
Everyone most likely knows White Castle from Harold and Kumar’s 2004 hit movie where these two well known stoners only crave this food and head on a journey to get the ‘best’ burgers in “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle.” It’s a 90-year-old hamburger chain known for it’s square “slider” burgers, but now, don’t worry you can get beer and wine if you go to the store in Indiana and most likely nationwide soon.
According to an article in the Chicago Tribune, customers had been suggesting for a while that they be able to get a beer or a glass of wine while eating at this fine dining institution, so now, they can. It was implemented mainly to go with barbecued food, said Jamie Richardson who is the spokesman for Columbus-based White Castle System Inc.
There are of course other fast food joints that have implemented this prior to White Castle. Burger King opened the Whopper Bar South Beach, which is a restaurant in Miami Beach that offers beer and Starbucks has been testing beer and wine in a few pilot markets and if all goes well, this will be nationwide sometime in 2012.
The selling of alcohol is a growth opportunity for flat sales and is extremely profitable to the operator, which will boost profit margins but also customer spending. So far, there has been a very positive reaction to implementing this in Indiana and White Castle is considering expanding this into two other co-branded restaurants. There are challenges of course, as with every new implementation into a standardized business. There is a lot of training that goes into having people who can take on the responsibility associated with serving alcoholic beverages, a lot of employees in fast food arenas are under the age of 21, and there are as expected, inventory issues. Most likely, White Castle isn’t letting this stop them from moving ahead though since it has had such a positive response already and is benefiting not only the customers but sales as well.
