Photo: Pal's Sudden ServiceSauceburger
The local favourite: a small two-ounce patty with Pal’s tangy, ketchup-based sauce and nothing else to distract from it. It is cheap, messy and very East Tennessee, and small enough to order two. The sauce is the reason it exists.
The story
The Sauceburger is as old as Pal’s itself. Fred “Pal” Barger opened the first Pal’s in Kingsport, Tennessee, in 1956, a year after he went to a restaurant convention in Chicago and met Ray Kroc and Fred Turner, who were then building the early McDonald’s. The opening menu was tiny: Sauceburgers, Frenchie Fries, milkshakes and Coke. Pal’s grew slowly and stayed regional, but it became famous for speed and accuracy, and in 2001 it was the first restaurant company to win the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.
What’s inside
- 2 oz beef patty
- Pal’s ketchup-based sauce
- bun
Make it at home
There is no copycat of the Sauceburger yet. Until there is, these recipes on the site come closest to it, judged by what goes into the bun.
- Shares beef and a double stack
Whopper (Copycat) - Shares beef and a double stack
Peter’s Triple Bacon Burger - Shares beef and a double stack
Triple Seared Whiskey Burger - Shares beef
Chef John's Loco Moco
Similar burgers at other chains
Built around the same things as the Sauceburger.- Cook Out · beef and a double stack
SignatureBig Double Burger - Five Guys · beef and a double stack
Hamburger - Fatburger · beef and a double stack
Skinnyburger - A&W Canada · beef and a double stack
Papa Burger
More from Pal's Sudden Service
About Pal's Sudden Service
Fred “Pal” Barger went to a restaurant convention in Chicago in 1955, met Ray Kroc and Fred Turner, and studied how the first McDonald’s was being built and equipped. A year later he opened the first Pal’s in Kingsport, Tennessee. The chain has stayed close to home ever since, concentrated in the Tri-Cities region.
About 30 drive-thrus in northeast Tennessee and southwest Virginia, around the Tri-Cities.
Not affiliated with Pal's Sudden Service. Trademarks belong to their owners. The photo is credited under it and is used to illustrate this menu item; it comes down on request.