White Castle May Offer Beer and Wine
White Castle may be offering beer and wine with its selections.
The 90-year old hamburger franchise has been testing out alcohol sales at restaurant in Indiana.
"This was something that customers had been suggesting," said Jamie Richardson, a spokesman for Columbus-based White Castle system, according to The Associated Press.
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"They thought that beer and wine might go nicely with the barbecue that was available at Blaze. We're certain that we might have some customers who might enjoy some sliders and a beer or wine as well,” he added.
White Castle has been experimenting with several offerings for just over a year. The beer and wine sales are part of a broader experiment with three concepts the company has been testing. Other than Blaze Modern BBQ, there's an Asian food brand, Laughing Noodle, at a White Castle in Springfield, Ohio, and a triple-decker sandwich concept, Deckers, in Lebanon, Tennessee.
A glass of wine or a domestic or seasonal beer is currently offered at a Lafayette, Indiana restaurant which combines a conventional White Castle with a new concept for the company called Blaze Modern BBQ. Wine costs $4.50 and beers start at $3.
Richardson said that customers have had a "very positive" reaction to the alcoholic beverages offered in Indiana, but as of now, the chain famous for its square “slider” is only considering whether to expand them to the two other co-branded restaurants.
White Castle may face some challenges selling beer and wine, one of them being many of the burger chain’s employees are not yet of the drinking age.
"What we find with fast-food places is, there's very strict regulations around training. Typically, a lot of the employees in fast food are under 21, so you get into some service issues," said David Henkes, a vice president with the Chicago-based food research firm Technomic.
"You get into some inventory issues. You get into whether distributors are willing to deliver to you because you're generally not doing a whole lot of volume in these categories,” said Henkes.
