Halo Burger is celebrating their 96th birthday by serving up $1.96 QP Burgers on National Cheeseburger Day, Wednesday, September 18.
Halo Burger’s mid-western history started way back in downtown Flint in 1923, when burgers were sold out a box-car style restaurant under the name, ‘Kewpee Hotel Hamburgs.’ Shortly thereafter, Bill Thomas acquired the brand and it became ‘Bill Thomas’ Halo Burger.’ The company would go on to enjoy many years of growth and prosperity led by Bill Thomas and his son, Terry Thomas. It was during this time the community and the brand became one – as favorites including the Olive Burger, Boston Cooler and more were born. In 2010, the Thomas family relinquished ownership of the company and cut ties with the brand.
in 2016 Halo Burger was acquired by current ownership group, Halo Country LLC. Upon stepping on board, the new group made it their mission to return the company to its former glory. Olivia Ross, Halo Burger’s Director of Marketing explained, “When we came on board in 2016, we immediately learned customers were deeply unhappy with the changes made to the brand and went to work to bring back the Halo Burger everyone knew and loved. We’ve gotten as close to the original recipe as possible, restored our ties to the community and focused on creating the best guest experience possible.”
“Our first step was to bring back the original Halo Burger recipe,” says Daniel Stern, co-owner of Halo Burger. “After consulting the Thomas family, we made some major recipe changes to get as close as we could to what their family served back in the day. We moved back to never-frozen, one-hundred percent beef patties, hand cut our produce each morning, bake all of our chocolate chip cookies in store daily, and our locally sourced buns are fresh-baked and delivered three to four times a week. The newly launched breakfast menu offers breakfast sandwiches featuring farm-fresh eggs hand-cracked and grilled just like you’d enjoy at home. This brand was built on giving guests fantastic, real food and that’s something we’re proud to uphold.”
After 96 years, Halo Burger remains committed to sourcing fresh, local Michigan ingredients, their vendors include Michigan favorites such as Vernors, Abbotts Meats, Sanders, Koegels, Metropolitan Baking Company, Wolverine Meats, Hausbeck Pickles, Paramount Coffee, Pioneer Sugar and Kelloggs. The company makes continued efforts to source more Michigan-based products.
Halo Burger has made other strides in recent years. Most recently, the company began to offer beer at their Birch Run, Michigan restaurant. In early 2019, the brand launched breakfast system-wide, offering handmade favorites such as breakfast sandwiches, burritos and bowls.
They’ve also expanded their philanthropic outreach, donating nearly $100,000 to local non-profits since 2016. In 2017, the first ever Halo Burger Food Truck hit the streets, visiting festivals, graduation parties and everything in-between.
Additionally, the brand has grown their community outreach efforts, sponsoring little leagues, tournaments and other local events including the Crim Festival of Races, Back to the Bricks, Pink Night Palooza and more.
“Not only have we received immense positive feedback from our guests,” Ross says, “but the Thomas family has been big supporters of our journey since we took over. It means a lot to us.”
Halo Burger intends to continue to be a loyal member of the community and has plans to continue to expand the brand in the near future. For now, they’re focusing on celebrating 96 years of serving up heavenly burgers and fries the right way, through $1.96 QP Burgers on their 96th birthday. Guests can redeem the offer from 2 pm until 7 pm on Wednesday, September 18 at any of the eight Halo Burger locations. The $1.96 burgers will be limited to five per customer in the lobby and five per car in the drive thru and cannot be combined with other offers.
