Thursday, February 26 is National Chili Day. It’s also Founders Days for Gold Star Chili, and the kickoff of the 90-unit restaurant chain’s 50th anniversary commemoration.
To say thank you for 50 great years, all Gold Star Chili restaurants will offer Cincinnati-style chili lovers an exceptionally, great value: $3 3-Ways, all day long.
Gold Star Chili was founded in 1965 in Cincinnati, Ohio by the four Daoud brothers, Basheer, Charlie, Dave, and Frank. While attending the University of Cincinnati, the four brothers realized their American dream of owning a business. They pooled their cash and bought a classic burger joint, Hamburger Heaven, in the Cincinnati suburb of Mt. Washington. On the menu at Hamburger Heaven was a recipe for Cincinnati-style chili. The brothers tinkered and experimented with the recipe’s spice mix and flavor profile to create the “Flavor of Cincinnati” enjoyed today. After overwhelmingly positive customer response to the new recipe, the Daouds decided that their future was in chili, not burgers, and founded and incorporated Gold Star Chili in February 1965.
After 50 years of operation, Gold Star Chili has become a household name. For people who have lived in the greater Cincinnati area for any length of time, Gold Star is one of the city’s most iconic and recognizable brands and is deeply ingrained into the culture of the city. Its philanthropic endeavors have positively impacted dozens of area community and charitable organizations. It is the official chili of the Cincinnati Bengals and the Gold Star restaurant at Cincinnati Northern Kentucky Airport offers visitors to the city their first opportunity to sample its chili.
As proud as Gold Star Chili is about its heritage and its past, the company is even more excited about its future and building upon its legacy. Throughout 2015 Gold Star will be reinventing itself on multiple fronts to begin its next 50 years refreshed and reinvigorated. Over the course of the year, plans call for the introduction of the next generation of restaurant interior and exterior design, the opening of new locations, an evolved logo and new design standards, new products, and a refreshed menu. And while some future opportunities lay outside of the greater Cincinnati market, Gold Star Chili is, at its core, “Pure Cincinnati and proud of it.”
