It's National Tell a Story Day!
It's National Tell a Story Day! We might be a little biased, but the best story around is the story of how Dick's Drive-In came to be. And the best person to tell that story is DDIR President, Jasmine Donovan. She also just so happens to be the granddaughter of Dick Spady himself.
"My grandfather served in the navy as a Seabee during WWII and as a commissary officer for the air force in Japan during the Korean War. Shortly after he returned home to Oregon, he was at a small cafe getting lunch. The man behind the counter opened the door to a fridge and my grandfather saw that it was full of hamburger patties. He asked the server how long it took him to go through that many patties. The server laughed and said, “We go through this one and two more like it every day!” Doing some quick mental math, Grandpa realized there could be a good business in that.
He called one of his old Navy buddies and they put together a business plan. They decided Seattle was the best place to start this new business. Through family, they found a partner with some capital who would sign on as long as they modeled the new restaurant after the fast food concepts becoming so popular in California. They even went to California and paid one of these early burger concepts to work there for a day to learn the ropes.
Back in Seattle, they were having trouble raising the rest of the capital they needed to get the concept going. Banks were laughing at the idea of people standing in line outside to get food in a city where it rains all the time. Eventually, Grandpa asked the contractor to build our first building in exchange for profits earned once the restaurant opened. His response after consideration was, “My banker thinks it’s a crazy idea, my accountant says absolutely not, my financial advisers say it’s ridiculous to even consider, but if I did what they told me to all of the time, they’d be running this place, not me.” And the rest is history. The first Dick’s Drive-In opened in Wallingford on 45th St. on January 28th, 1954."
(excerpt of an interview with Jasmine Donovan from Funding Circle. Read the full article here)
Now that we've shared our story with you, make sure to share your favorite Drive-In story with us. We will be sharing them in future blog posts!
