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tesg's guide to big chain road food consumption CHAIN -- Mean
Gene's Burgers Verne Gange knew a good wrestling announcer/interviewer when he saw one. They had to have a solid presentation. They had to be able to hype like a carnival barker. And most importantly, they had to be short, so the wrestlers would look larger than life. Mean Gene Okerlund fit the bill like nobody before or after. Okerlund worked for Gange's American Wrestling Association (AWA) for years before being picked up by the eventual dominating force in the industry, Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation (now known as World Wrestling Entertainment), and later his competitor, Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Okerlund is synonymous with hype and one of the best pitchmen for any industry in the world. Okerlund was paid by Sioux Falls, SD-based Orion Food Systems, a company headed by two of his nephews, to put the "Mean Gene" name on a brand. Orion was basically a food distributor that franchised out a variety of quick-serve food concepts, then distributed the food the franchisees offered. The company name was changed to Hot Stuff Foods in 2005, lifted from their most established brand, Hot Stuff Pizza. You could find their brands (limited now to three available for future growth) in truck stops, bigger gas station/convenience store/restaurant hybrids, and even occasionally mall food courts, usually with multiple brands operating side-by-side. The Mean Gene brand was later expanded to Mean Gene's Pizza, a pizza brand designed primarily for outlets in bowling alleys. All of this came to a halt in 2006 when Okerlund and Hot Stuff split. Okerlund and one of the nephews were planning to start their own food company on the brands, but Hot Stuff sued, claiming they had "Mean Gene" trademarked. My first Mean Gene's experience was in the shiny new College Drive Texaco in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The man behind the counter fielded all sorts of questions from wrestling fans with pretty much two answers..."We're just a franchise" and "I don't know who he is." He clearly hated any questions. He also spent a significant amount of time on the phone discussing his daughter's car, which had gone missing, and which he'd be paying JD By Ryder for forever because "it was the only way I could get one". At least that's what I got out of the conversation. Mean Gene's menu was standard burger joint fare...Burgers, fries, shakes, hot dogs, and a breakfast menu. Most menu items could have come from any fried burger joint USA, but there were some standouts like the "Blazin' Cajun Burger". I tried a limited-time menu item called the Ranch Cruncher Burger. It was a burger with fried onions (not onion rings, although they did appear to be very lightly breaded to get that crunch) and a wealth of toppings. Good burger. There was a LOT of WCW cross-promotion going on with the brand that went by the wayside when WCW was sold to WWE. If Mean Gene's was in your sight, you wouldn't have been any worse off than you would be at McDonald's. You just wouldn't have been any better off either. Click here to return to tesg's guide to big chain road food consumption |