side and on the service side.” Cravers have seen changes in their Castles over the years. New and rehabbed blue, orange and white interiors boast features such as an open kitchen, free Wi-Fi and Coca-Cola Freestyle stations, where Bartley says customers combine Coke products to create over 140 different flavors. Similarly, the menu reflects trends in consumer tastes. Ingram notes two additions: the Sriracha sauce-infused chicken breast slider, a limited-time item that appealed to a desire for bolder flavors, and the Impossible Slider, a 2018 addition featuring a plant-based protein patty produced by Silicon Valley-based Impossible Foods that Bartley and Rife say tastes like a real hamburger. “We’re no longer limiting ourselves to being a hamburger company,” Richardson says. “We’re a slider restaurant. And that gives us freedom to meet our changing customer needs.” But White Castle isn’t White Castle became known for its restaurants’ distinctive white turrets. looking to rule the burger Customers even develop recipes fea- White Castle food-truck world. Ingram points out turing sliders as the key ingredient for stops, help deter m i ne that remaining a familycompany-sponsored contests. The very where new Castles are ow ned company (nine first winner, in the early 1990s, was a young built, according to fourthfourth-generation memJamie Richardson woman who came up with a broccoli generation President and bers, including Richardcheese casserole. The best recipes end up CEO Lisa Ingram. son and Rife, and one fifthin cookbooks. Those hamburger fans have generation descendant are In 2015 the first of three reunions at restaurants and completely Las Vegas-area Castles— actively employed in the book restaurant tables on Valentine’s Day the first outposts west of business) allows W hite evening. the Mississippi—opened Castle to pursue its goals of consistently providing Richardson says an average seven to 10 in The Best Western Plus of the most passionate Cravers (identified Casino Royale on the Strip. a quality product and good by the lengths they go to satisfy a yen for or The action was the result work i ng env i ron ment exhibit devotion to White Castle) have been of a licensing agreement without worrying about inducted into the Cravers Hall of Fame with a group of familyshort-term numbers. each year since it was established in 2001. owned convenience stores. Ingram points out that “The testament to the brand is the re- (At press t ime anot her some workers have been Lisa Ingram lationship we have with our customers,” is scheduled to open in with White Castle for up Chief Marketing Officer Kim Bartley says. Scottsdale, Arizona, in 2019.) And in 2017 to 40 years. Of the top 450 restaurant“We will create memorable moments for the company entered into a joint venture operation leadership positions, 442 are them. We’ll read their stories. We take with a management company to open two held by employees who started behind a seriously their comments that come into locations in Shanghai, the first outside counter at an hourly rate. us. We talk to every customer who gives the United States since an unsuccessful “I don’t know if there’s a genetic thing, us an opportunity to talk to them. … They international foray during the 1980s. but we’re sort of control freaks,” Ingram “[The country’s] middle class is the same says good-naturedly. “We really want to may not always like what we have to say, like why we can’t open a restaurant in their size as the U.S. total population,” Ingram be able to make sure that the legacy of neighborhood, but we definitely let them explains. “And when you go to China, it Billy lives throughout the generations looks a lot like any big city that you might and throughout the Castles, throughout know we’re listening.” Those customer pleas for local restau- go to in the U.S. in that there are lots of the plants, throughout the customer exrants, along with retail sales and lines at American brands there, both on the retail perience.” n w w w.ohiobusinessmag.com . W I N T E R 2 0 19
41