Chuck-A-Burger still offers tasty meals
Local eatery's history reflects ups, downs of fast food industry
By Lea C. Braff
Staff Writer
County Star Journal Sunday, January 28, 2001 Page D1

Mirriam-Webster, dictionary publishers, first referenced the term "fast food" in 1951. Only six years later, Bud Taylor opened the first "Chuck A Burger in the St. Louis area.

"My dad was the first manager," said Ron Stille, current owner of Chuck A Burger, about his father, Ralph Stille. "That's why I driver a '57 Chevy. It's on our logo; it's the Arch and a '57 Chevy coming through the Arch and a curb girl standing next to the car."

That first restaurant, which stood at Page and Pennsylvania Avenues, no longer exists. Of the eight Chuck A Burgers Taylor owned in 1973, only the St. John location, at 9025 St. Charles Rock Road, is still in operation.

But during the 50s and 60s, as the idea of fast food fanned out from California and gained popularity across the nation, the initial restaurant, then the chain, prospered.

"My dad was with them from the beginning," Stille said. "My dad worked for the First National Bank of Wellston. That's how they met. (Taylor) asked my dad if he would work for him, at first part-time, then full-time. It was a phenomenal success in the late 50s and 60s. In the 60s, this place and Steak 'n Shake - that was it. If you were a kid in high school, you cruised the parking lot, even if you didn't spend a lot of money," he said.

In fact, times were so good perhaps they lulled operators of the local fast food places into overreacting.

"They grew and grew, might have even got a little too big in the early 70s," Stille said reflectively. "They opened their own commissary in Pagedale. They made their own french fries, baked their own buns, everything. That got very costly and was the beginning of financial troubles. Add to that, in the late 60s, McDonalds, Burger Chef and many other came into town, big time."

Things got so tough, in 1973 Taylor decided to close all eight stores. Only the purchase of the St. John restaurant by a staff member saved it.

"My dad went and sold life insurance for four years," Stille said. "After four years, the other vice president wasn't making a go of it and he wanted to sell it. That would have been 1977. In 1982, we started Cruise Nights to take advantage of the nostalgia kick in force at that time. We've been doing that since 1982."

Also in 1982, Ron Stille started working at Chuck A Burger full-time. Up to then, he rehabilitated old buildings during the day, then worked at the restaurant in the evenings.

Stille still owns copies of the menu dating from the Chuck A Burger's glory days in the 60s. He said the remarkable fact is how little it has changed.

"Basically, the menu is almost identical, except for the prices, obviously," Stille said.

"We still use some of the same recipes: chili, the same seasoning to make a hamburger into a Chuck A Burger. The chili recipe is in a safe. Everything's juse like it has always been.. There's no central place to go and pay your bill; you pay the waitress or curb girl."

Curb service still goes all year long, too, just like it always has. Which raises the question of "just how fast is the fast food, anyway?"

"For a bowl of chili, it's seconds," Stille said, then laughed. "The burgers and fries are nor pre-cooked. We don't make it until you tell us, which is why our fast food is really not that fast."

*update* In the summer of 2005 the 1st new CHuck A Burger opened in 30 years in St. Charles at 370 and Elm Street. Ron is looking to open a couple more in the future.