Requiem for a Burger

A bantam is a small breed of chicken. What does that have to do with burgers? Plenty, at least if one lives in the southeastern US!

According to Wikipedia:

A bantam is any small variety of fowl, especially chickens... The name bantam is derived from the city of Bantam... once a major seaport in Indonesia.

The following is my own account of a website I read years ago. I was going to reference that site here, but can no longer find it.

Based on the concept of the small-sized bantam chicken, an entrepreneur decided to create a small-sized restaurant and sell franchises to help others get started in their own business. He called his enterprise Bantam Chef, and franchisees were allowed to use the name. That gives the appearance of a large chain of restaurants, although each is privately owned and operated.

The restaurants feature a big griddle on which food can be cooked, a fryer, some small ovens, and a milkshake machine. Common fare is burgers, hot dogs, chili dogs, BBQ sandwiches, fish plates, chicken tenders, fries, onion rings, salads, and a variety of other items.

They make the best milkshakes, from scratch! My favorite is the Peanut Butter Milkshake, and you can watch employees dig the peanut butter from a commercial-sized jar of JIF® as they're making it. They also have banana shakes and pineapple shakes, made with real fruit. Oreo® and Reeces® shakes are available, as well as chocolate and vanilla for traditionalists.

Other popular menu items are soft-serve ice cream, sundaes, and banana splits. In fact, many people pop-in for a cone on a hot summer day and then walk out with it, enjoying it as they walk or drive to another destination.

Bantam Chef is also one of the few places remaining that serves old-fashioned Hot Fudge Cake, which I have loved since I was a child. It's made by placing vanilla ice cream between two slices of chocolate cake, drizzling it with hot fudge sauce, and topping it with whipped cream and a maraschino cherry.

So, why is this post titled "Requiem for a Burger?"

One day a while back, I drove past the restaurant on a Friday evening and the lights were off even though it should have been during a busy dinner-hour. As odd as that was, I thought perhaps the place was temporarily closed for renovations. Subsequent trips past the place never showed any signs of activity, and it became obvious that they were closed, permanently. No one with whom I have spoken knows what happened, which is odd for a small town (popularion 3,000) where everyone makes it a point to know everyone else's business.

My theory is that they lost business because of the influx of the big-chain restaurants coming to town. Prior to the late 1970s, Bantam Chef was one of only four or five places in town to get a burger, relatively quickly — and none of them were "fast food" places. Although Bantam Chef cooked food to-order, it didn't take long with the grill already hot. First, history was made when McDonald's came to town, followed by KFC, Hardee's, and then more chain-restaurants arrived over the next thirty years.

I don't know how long Bantam Chef was here, as it was already operating when my family moved here 55 years ago. Our Bantam Chef was number two in the chain, so it was the first franchise after the original restaurant launched. It is sad to see a business with such history close. There are other locations across the southeast, and I hope they survive the onslaught of the big-chain players. Even though I only visited Bantam Chef once every month or three, I will miss their tasty burgers and incredibly good peanut butter milkshakes!