Dick's Drive-In allowed fans to vote for where its new location should be, and the results are in.
The South End is finally getting a Dick’s Drive-In. But you’ll have to wait until fall of 2018, maybe even winter for those beloved burgers and shakes.
Got food on your mind?
Sign up for Eats & Drinks, our insider newsletter featuring the latest restaurant news and reviews, happy-hour hangouts, recipes and more.With much fanfare, the Spady family announced Monday its seventh Dick’s Drive-In will be in south King County. No specific location has been chosen yet, but Jim Spady, president of Dick’s Drive-In Restaurants, said it will be “no farther south than Federal Way.”
The much-loved local burger-and-shake franchise created much buzz when it allowed fans to vote whether the next Dick’s Drive-In should be in south King County or on the Eastside. Spady said 177,645 votes were cast, and Renton and Redmond even passed resolutions inviting Dick’s Drive-In to build in their communities.
The Eastside will eventually get a Dick’s Drive-In after the south location is up and running at the end of 2018, Spady said. (Bellevue did have a Dick’s Drive-In during the mid 1960s that didn’t do well and shut down, but Spady is confident it will thrive on the Eastside this time around.)
Most Read Life Stories
This will be the second Dick’s branch outside of Seattle after it expanded to Edmonds in 2011. Dick’s pulled the same stunt then when it polled fans to pick its next location, and more than 115,000 fans responded online. Dick’s has five Seattle locations — Wallingford, which opened in 1954, Broadway (1955), Holman Road (1960), Lake City (1963) and Queen Anne (1974, and the only sit-down location).
Have a suggestion on a good corner in the South End for the next Dick’s Drive-In? Operators are standing by. Dick’s reps want tips and leads on “a parcel that is approximately one acre in size, close to high schools, colleges, nightlife and busy highways.”