History and olives on the menu at Michigan's Halo Burger

Having a burger "my way" means I want my burger garnished with a generous helping of sliced olives, and the Flint, Michigan, based Halo Burger is one of the few places where I know I can get olive burgers.

I don't remember when I first discovered Halo Burgers, but once I tried one of their olive-laden burgers, I was hooked. I even keep a jar of salad olives on hand at home so I can make my own olive burgers as heading to Halo Burger in Flint or Birch Run entails about an hour's drive for us.

It funny because I'm not that big of a fast-food burger fan. If I stop by a burger joint more than about twice a year, that's a lot for me. Still, when we found ourselves on I-75 near Birch Run recently, I made a special point to stop for an olive burger at the local Halo Burger.

Halo Burger looks like any number of other fast food joints, but I especially like the fact that it is a small local chain that traces its history back to 1923.

A man named Sam Blair opened the Kewpee Hotel in downtown Flint, Michigan, during 1923 and sold burgers from a boxcar-type wagon near his hotel. His "Kewpee burgers" with a flat-bottom bun and garnished with mayo, lettuce, tomato, and olives became very popular, and live on as Halo Burgers today.

Bill Thomas began working for Blair in 1938 and eventually ended up purchasing the business from Blair's estate in 1958. Someone else owned the "Kewpee" name, so Thomas renamed his hamburger biz to Bill Thomas' Halo Burger.

The Halo Burger menu may look like a typical burger joint menu, but the ability to add items like olives, bacon, or banana peppers to your burger and chasing it down with a thick shake or Boston Cooler (a vanilla ice cream and Vernor's ginger ale concoction developed in Detroit hand having nothing to do with Boston and everything to do with Vernor's here) makes it a great road food meal with a little local flavor.

We had the black raspberry shake that was the month's special the last time we visited Halo Burger. Again, I'm not a big fast-food shake person, but I loved this shake that tasted like fresh, thick, soft-serve ice cream.

If you visit the Web site, be sure to check out the gallery of photos on the Media page that follow Halo's history from the 1920s to present day.

Halo Burger has a handful of locations, with about a half-dozen outlets in the city of Flint. The Birch Run Halo Burger is particularly convenient for a quick road food fix as it is right off of I-75, a major north-south expressway in Michigan, and just across the highway from a major outlet shopping mall.

© Dominique King 2010 All rights reserved

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Comments

[mark]

This is what I love about bloggers - a post about olives in burgers - Excellent!!!

And, I have never had a Boston Cooler before - I think I need to experience that before I die.

Have a great day!

[Dominique King]

Mark-

Olivea in burgers...a very important topic :)
Do try a Boston Cooler, but make sure you have it with Vernors ginger ale! Any other ginger ale just isn't the same.