

- It's the White Castle
System of Eating Houses.

- You can just use White Castle.

- System of Eating Houses.

- Print White Castle.

- The name of the restaurant

technically is the White
Castle System of Eating.

It's not White
Castle Restaurant.

The White Castle
System of Eating

means meticulous attention
to detail for cleanliness,

for supply, and for
delivery to the customer,

but it's not a name
that necessarily evokes

the flavor of the burger.

- Called
White Castle for short,

each restaurant is designed
to look like a fortress

of cleanliness and quality.

- When you're wearing white
smocks, white clothing,

when you have white
facilities, counters, walls,

you notice dirt and
bacteria very quickly.

If they had any kind
of dirt on them,

that would just be evident

because the color doesn't
conceal bacteria and dirt.

- The castle part, he said,
"I wanna show strength.

"I wanna show permanence,"
because prior to this,

hamburger stands were
fly-by-night operations.

- On
September 13th, 1921,

White Castle opened seven
locations across Wichita.

Decades before
McDonald's or KFC,

it's the first fast-food
chain in the United States.

- It's a chain that starts
out with an idea in mind,

which is to serve
a burger quickly

and cash in with a
couple of locations,

and they really
wanna build it out.

They really wanna turn
it into something big.

- Fast-food is a
wonderful treat.

It provides us a lot
of delicious foods

that can bring a lot of joy.

And for many of us,

we have a lot of great
memories of fast-food.

- White Castle
restaurants begin to catch on

with working men and
women across the state,

transforming the
once-reviled hamburger

into a staple throughout Kansas.

And Billy Ingram has his sights
set on further expansion.

Nearly 1,400 miles away,

hot dogs are still considered
unappetizing peasant food.

- The hot dog suffered,
like the hamburger,

from suspicion
that the meat in it

wasn't very pure or
very high quality

or didn't have a
lot of additives.

People thought, "How do I know

"this doesn't have
sawdust in it?"

- And Nathan
Handwerker is competing

with his former employer,
Feltman's restaurant,

for Coney Island's most
cost-conscious customers.

- That thing any good?

Where'd you get it?

- Place called Feltman's.

Yeah, great, great restaurant
just a few blocks up.

You can get 'em
for 10 cents a pop.

But, you know, there's
a little hot dog stand

right over there.

They're just as good, but
they only cost five cents.

- Oh yeah?
- Come with me, I'll show ya.

- Now, Feltman's
was famously serving

their hot dogs for a dime.

And to undercut Feltman's

by selling that same
item for half-price,

that was a big, bold
move on his part.

So, already you
understand that this guy

isn't just a hard worker.

He's a shrewd businessman and
he's a cutthroat businessman.

- When Nathan sold
frankfurters for five cents,

he was afraid that he might be
shut down by the authorities

because he was undercutting
other businesses

that were there
longer than he was.

- Handwerker
is now selling

one of the most affordable

and portable meals
in Coney Island.

- He's not earning a lot,

but people start noticing his
price and noticing his store.

- For now, Nathan
Handwerker is selling hot dogs

to the working class,
but his next innovation

will expand his reach
to millions of tourists

and spread its appeal
across the nation.

- By 1925,

Billy Ingram and Walt
Anderson's White Castle

is popularizing the
hamburger across the Midwest

almost single-handedly.

Over the last four years,

they've grown from seven
stores in Kansas to 13.

Now, they're spreading
across the Midwest,

with their revolutionary
chain growing to 44 locations

across three states, selling
84,000 burgers each week.

And rather than franchising,

Ingram and Anderson
own and oversee

each and every one themselves.

- Hey, the latest
sales numbers are in.

I think you're gonna be-
- We're shutting 'em all down,

every stand.

- What are you talking about?

- This is his chance
to take his vision

of a deeply successful
chain and make it a reality.

He has meticulous,
meticulous parameters

that have to be filled,

but Billy Ingram's
attention to detail

also ensures a very tense
working environment.

- Ray's been to three
locations this morning.

Burgers look different,
taste different,

managers aren't keeping
up with maintenance.

It's a total disaster.

- But these numbers are great.

- We're closed until I
say we're ready to open.

- Very often, Walt Anderson
didn't feel like a partner.

He felt like he was
working for Billy Ingram,

and that is a little bit
difficult for Walt Anderson.

- So, you'll often
find in partnerships

there's a creative
side to things

and then there's a
business side to things,

and you have to balance
those two things.

Some people just really excel

in one side of creativity,
like Walt Anderson,

who was the creative
force behind White Castle.

And some people,
they really shine

when it comes to
that business side,

and that would be Billy Ingram.

- To ensure quality,
decades before McDonald's

will launch its
Hamburger University,

Billy Ingram invents
a revolutionary

two-week fast-food training
program for all his employees.

They're taught
efficiency, cleanliness,

and friendly service,
hallmarks of fast-food

that will inspire the next
generation of entrepreneurs.

- Billy Ingram wants
to ensure quality

down to the last detail
at every single store.

There had to be white
uniforms, clean-shaven staff,

very, very, very
specific requirements

as to how they
presented themselves,

and he even lectures
his staff exhaustively

about body odor,
about good breath

because he wants
it to be perfect.

- When
White Castle reopens,

its newly-trained staff
sets a new standard

of cleanliness and service
that still reverberates

throughout restaurants
to this day.

On the East Coast, Nathan
Handwerker's hot dogs

are barely selling enough
to keep him afloat,

and he's looking for a way
to broaden their appeal.

He's already undercut
nearby Feltman's on price,

and now he sees another way
to position his product.

- Okay, how about this?

No pork.

Just brisket and sirloin.

All kosher.

- The term
"kosher" refers to compliance

with dietary guidelines set
forth by traditional Judaism

governing which
foods can be eaten

and how they must be
produced and prepared.

- Any person of
Jewish background

and even non-Jewish background
heard about kosher food,

knew that it was supposed
to be extra clean

and it was overseen
and blessed by a rabbi,

and therefore that was
a sign of high quality.

- But kosher meat
is typically more expensive

than conventional meat.

- At those prices,
there's not a chance.

- Okay, well, what if
we go without kosher?

- You'll still need
the cheaper filler.

- Beef cheeks.
- And brisket.

Ends.
- Done.

- The project the
high quality of kosher meat

without paying the
additional premium,

Handwerker shrewdly calls

his reformulated hot
dogs "kosher style."

- Using the "kosher style"
phrase was a smart move.

He wanted to satisfy
his clientele.

It was an all-beef frankfurter

and it was the
highest quality meat.

He still considered as good
quality as a kosher frankfurter.

- Even
though most Americans

have never even
tasted a hot dog,

he makes a bold move to
rebrand as Nathan's Famous.

- I think he had a very
competitive nature.

He was proud of what
he was producing there.

He felt good about
it, he worked hard.

And I think he saw other people

putting signs that said
"famous," and he was like,

"Well, if they're
famous, then I'm famous."

- They are a food
synonymous with New York,

the Nathan's hot dog.

Little crispy on the outside,
that delicious hot dog flavor,

the bun and the mustard.

Good stuff.

- To launch his
high-quality new hot dog

and his famous new branding,

Handwerker devises
a clever scheme

to combat the hot
dog's bad image.

- He's acutely aware of
what people's concerns are

They don't trust hot dogs.

They just don't.

- Okay, well, let

Are you interested in making

a little extra
money on the side?

All right.

See, the thing is
that some people

still think my hot
dogs are bad for you.

But if they see you eating them,
it might change some minds.

- So, what he does is
he sends out mailers

to all the local hospitals

saying that orderlies
and hospital staff,

even medical students,

if they come down in
their medical whites,

will get a discount
at his hot dog stand.

- I get a little good press,
you get a little cash.

And I won't even make
you pay for the wieners.

What do you say?

- The strategy
pays off and sales skyrocket,

with throngs of hungry tourists

gobbling up Nathan's hot dogs.

But just as Handwerker's
business is booming,

in October 1929, the
stock market crashes,

hurling the United States

into the biggest financial
crisis in history.

- On October
29th, 1929,

the US stock market crashes,

dragging the country into
the Great Depression.

- During the Great Depression,

people didn't have the money
for everything of daily life,

including food, and this
was a really big deal.

- The country was not used
to food lines and soup lines.

Most people had to make not
only their pocketbook stretch

but a food item stretch.

- In Coney Island,
Nathan Handwerker still offers

one of the least

the five-cent hot dog.
- Sir, how are ya?

- And with New
Yorkers suddenly desperate

for affordable food,
business is booming-

- Where are my buns?

- And he
has to find a way

to meet the growing demand.
- Sir.

- My grandfather, one of
the great things about him

was that he never forgot
where he came from.

He knew what it was
like to be poor,

so he cared that families could
eat for very little money,

and the crowds were
just incredible.

I mean, 20 deep, 30 deep.

They were pushing in
toward the counter.

The people want
food; they're hungry.

- His nickel hot dog
business takes off so fast

he has to figure out a way
to scale his operation up,

but there is no precedent.

There is no fast-food, so he
has to create his own playbook.

He doesn't have an
example to follow at all.

- Two hot dogs?

Two hot dogs,
please, two hot dogs.

Thank you so much.

Sir, here you are, my friend.

There you are.

- Decades before McDonald's

will revolutionize
restaurant kitchens

with their groundbreaking
Speedee System,

Nathan Handwerker borrows a
page from Henry Food's playbook

and turns his kitchen into
a hot dog assembly line.

- Nathan Handwerker figures
out that it's separate duties

and the efficiency
of each process

that will allow him to
meet this increased demand.

One station is for
grilling the hot dogs.

One is for preparing the buns.

And everything is tuned down
to the specific second it takes

to do each of these processes.

So, 30 years before McDonald's

was to popularize
the Speedee service,

Nathan Handwerker
was already doing it

right in Coney Island.

- With
a new 32-foot-long

heat-adjustable
carbon steel griddle,

Nathan's live assembly
line is now cranking out

75,000 hot dogs in
a single weekend.

And what was once a
humble hot dog stand

is now one of the busiest
restaurants in America.

- When they realize that
it may actually taste good

in this format, in this
tube with this bread

with all of the fixings, then
they ask for it more and more,

and then it becomes a staple.

- With
millions of visitors

bringing a newfound
love of hot dogs

to every corner of the nation.

- Hot dogs are some of the most
iconic American food forms.

It is immediately recognizable
before you even taste it,

before you even hold
it in your hand.

Nowadays, people make hot dogs
at home for every barbecue,

Memorial Day, Fourth of July,
just 'cause it's nice out.

We take hot dogs for granted.

We can't imagine in a
modern American society

a time when Americans
turned up their nose

at the thought of a hot dog.

- 1,400 miles away,

the Great Depression drives down

the cost of building
materials and labor-

- No, this looks fine.

Now, you're sure
the physical space

will be eight feet by 11 feet?

- And
Billy Ingram sees

an unprecedented opportunity.

- Okay, great.

What do you need to
break ground immediately?

I'll have a check
out for you today.

Thanks.

- Opening up more locations?

Really?

With everything that's going on?

The whole country
is in shambles!

- It's a damn shame.

What am I supposed to do, quit?

Life goes on.

- While
businesses across the country

struggle to survive, White
Castle expands into Detroit,

New Jersey, and New York City.

Walt Anderson
begins to step back

from the restaurant
chain he helped build,

focusing instead
on a new passion.

- Wichita, being the
birthplace of fast-food,

is also the birthplace of
the small plane industry,

and Walt Anderson,

once he started to get
some money together,

started to invest
in that industry

and started to
purchase small planes.

He became more and more
detached from the company,

giving Ingram much more
autonomy in running the company.

- To drive sales in
the midst of the Depression,

Billy Ingram unveils a
revolutionary new way

to offer customers value.

- Billy Ingram promoted
quantity buying

through newspaper coupons.

He would actually put
coupons in newspapers

saying you could get 10
White Castles for 25 cents.

- In 1930,
White Castle launches

the first-ever
restaurant coupon.

It's an overnight smash.

- One of the slogans
he came up with

was, "Buy 'em by the sack."

The customers responded by doing

exactly what they
were urged to do.

They bought a sack of
10 White Castle burgers

and they brought them
home to eat them.

It became the takeout method.

- Profits soar.

And within a year,
White Castle is selling

a whopping 20 million
burgers annually.

- It was really the
founders of White Castle

who tapped into almost an
unrecognized market demand,

even by consumers.

The idea that you
could get a hot meal

on the go was different,
and it was a huge success.

- In the wake of
their unprecedented success,

a sea of imitators spring up,
with chains like White Palace,

Royal Castle, and White Tower-

- America was saturated with
new fast-food hamburger chains,

direct copies of White Castle.

- Eating into
White Castle's profits.

- It's over a dozen lawsuits?

Okay.

However many people you need
to put on the White Tower case,

you got my approval.

- Ingram is
determined to defend

White Castle's name
and reputation,

no matter what the cost.

- Billy Ingram
has been at war

with White Castle's imitators,

pouring resources into a lawsuit

against a company
called White Tower.

And after a year of litigation,
Ingram wins the case.

- Well, that's the last of it.

Bill, I want you to know I
really do wish you the best.

- Sure, you too.

- Congrats, by the
way, on the lawsuit.

- And Walt
Anderson sells his shares

of the company to Ingram.

- Walt Anderson really
cared more about airplanes

than he did about hamburgers,

and essentially he
followed his passion.

He just decided to take a buyout

rather than to continue
with the company.

- Anderson gets
$340,000 for his stake,

the modern equivalent
of $7 million,

and Billy Ingram now has
sole control of the company.

The first fast-food chain
will eventually grow

to nearly 400 locations

and cement the hamburger
as an American staple.

- I think, when most
Americans think of a burger,

we take for granted today

we've had it a million
times in our life.

But at one point, someone
had to invent that.

That's crazy.

- By the mid-1930s,
Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs

is the single busiest
restaurant in America.

- I don't think there
was any other restaurant

that was serving the
quantities of food

or the amount of people.

The crowds were ginormous,
flooding the boardwalk,

flooding the beach,
flooding Surf Avenue.

I don't think most people
who go to Coney Island today

realize just how crowded
it was down there.

There was no one that didn't
eat Nathan's frankfurters.

Jerry Lewis, Jackie Onassis;

every famous person
that you could think of

would mingle with the locals.

- White
Castle may have pioneered

the fast-food chain,

but Nathan Handwerker
has built an empire

fueled by one
hyper-efficient kitchen.

- When McDonald's
was thinking about

starting their business,

they came down to
Nathan's to study it.

In fact, Nathan's sons,
my dad and my uncle,

they wanted him to do what
McDonald's and Burger King did,

but he was only interested
in his one store.

- Nearly six decades

after Nathan Handwerker
opened his stand,

Nathan's Famous Hot
Dog Eating Contest

will propel the
brand to new heights.

The company's hot dogs will
hit grocery store shelves

in 1983, followed by expansion
through franchising in 1985,

bringing in hundreds of
millions of dollars a year.

- I think the appeal of
Nathan's Hot Dog Contest

is really just for
the spectacle of it,

the brand recognition
that surrounds the event.

I don't think we're necessarily
supposed to gain appetite

by seeing people
downing those hot dogs,

but I think it's
important for the brand

to put their name out
there so that people

subconsciously or consciously
become aware of the brand.

- The
innovations of White Castle

and Nathan's Hot Dogs
lay the foundation

for modern casual dining

and a fast-food
industry that boasts

nearly 200,000 restaurants
across the United States.

- The notion of fast-food,
the notion of craving a burger

and being able to get it any
time you want, anywhere you go,

that could not have existed

without the White
Castle System of Eating.

- I don't think anyone's done
what Nathan's has done since.

I know there's Burger
King and McDonald's

and they created
their own system.

But in terms of the
quantity and the speed

and the quality of
that restaurant,

I don't think it's
been reproduced.

- Their
brilliant innovations

and relentless
entrepreneurial spirit

turn the once-maligned
hamburger and hot dog

into the pillars of
American cuisine.

- White Castle gave us
our standardized burger

that we still enjoy today.

I had one yesterday.

It gave us our style of delivery

that we call fast-food
or takeout food.

White Castle, in fact,
gave us in many ways

what we call the American food.

- Thanks to titans
like Nathan Handwerker,

Walt Anderson, and Billy Ingram,

the fast-food industry
is projected to be worth

nearly $1 trillion by 2027.

- Wendy's, Long John Silver's,
Kentucky Fried Chicken,

Rally's, Krystal, Chick-fil-A,

these businesses
become nationally

and then internationally
recognized.

Fast-food has become
a dominant force.