That annual madhouse — 19-cent burger day at Dick’s — returns this week. Just ensure you hit the right branch if you want to cash in on the chain’s 71st anniversary burger special.
Dick’s Drive-In customers can use their spare change to get a 19-cent hamburger or cheeseburger Tuesday at the Wallingford, Capitol Hill and Lake City locations in Seattle; Wednesday on Queen Anne in Seattle, at Bellevue’s Crossroads and in Federal Way; and Thursday at the Crown Hill location on Holman Road in Seattle, plus the outposts in Edmonds and Kent.
Expect lines. As management reminds patrons every year, the 19-cent deal is only for one hamburger or cheeseburger per person. You can’t order a burger for someone waiting in the car with the hazard lights on.
The gimmick commemorates the chain’s Jan. 28, 1954, debut, when founders Dick Spady, Warren Ghormley and Dr. B.O.A. “Thom” Thomas opened their first drive-in on Northeast 45th Street in Wallingford.
Back then, the going rate was 35 cents for a burger, but the family undercut the competition by selling a patty for 16 cents cheaper, said Jasmine Donovan, president of Dick’s Drive-In and granddaughter of Dick Spady.
“Not many people believed that selling burgers for 19 cents, especially with a commitment to quality ingredients, could succeed, but for our customers it was love at first bite and here we are 71 years later,” she said in a news release.
The humble and iconic Seattle burger was the runaway winner in our reader poll of the city’s best burger in 2018 and has gotten shoutouts from local celebrities including Sir Mix-A-Lot, Macklemore and the Blue Scholars.
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