tesg's guide to big chain road food consumption

CHAIN -- Burgerville
Owner -- The Holland, Inc
Primary Operating Region -- Portland, OR and surrounding area
Number of Locations -- 39 (2006)

Our story of this beloved regional heritage chain begins at a dairy.

Dutch immigrant Jacob Propstra started a dairy business in 1916.  The Holland Creamery Co. eventually evolved into a restaurant.  Son George served lunch at the counter.  Jacob died in 1961.  George debuted Burgerville USA April 11, 1961 at 7401 E Mill Plain Blvd in Vancouver (yes, it's still there), largely copying ideas from a walk-up burger joint with a simple menu of burgers, fries, and shakes.  There were seven stores in 1969, and 32 when George transferred the operation to family members and retired in 1992.  He died in 2004.  The Holland restaurant continued as a Vancouver landmark for 65 years before Burgerville's parent company shut it down.

The Burgerville of today bears little resemblance to the days of "Burgerville USA" with the shield logo and "Colonel Burgers".  Like most burger chains that survived from the 60's, Burgerville evolved.  Building design went from the original red-white-and-blue window-faced origins to big plain boxes to somewhat more creative boxes that included espresso bars (an idea that, like many things at Burgerville, came and went).  Logos changed a number of times as well, as did the menu, which has grown from the simple format to a line of premium (for fast food, anyway) products.  Burgerville reinvented itself so many times that the menu often looked like a train wreck waiting to happen, but today the operation seems nicely rounded out.  The current model focuses heavily on the regional brand names it uses and the way it operates its business, summarized nicely in its current logo as "Fresh. Sustainable. Local."  Burgerville drops names in reference to their use of local vendors (Franz for buns, Country Natural Beef, etc.)  The "Sustainable" part comes from recent moves Burgerville has made towards making the "social responsibility" crowd happy.  Burgerville has converted to using trans-fat free oils for frying, is now using windmill energy, and is recycling its cooking oil into biodiesel.

You can still get a simple hamburger at Burgerville, but the majority of the menu focuses in a more premium direction in the form of Colossal burgers or the Tillamook cheeseburgers.  The Colossal burgers feature Burgerville Spread, a proprietary sauce that looks to be about three parts mayo, one part mustard, and maybe up to one part diced pickle (though that's probably a bit much).  The Tillamook cheeseburgers get mayo instead of spread, and all of them get ketchup either way.  Regardless of what burger you choose, Burgerville doesn't put onions on ANY of them.

You can also get chicken, turkey or fish (Northwest halibut, of course) sandwiches.  You can substitute a side salad for fres in your combo.  There's a few entree salads.  Desserts feature milkshakes, yogurt smoothies, and sundaes with various seasonal items focused on through the year.  Drinks include the usual sodas, Odwalla lemonade (flavored with the seasonal berries in season), coffee, hot chocolate, and milk.  There's a breakfast menu which I have never ever tried.  Ever. 

Burgerville is content to remain a Northwest staple.  So don't look for a Tillamook Cheeseburger anytime soon in Cleveland.  But if you find yourself in Portland, you know where to go.

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