Original subtitles

- Hi! Ya hungry?

- From the backyard barbecue

to the fast-food counter-

- The hamburger is a symbol of America.

- From beach boardwalks to summer ballgames-

- Everyone's eating a meal of fries, frankfurter, and drink.

- Burgers and hot dogs

are as American as apple pie.

But a century ago,

almost no Americans eat them-

- People were repulsed by the thought

of eating a chopped meat sandwich.

- What was sold as hot dogs could be rat meat.

- Until an ambitious immigrant in New York-

- I want these to be

the highest quality hot dogs on the market.

- And a pair of innovative entrepreneurs

in the Midwest-

- We're shutting 'em all down.

- Fight public mistrust-

- The whole country is in shambles.

- And internal conflict-

- Damn shame.

- What do ya say?

- To turn these humble foods

into national icons,

change the way Americans think about restaurants,

and give birth to a $650-billion industry.

- The notion of fast-food,

being able to get it any time you want, anywhere you go,

that could not have existed

without White Castle and Nathan's.

- It's the 1910s,

and the First World War is raging in Europe,

driving a new explosion of immigrants in the United States.

- People didn't come to the United States

necessarily for freedom.

They came because they were hungry.

If you actually think about

the kind of quintessential American story,

the story of immigration, that's a story of food.

- Many immigrants work long hours at factories,

with little time to prepare hot meals.

- You're working a long day.

People can no longer produce their own food,

yet people still need to eat.

But eating out is something that really only the rich do.

- Even in the nation's largest cities,

restaurants are less common.

At the time, there are a staggering 23,000 fewer of them

in New York City than there are today.

Fine dining establishments like Delmonico's

and Peter Luger cater to the wealthy,

but poor factory workers rely on unsanitary diners

called greasy spoons for cheap meals

made from the cheapest scraps of meat.

- When meat would go bad,

the butchers would take it outta the case,

they would put in a meat grinder

along with sulfite additives,

and they would return it to the case as ground meat,

and only the poorest of the poor bought it.

- Slaughterhouses at the turn of the century in America

were awful places.

They were unsanitary.

They smelled putrid.

Workers work on the killing floor

covered with blood and feces.

These conditions didn't produce the most sanitary meat.

- Nowadays, we laugh and we're just like,

"Oh, it was so gross back then, ha-ha," or whatever

and we don't really give it any weight,

but people got really sick.

- Modern food chains

like the ones we rely on today are practically unthinkable.

And in Wichita, one small restaurant owner

is struggling to keep his business alive.

- He started at college and he didn't last long there

because he was known as a ne'er-do-well.

He tried one thing after another and never succeeded.

Wichita was industrializing at a very rapid rate

in the early 20th century.

And of course, when you have hungry workers,

you need people to accommodate them,

and he saw the opportunity.

- He's gambled his life savings

on an early version of a product

most Americans at the time have never tasted

but he believes has vast potential,

a little known dish called the hamburger.

- The burgers that first came onto the scene

beared little to no resemblance

to the burgers that we know today.

It was essentially a meatball

between two slices of white bread.

- His name is Walt Anderson,

and one day the empire he helps create

will generate $600 million in annual revenue,

reinvent the American restaurant,

and be the spark that ignites

a $650-billion global fast-food industry.

But for now,

he's battling ground beef's dangerous reputation

by using nothing but the safest high-quality ingredients.

- In the very beginning, he would brine the meat himself.

And in fact, he creates an open kitchen,

the first concept of its kind in that kind of environment,

so that there was a degree of transparency

and a degree of reassurance to the customer

that this is well-made food.

- Anderson believes he can continue

to build customers' trust, but his sales are modest

and his ingredients are expensive-

- We need groceries for today's lunch shift.

I need you to go to the butcher,

get five pounds of meat on credit.

- And it's bleeding him dry.

- He didn't have any money,

so he actually bought meat on consignment.

- How much longer for my sandwich?

- I know, I know, they're coming.

- Walt Anderson is a line cook

and by all accounts had sort of a nervous disposition.

- Hey, man, I'm starving, come on.

- No, they're coming.

- He would be rather soft-spoken and calm

and then, when pushed, could snap very easily.

- I gotta get back to work.

Is it ready?

- It's fabled that Walt Anderson was cooking his burgers

and they weren't cooking fast enough.

- You know what?

You want it to cook faster?

- And he took his big metal spatula

and slapped it down on those meatballs-

- There you go.

- Creating the flat patty.

And he realized at that point that the flat patty

was gonna cook much faster and much more efficiently.

- After-hours, Anderson begins experimenting

with his new flat patties.

- The burgers themselves,

being thin and small helped them cook quickly.

Plus, those holes in the patties

allow for steam to pass through the burger,

creating a juicy, wonderful consistency.

They are cooked on a bed on onions.

So, as the onions steam and saute and sizzle,

they are giving that flavor to the burger.

- To finish off his signature creation,

all Anderson needs is the perfect kind of bread.

- And because dinner rolls were cheaper than sliced bread,

he also inadvertently created the modern hamburger bun.

So, he saw that he had something

that was unique and special there,

and it ends up being the birth

of the tiny burger that's commonly known as a slider.

- In 1916, decades before McDonald's

and Burger King will build on his success,

Walt Anderson turns a reviled peasant food

into the prototype for the modern hamburger,

and Americans will eventually consume

50 billion of them each year.

- The hamburger is a symbol of America.

The first thing we think about

with other countries' ethnicity is their food.

To the rest of the world, when you think American,

the hamburger pops into their head.

- Now, all he has to do

is convince Wichita locals to try it.

1,400 miles away,

a young Polish immigrant works two jobs,

but can barely keep himself fed.

- Is Feltman working ya hard? - He always is.

- He grew up one of 13 children, with very little to eat.

When he first arrived in New York,

he did what he knew, which was to make shoes.

He eventually came to Coney Island

because he was looking for some extra work on the weekend.

- In the early decades of the 20th century,

Coney Island represented the leisure life,

the luxurious life.

You had ocean, you had sideshows,

you had rides, you had games.

It very much was like a modern-day Las Vegas or Miami

within a subway ride of the city.

- His second job is at Feltman's,

a sprawling seafood restaurant and resort compound

that caters to the wealthy.

- You did hear what he was saying today once again, right?

Just like one thing after another.

- That's how Feltman is, all right?

- Yeah. - You just gotta roll with it.

- But despite the long hours,

all he can afford to eat

is an afterthought buried on the bar menu.

- I can't believe you can eat those things.

They even look disgusting.

- A hot dog.

- I was gonna have the stuffed lobster,

but turns out I'm poor.

- Feltman's restaurant specialized in seafood,

like many restaurants did in Coney Island at that time.

So, here is this Polish-Jewish immigrant

who happens to notice an item on the menu

that isn't quite as popular, and that is the hot dog.

- Feltman's founder Charles Feltman

claimed to have invented the hot dog,

or Coney Island Red Hot, when he first served

a spiced pork frankfurter on a warm bun in 1867.

But by 1914, with no way of knowing what they're made of,

they're considered distasteful food for the poor.

- Now, in the early 20th century,

what was sold as hot dogs could be beef

or they could be rat meat, and it was considered disgraceful

in the eyes of many Americans.

- Have you ever even tried one.

- I have no interest in horse meat and pig butts.

- Well, I'm not saying someone couldn't come up

with a better recipe, but the price is right

and you can eat 'em

boardwalk or the beach.

- His name is Nathan Handwerker,

and the iconic product he helps popularize

will one day build a $280-million empire,

revolutionize the restaurant kitchen,

and make the hot dog as American as apple pie.

But for now, he has no idea how to make it.

- Mr. Feltman?

My name is Nathan Handwerker.

I'm a worker in your restaurant.

Anyway, I'd like to spend more time in the kitchens,

if that's okay with you.

I really hope I'm not overstepping my bounds,

but do you think that would be okay?

- Why on Earth would I possibly care?

You wanna work the hot dogs, be my guest.

- Charles Feltman agrees to let Nathan Handwerker

work the hot dog station in his restaurant.

It's a move that will change the American diet forever

and eventually cost Feltman his empire.

- It's 1916, and New York City's population has grown

to over five-and-a-half-million, and nearly half of them

live in the city's 80,000 cramped tenement buildings.

- You've got immigrants

coming from different European countries

coming in to urban America.

And then you think about the living spaces,

you're in a tenement with two, three, four families,

packed together, poor ventilation.

You may not even have light outside of your window.

- New Yorkers are desperate to escape the city,

and Coney Island is just a subway ride away.

- Coney Island, you could actually get on the train,

get off, and be right there

in the middle of a great amusement park

with all these things that kinda takes you outta the mind

of being stuck in the city.

Felt like you'd been transported somewhere.

That fantasy exists.

- Nathan Handwerker has a dream

to feed the masses of tourists,

and he's been working around the clock

at Feltman's restaurant to make it a reality.

- He knew how to grind.

This was a hard-working immigrant

who pinched his pennies

to such a degree that he worked seven days a week

and slept in the back of Feltman's restaurant

just to save money,

and he worked tirelessly to save up $300.

- That's one of the basic aspects

of being an entrepreneur.

The clock never stops ticking,

because an entrepreneur's gonna work 12, 14, 18 hours a day

to get that business going.

But if you only wanna work 9:00 to 5:00,

being an entrepreneur is not for you.

- After two years of saving every penny,

Nathan Handwerker invests his $300 life savings

into a hot dog stand of his own-

- Every time they walk on the boardwalk and on the beach,

they're gonna see our place.

- Opening it just three blocks away

from his former employer.

- It takes a special kind of maybe insanity or bravery

to open up a hot dog stand down the street,

not only from the guy who created the hot dog,

but from your former employer.

- In July 1916,

Handwerker opens his doors for the first time,

offering hot dogs for 10 cents and lemonade for three.

But wary beach-goers don't trust his products,

and nobody's buying.

1,400 miles away,

Walt Anderson's groundbreaking new hamburgers

are gaining a reputation among local workers

as a high-quality meal served at lightning speed.

- The growth of fast-food

was really predicated on innovators

thinking about efficiency and price control

to make sure that food gets delivered

as quickly as possible.

Fast-food could not become the influential aspect

of American life with the slider.

- The idea of fast-food, meals in five minutes or less,

that was new and people loved it.

- Anderson plows his profits

back into the business,

and he plans to open another location

in a building owned by a local dentist.

- His success was progressive, of course.

By virtue of the fact that he was doing well

as a hamburger stand gave him the,

essentially, the financial strength

to move into a new location.

- Mr. Anderson?

- Yes, please, come in.

You must be the dentist?

- No, but I'm sure my mother'd be

a lot prouder of me if I was.

I'm Billy Ingram.

- Billy Ingram famously was impatient

and very detail-oriented, and he's a real estate agent,

which is essentially a salesman.

- We spoke on the phone?

- The broker.

Where's the dentist?

- Well, that's why I'm here.

He's not coming,

and I felt I owed it to you to tell you in-person.

Apparently, he's not comfortable

renting space in his building

to someone with your particular,

clientele.

- And what is that supposed to mean?

- You know what I mean,

the sorta people that eat drunks, prostitutes.

I'm very sure I don't have to tell you.

- A hamburger joint, as they were called at that point,

were seen as rather illicit operations.

It was grouped together with crime, perhaps narcotics sales.

It was just considered very

questionable.

- That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

We happen to serve factory workers

and bachelors and, hell, even families,

and we make a tidy profit on every hamburger we sell.

Why do you think I'm looking for another location?

- Billy came from a sales background.

In Wichita, he was selling insurance

and he was selling real estate.

He saw the hamburger as a great opportunity.

- You know, if you're making a tidy profit now,

imagine what we could do with a hundred of these places.

- We?

- And he said, "Why not take this

"to a broader customer base?"

- The partnership formed

between Walt Anderson and Billy Ingram

will change the face of food in America forever,

but only one of them

will go on to reap the greatest rewards.

Walt Anderson's new partner,

visionary entrepreneur Billy Ingram, has a plan to expand

their fast, trustworthy hamburger concept

beyond just factory workers to all of Wichita

by taking out loans to open

not one additional location, but seven.

- We wanna keep each spot small,

just enough room for a kitchen, counter, and a few seats.

Smaller it is, less there is to clean.

- People probably saw Billy Ingram as insane in some ways

to leave a lucrative real estate business

for something that was so risky,

but I would argue that he probably saw something

that other people didn't.

And to him, it was just about ambition

and passion for the product,

and that's what really drove him.

- 10-by-15 across the board?

- I wanna create the same exact experience

at every one of our locations.

- Hershey's chocolate and Heinz ketchup,

those major brands have established

over the many years that they've been around

food purity and quality and consistency,

but it still does not exist for restaurants.

- Ingram and Anderson plan to offer

a clean, consistent experience for every customer.

All they need know is a name.

- Name recognition is really the key

to drive customer perception.

It's all about how to convince the customer

that you have a good product.

- It's the White Castle System of Eating Houses.

- You can just use White Castle.

- System of Eating Houses.

- Print White Castle.

- The name of the restaurant

technically is the White Castle System of Eating.

It's not White Castle Restaurant.

The White Castle System of Eating

means meticulous attention to detail for cleanliness,

for supply, and for delivery to the customer,

but it's not a name that necessarily evokes

the flavor of the burger.

- Called White Castle for short,

each restaurant is designed to look like a fortress

of cleanliness and quality.

- When you're wearing white smocks, white clothing,

when you have white facilities, counters, walls,

you notice dirt and bacteria very quickly.

If they had any kind of dirt on them,

that would just be evident

because the color doesn't conceal bacteria and dirt.

- The castle part, he said, "I wanna show strength.

"I wanna show permanence," because prior to this,

hamburger stands were fly-by-night operations.

- On September 13th, 1921,

White Castle opened seven locations across Wichita.

Decades before McDonald's or KFC,

it's the first fast-food chain in the United States.

- It's a chain that starts out with an idea in mind,

which is to serve a burger quickly

and cash in with a couple of locations,

and they really wanna build it out.

They really wanna turn it into something big.

- Fast-food is a wonderful treat.

It provides us a lot of delicious foods

that can bring a lot of joy.

And for many of us,

we have a lot of great memories of fast-food.

- White Castle restaurants begin to catch on

with working men and women across the state,

transforming the once-reviled hamburger

into a staple throughout Kansas.

And Billy Ingram has his sights set on further expansion.

Nearly 1,400 miles away,

hot dogs are still considered unappetizing peasant food.

- The hot dog suffered, like the hamburger,

from suspicion that the meat in it

wasn't very pure or very high quality

or didn't have a lot of additives.

People thought, "How do I know

"this doesn't have sawdust in it?"

- And Nathan Handwerker is competing

with his former employer, Feltman's restaurant,

for Coney Island's most cost-conscious customers.

- That thing any good?

Where'd you get it?

- Place called Feltman's.

Yeah, great, great restaurant just a few blocks up.

You can get 'em for 10 cents a pop.

But, you know, there's a little hot dog stand

right over there.

They're just as good, but they only cost five cents.

- Oh yeah? - Come with me, I'll show ya.

- Now, Feltman's was famously serving

their hot dogs for a dime.

And to undercut Feltman's

by selling that same item for half-price,

that was a big, bold move on his part.

So, already you understand that this guy

isn't just a hard worker.

He's a shrewd businessman and he's a cutthroat businessman.

- When Nathan sold frankfurters for five cents,

he was afraid that he might be shut down by the authorities

because he was undercutting other businesses

that were there longer than he was.

- Handwerker is now selling

one of the most affordable

and portable meals in Coney Island.

- He's not earning a lot,

but people start noticing his price and noticing his store.

- For now, Nathan Handwerker is selling hot dogs

to the working class, but his next innovation

will expand his reach to millions of tourists

and spread its appeal across the nation.

- By 1925,

Billy Ingram and Walt Anderson's White Castle

is popularizing the hamburger across the Midwest

almost single-handedly.

Over the last four years,

they've grown from seven stores in Kansas to 13.

Now, they're spreading across the Midwest,

with their revolutionary chain growing to 44 locations

across three states, selling 84,000 burgers each week.

And rather than franchising,

Ingram and Anderson own and oversee

each and every one themselves.

- Hey, the latest sales numbers are in.

I think you're gonna be- - We're shutting 'em all down,

every stand.

- What are you talking about?

- This is his chance to take his vision

of a deeply successful chain and make it a reality.

He has meticulous, meticulous parameters

that have to be filled,

but Billy Ingram's attention to detail

also ensures a very tense working environment.

- Ray's been to three locations this morning.

Burgers look different, taste different,

managers aren't keeping up with maintenance.

It's a total disaster.

- But these numbers are great.

- We're closed until I say we're ready to open.

- Very often, Walt Anderson didn't feel like a partner.

He felt like he was working for Billy Ingram,

and that is a little bit difficult for Walt Anderson.

- So, you'll often find in partnerships

there's a creative side to things

and then there's a business side to things,

and you have to balance those two things.

Some people just really excel

in one side of creativity, like Walt Anderson,

who was the creative force behind White Castle.

And some people, they really shine

when it comes to that business side,

and that would be Billy Ingram.

- To ensure quality, decades before McDonald's

will launch its Hamburger University,

Billy Ingram invents a revolutionary

two-week fast-food training program for all his employees.

They're taught efficiency, cleanliness,

and friendly service, hallmarks of fast-food

that will inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs.

- Billy Ingram wants to ensure quality

down to the last detail at every single store.

There had to be white uniforms, clean-shaven staff,

very, very, very specific requirements

as to how they presented themselves,

and he even lectures his staff exhaustively

about body odor, about good breath

because he wants it to be perfect.

- When White Castle reopens,

its newly-trained staff sets a new standard

of cleanliness and service that still reverberates

throughout restaurants to this day.

On the East Coast, Nathan Handwerker's hot dogs

are barely selling enough to keep him afloat,

and he's looking for a way to broaden their appeal.

He's already undercut nearby Feltman's on price,

and now he sees another way to position his product.

- Okay, how about this?

No pork.

Just brisket and sirloin.

All kosher.

- The term "kosher" refers to compliance

with dietary guidelines set forth by traditional Judaism

governing which foods can be eaten

and how they must be produced and prepared.

- Any person of Jewish background

and even non-Jewish background heard about kosher food,

knew that it was supposed to be extra clean

and it was overseen and blessed by a rabbi,

and therefore that was a sign of high quality.

- But kosher meat is typically more expensive

than conventional meat.

- At those prices, there's not a chance.

- Okay, well, what if we go without kosher?

- You'll still need the cheaper filler.

- Beef cheeks. - And brisket.

Ends. - Done.

- The project the high quality of kosher meat

without paying the additional premium,

Handwerker shrewdly calls

his reformulated hot dogs "kosher style."

- Using the "kosher style" phrase was a smart move.

He wanted to satisfy his clientele.

It was an all-beef frankfurter

and it was the highest quality meat.

He still considered as good quality as a kosher frankfurter.

- Even though most Americans

have never even tasted a hot dog,

he makes a bold move to rebrand as Nathan's Famous.

- I think he had a very competitive nature.

He was proud of what he was producing there.

He felt good about it, he worked hard.

And I think he saw other people

putting signs that said "famous," and he was like,

"Well, if they're famous, then I'm famous."

- They are a food synonymous with New York,

the Nathan's hot dog.

Little crispy on the outside, that delicious hot dog flavor,

the bun and the mustard.

Good stuff.

- To launch his high-quality new hot dog

and his famous new branding,

Handwerker devises a clever scheme

to combat the hot dog's bad image.

- He's acutely aware of what people's concerns are

They don't trust hot dogs.

They just don't.

- Okay, well, let

Are you interested in making

a little extra money on the side?

All right.

See, the thing is that some people

still think my hot dogs are bad for you.

But if they see you eating them, it might change some minds.

- So, what he does is he sends out mailers

to all the local hospitals

saying that orderlies and hospital staff,

even medical students,

if they come down in their medical whites,

will get a discount at his hot dog stand.

- I get a little good press, you get a little cash.

And I won't even make you pay for the wieners.

What do you say?

- The strategy pays off and sales skyrocket,

with throngs of hungry tourists

gobbling up Nathan's hot dogs.

But just as Handwerker's business is booming,

in October 1929, the stock market crashes,

hurling the United States

into the biggest financial crisis in history.

- On October 29th, 1929,

the US stock market crashes,

dragging the country into the Great Depression.

- During the Great Depression,

people didn't have the money for everything of daily life,

including food, and this was a really big deal.

- The country was not used to food lines and soup lines.

Most people had to make not only their pocketbook stretch

but a food item stretch.

- In Coney Island, Nathan Handwerker still offers

one of the least

the five-cent hot dog. - Sir, how are ya?

- And with New Yorkers suddenly desperate

for affordable food, business is booming-

- Where are my buns?

- And he has to find a way

to meet the growing demand. - Sir.

- My grandfather, one of the great things about him

was that he never forgot where he came from.

He knew what it was like to be poor,

so he cared that families could eat for very little money,

and the crowds were just incredible.

I mean, 20 deep, 30 deep.

They were pushing in toward the counter.

The people want food; they're hungry.

- His nickel hot dog business takes off so fast

he has to figure out a way to scale his operation up,

but there is no precedent.

There is no fast-food, so he has to create his own playbook.

He doesn't have an example to follow at all.

- Two hot dogs?

Two hot dogs, please, two hot dogs.

Thank you so much.

Sir, here you are, my friend.

There you are.

- Decades before McDonald's

will revolutionize restaurant kitchens

with their groundbreaking Speedee System,

Nathan Handwerker borrows a page from Henry Food's playbook

and turns his kitchen into a hot dog assembly line.

- Nathan Handwerker figures out that it's separate duties

and the efficiency of each process

that will allow him to meet this increased demand.

One station is for grilling the hot dogs.

One is for preparing the buns.

And everything is tuned down to the specific second it takes

to do each of these processes.

So, 30 years before McDonald's

was to popularize the Speedee service,

Nathan Handwerker was already doing it

right in Coney Island.

- With a new 32-foot-long

heat-adjustable carbon steel griddle,

Nathan's live assembly line is now cranking out

75,000 hot dogs in a single weekend.

And what was once a humble hot dog stand

is now one of the busiest restaurants in America.

- When they realize that it may actually taste good

in this format, in this tube with this bread

with all of the fixings, then they ask for it more and more,

and then it becomes a staple.

- With millions of visitors

bringing a newfound love of hot dogs

to every corner of the nation.

- Hot dogs are some of the most iconic American food forms.

It is immediately recognizable before you even taste it,

before you even hold it in your hand.

Nowadays, people make hot dogs at home for every barbecue,

Memorial Day, Fourth of July, just 'cause it's nice out.

We take hot dogs for granted.

We can't imagine in a modern American society

a time when Americans turned up their nose

at the thought of a hot dog.

- 1,400 miles away,

the Great Depression drives down

the cost of building materials and labor-

- No, this looks fine.

Now, you're sure the physical space

will be eight feet by 11 feet?

- And Billy Ingram sees

an unprecedented opportunity.

- Okay, great.

What do you need to break ground immediately?

I'll have a check out for you today.

Thanks.

- Opening up more locations?

Really?

With everything that's going on?

The whole country is in shambles!

- It's a damn shame.

What am I supposed to do, quit?

Life goes on.

- While businesses across the country

struggle to survive, White Castle expands into Detroit,

New Jersey, and New York City.

Walt Anderson begins to step back

from the restaurant chain he helped build,

focusing instead on a new passion.

- Wichita, being the birthplace of fast-food,

is also the birthplace of the small plane industry,

and Walt Anderson,

once he started to get some money together,

started to invest in that industry

and started to purchase small planes.

He became more and more detached from the company,

giving Ingram much more autonomy in running the company.

- To drive sales in the midst of the Depression,

Billy Ingram unveils a revolutionary new way

to offer customers value.

- Billy Ingram promoted quantity buying

through newspaper coupons.

He would actually put coupons in newspapers

saying you could get 10 White Castles for 25 cents.

- In 1930, White Castle launches

the first-ever restaurant coupon.

It's an overnight smash.

- One of the slogans he came up with

was, "Buy 'em by the sack."

The customers responded by doing

exactly what they were urged to do.

They bought a sack of 10 White Castle burgers

and they brought them home to eat them.

It became the takeout method.

- Profits soar.

And within a year, White Castle is selling

a whopping 20 million burgers annually.

- It was really the founders of White Castle

who tapped into almost an unrecognized market demand,

even by consumers.

The idea that you could get a hot meal

on the go was different, and it was a huge success.

- In the wake of their unprecedented success,

a sea of imitators spring up, with chains like White Palace,

Royal Castle, and White Tower-

- America was saturated with new fast-food hamburger chains,

direct copies of White Castle.

- Eating into White Castle's profits.

- It's over a dozen lawsuits?

Okay.

However many people you need to put on the White Tower case,

you got my approval.

- Ingram is determined to defend

White Castle's name and reputation,

no matter what the cost.

- Billy Ingram has been at war

with White Castle's imitators,

pouring resources into a lawsuit

against a company called White Tower.

And after a year of litigation, Ingram wins the case.

- Well, that's the last of it.

Bill, I want you to know I really do wish you the best.

- Sure, you too.

- Congrats, by the way, on the lawsuit.

- And Walt Anderson sells his shares

of the company to Ingram.

- Walt Anderson really cared more about airplanes

than he did about hamburgers,

and essentially he followed his passion.

He just decided to take a buyout

rather than to continue with the company.

- Anderson gets $340,000 for his stake,

the modern equivalent of $7 million,

and Billy Ingram now has sole control of the company.

The first fast-food chain will eventually grow

to nearly 400 locations

and cement the hamburger as an American staple.

- I think, when most Americans think of a burger,

we take for granted today

we've had it a million times in our life.

But at one point, someone had to invent that.

That's crazy.

- By the mid-1930s, Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs

is the single busiest restaurant in America.

- I don't think there was any other restaurant

that was serving the quantities of food

or the amount of people.

The crowds were ginormous, flooding the boardwalk,

flooding the beach, flooding Surf Avenue.

I don't think most people who go to Coney Island today

realize just how crowded it was down there.

There was no one that didn't eat Nathan's frankfurters.

Jerry Lewis, Jackie Onassis;

every famous person that you could think of

would mingle with the locals.

- White Castle may have pioneered

the fast-food chain,

but Nathan Handwerker has built an empire

fueled by one hyper-efficient kitchen.

- When McDonald's was thinking about

starting their business,

they came down to Nathan's to study it.

In fact, Nathan's sons, my dad and my uncle,

they wanted him to do what McDonald's and Burger King did,

but he was only interested in his one store.

- Nearly six decades

after Nathan Handwerker opened his stand,

Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest

will propel the brand to new heights.

The company's hot dogs will hit grocery store shelves

in 1983, followed by expansion through franchising in 1985,

bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

- I think the appeal of Nathan's Hot Dog Contest

is really just for the spectacle of it,

the brand recognition that surrounds the event.

I don't think we're necessarily supposed to gain appetite

by seeing people downing those hot dogs,

but I think it's important for the brand

to put their name out there so that people

subconsciously or consciously become aware of the brand.

- The innovations of White Castle

and Nathan's Hot Dogs lay the foundation

for modern casual dining

and a fast-food industry that boasts

nearly 200,000 restaurants across the United States.

- The notion of fast-food, the notion of craving a burger

and being able to get it any time you want, anywhere you go,

that could not have existed

without the White Castle System of Eating.

- I don't think anyone's done what Nathan's has done since.

I know there's Burger King and McDonald's

and they created their own system.

But in terms of the quantity and the speed

and the quality of that restaurant,

I don't think it's been reproduced.

- Their brilliant innovations

and relentless entrepreneurial spirit

turn the once-maligned hamburger and hot dog

into the pillars of American cuisine.

- White Castle gave us our standardized burger

that we still enjoy today.

I had one yesterday.

It gave us our style of delivery

that we call fast-food or takeout food.

White Castle, in fact, gave us in many ways

what we call the American food.

- Thanks to titans like Nathan Handwerker,

Walt Anderson, and Billy Ingram,

the fast-food industry is projected to be worth

nearly $1 trillion by 2027.

- Wendy's, Long John Silver's, Kentucky Fried Chicken,

Rally's, Krystal, Chick-fil-A,

these businesses become nationally

and then internationally recognized.

Fast-food has become a dominant force.