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Hamburger chain has fat chance of success
Eric Heyl is a Tribune-Review staff writer. He can be reached via e-mail or 412-320-7857.
As panic mounts over the nation's collective weight problem, a California fast-food chain is launching a major expansion. It plans to open 250 restaurants nationwide, including 15 in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
The place is called Fatburger. Hence the suspect timing.
Perhaps never before has there been such anti-fat sentiment as there is now. One reason might be a study I heard about the other night while lying on the couch watching TV and devouring a bag of potato chips.
Excuse me? Oh, the salt-and-vinegar ones with the ridges. Why do you ask?
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report concludes obesity might soon surpass tobacco as the nation's number one killer. The study says that 400,000 people died in 2000 from a bad diet and lack of exercise -- a 35 percent increase over just a decade ago.
Scary stuff. Seems fat no longer is just something that can keep you from getting a date on Saturday night or force you to the husky pants section of Kohl's.
Fat can kill you.
The problem has become so severe McDonald's recently announced the phasing out of supersize portions of its fries and fizzy drinks. Krispy Kreme is test-marketing a low-sugar doughnut it hopes will appeal to dieting and diabetic snackers, who probably should just stick with an apple or banana.
Even some of fat's most profound pushers are taking notice. So why would a restaurant chain with national aspirations continue to bear the name of this foul substance?
"Actually, the origin of our name has very little to do with calories or carbohydrates or fat," Fatburger spokesman Dan Pittman said.
You're going to have to elaborate a bit there, Dan.
"Back in the '50s, when the first Fatburger opened, the term 'fat' was more a connotation of cool -- as in' fat city' or 'fat times,' " Pittman said. "Our founder, Lovie Yancey, was connected to the blues and jazz scene. She knew a lot of fat cats."
She certainly did if they regularly dined at Fatburger.
Pittman said the restaurant has a grilled chicken sandwich and soon will roll out a low-carb bunless burger. But its signature items remain the Fatburger, a third-of-a-pound hamburger, and the twice-as-large and aptly named Double Fatburger.
If the mound of meat isn't enough, you can add cheese, egg, bacon, chili, ranch dressing -- and visits to a cardiologist.
Pittman said Fatburger has no intention of changing its name, and standing pat might prove to be astute. If this hand-wringing over fat lasts as long as the average fad diet, I can envision even more unappealingly named burger joints eventually surfacing.
Anyone up for a Deluxe Double-Bypass at Hardened Arteries?
