Locally loved, Swensons still hopping after 75 years

Some leave Akron, but they don't leave memories of favorite burger joint behind

Lisa Abraham // Akron Beacon Journal

There's rubber. There's Quaker Oats. There's Firestone golf. Then there is the only piece of Akron history that comes speared with a green olive.

Outsiders might know Akron for its industrial past, but only true Akronites know that a Galley Boy is as much a part of the city's history as the Seiberling family and O'Neil's department store. And unlike some of the others, Swensons Drive In is still here. This year, Akron's beloved hamburger joint turns 75. Few local institutions have been as much a part of the community's daily life as Swensons.

Swensons is where we go to celebrate our successes and console our losses. Swensons is the scene of our first job, first date, first kiss. We go there to get engaged, celebrate our weddings, and mark the passing of a Swensons lover. Swensons is the craving of Akron's expectant mothers — and it's where some of them have gone into labor, chowing down on hamburgers and pulled-pork sandwiches on their way to the delivery room.

It is the longing of soldiers in far-off battlefields, wishing they were home. It is the first place our children and grandchildren go when they come back to visit. It is our Sunday drive and our Saturday night.

Swensons owner Steve Thompson admits he is a bit surprised by the outpouring that has accompanied the birthday of his business. He's been so focused on running restaurants for the past 35 years, he doesn't often stop to consider how they have become such a fixture in the community. Stories of marriage proposals in the parking lot and brides and grooms pulling up in gowns and tuxedos bring a smile to Thompson's face.

''I wish I would have cataloged all of the stories I've heard over the years,'' he said. At 62, he is the third and longest owner of Swensons.

The chain started in 1934, when Wesley T. ''Pop'' Swenson opened up a small hamburger hut on South Hawkins Avenue in Akron's Wallhaven neighborhood. Swenson had been selling sandwiches out of his car to students at the newly constructed Buchtel High School.

Car hops, or curb boys, as they are called at Swensons, were a new idea in food service in the 1930s. They were always boys, usually college students — most often from the University of Akron. Curb girls didn't come along until much later into Thompson's ownership.

Son Opens a Second Location

By the early 1950s, Swenson's son, Franklin, had opened the second location on East Cuyahoga Falls Avenue in Akron's North Hill, which he and his wife, Polly, ran while he attended medical school at Case Western Reserve University.  Local businessman Bob Phillips, who owned a drive-in called Sweden's on Triplett Boulevard near Akron Fulton International Airport, purchased the North Hill location from Frank Swenson in the late 1950s, and renamed his airport location Swensons, too.

It was Phillips who invented the restaurant's signature sandwich, the Galley Boy, a double cheeseburger with two sauces — barbecue and tartar — that was first served at Sweden's. The restaurant had a Viking theme, and Phillips chose the name to reflect the galley of a ship. ''Bob Phillips was a great restaurant manager,'' Thompson said. Although he never worked for him, Thompson said, there were legendary tales of Phillips, including how he drove by one day, spotted papers in the parking lot, called the restaurant and fired the curb boy who answered the phone just to make his point.

Thompson is not afraid to admit that he, too, rules with fear, because, he says, statistics show that fear of the boss and of getting fired is what gets the job done.

Phillips died in the early 1960s, and not long after, Wesley ''Pop'' Swenson, died as well. Phillips' wife, Barbara, purchased the Wallhaven location from the Swenson family and ran it while her daughter and son-in-law operated North Hill.

Barbara Phillips, Thompson recalled, was a ball of fire but perhaps not the best business woman. The restaurants struggled under her management. It was Barbara Phillips who hired Thompson to be a curb boy at the Cuyahoga Falls Avenue location in 1967 while Thompson was attending UA. He could not have predicted that seven years later, he would be running one of the restaurants on his own. Thompson was meandering through college, taking his time, having a lot of fun, but not taking it very seriously. When his parents were killed in a house fire in 1971, things changed.

''I couldn't screw around anymore. I had to get going,'' he said. After college, Thompson sold insurance for a while but didn't like it. Finally, in 1974, he struck a deal with Barbara Phillips that he would run the Wallhaven restaurant for her. It was in such bad shape that she pretty much turned it over to him for nothing. ''I went from working the curb one day to being the owner the next. A lot of the staff were really shocked and worried,'' he said. By the late 1970s, he had also purchased the North Hill location from the Phillips family.

Over the years, Thompson said, he had fought to keep the restaurants the same, despite advisers telling him differently. ''I've fought everybody else's judgment. I've fought to stay in the hamburger business,'' he said.

Big on service

Today, he still likes the car hops at customers' windows before they turn their engines off, and he likes the orders to their cars within 10 minutes — eight minutes is the average. He hasn't been afraid to add items to the menu — salads and a chicken sandwich, for example. One lesson he learned from Barbara Phillips was: ''You never want to lose the car because of the fifth person in the car.'' He explained, if four people want burgers and one person doesn't, you want to be able to offer that fifth person a choice — maybe a shrimp dinner — so as not to lose all five customers.

There is much debate over who has the better burger, Swensons or Skyway, which opened in Fairlawn in 1952. Thompson said Akron is big enough for both of them, and the rivalry has always been a friendly one, with the owners often sharing ingredients if one was in a bind.

''Years ago, we'd share stuff all the time, but we'd never swap meat,'' he said.

Today, Swensons goes through 8,000 pounds of beef each week, which it grinds itself. About the supposed secret recipe of putting sugar in the burgers, Thompson won't reveal. But he said there is little in the burgers other than salt, pepper and real butter.

''Pop Swenson and Guy Witt invented the meat,'' he said. Witt was Swenson's friend and a local butcher. Thompson attributes the unique taste to the cuts of beef and the way it is ground. The bun is sweet, but that's as far as Thompson would go in revealing any secrets.  When he took over operation of Swensons, Thompson felt prepared because with his time as a curb server, he knew the business from both the kitchen and parking-lot sides of the operation. He committed to sending every order out exactly as it was placed and making sure the food was served fast and hot.

''I figured that if I could do that, I'd be OK,'' Thompson said. It's a business model that has worked.

Fort Wayne future location

There are now seven Swensons locations in Northeast Ohio — five of which Thompson owns and two of which, Jackson Township and North Canton, are franchises. The next franchise is planned for Fort Wayne, Ind. In 1999, the late R.W. Apple, an Akron native and longtime New York Times writer, penned an article for Forbes magazine on the 35 best places to eat in America. Swensons was on the list as ''America's best burger.'' The national recognition was the chain's proudest moment, Thompson said. He expects to open a Swensons in Columbus at some point, which he will own. ''I have to. It's the only growing city in Ohio,'' he said.

While franchising is not the same as running restaurants, Thompson said he knows that a business must grow to stay alive, so he's open to franchise opportunities. To those who wish there was a Swensons where they live in California or Kalamazoo, Thompson said, ''Come with your checkbook, and we'll figure out a way to get it done.'' While he's always got an eye on expansion, Thompson also is working on an exit strategy. He won't be too specific, but he said there are some younger folks who are interested in taking Swensons over when he is ready to step down, which he expects will come in about 10 years. His own children aren't interested. Two are psychologists, and one is a pharmacist. All three live out of state — San Francisco, Chicago and Portland, Ore.

''Once your kids go, they never come back,'' Thompson said. The youngest, a 13-year-old son from his second marriage, hasn't yet worked at the restaurants. All three of his older children did, and he reluctantly admits that two are now vegetarians: ''How does that look — the hamburger king of Akron and two of my kids don't eat meat?''

Thompson, however, continues to enjoy his product about twice a week. His personal order is a cheeseburger with mustard and pickles and a hamburger with mayonnaise and pickles, an order of potato puffs with a side of tartar sauce for dipping, and a hot fudge malt — if he's living large.

''I like burgers. I don't think there's anything more trustworthy than a burger,'' Thompson said.

Lisa A. Abraham can be reached at 330-996-3737 or labraham@thebeaconjournal.com.