Kewpee

I visited the Kewpee in Lima, Ohio this week.  Wendy's was based on this chain.  It has three locations in Lima.  Its burgers are definitely better than Wendy's.  They really pay attention to the quality of the meat and the freshness of the bun.

The rest of the menu isn't special except you can get relatively fresh pie (not made on the premises).  If I remember from previous visits you can get rhubarb pie there as well.

I've eaten in a lot of burger joints including Flip burger in Atlanta.  It is a different experience at Flip, for example.  The burgers were fantastic there but it has a different vibe, playing to a hip crowd (not me).  The Kewpee is a Lima icon and what they do, they do well.  I'd like to think how much they'd explode if they catered to a different audience, added newer music and updated some of the decor.

I can almost understand why because there is a certain ambience maintained by keeping 50's era (or earlier) fixtures and tables.  You could keep that feel though and still make it a little bit better.  But then, I've never owned a burger joint so what do I know?  The other two locations look to be of 70s era but they do not have the feel of this joint.

Here's pics and one of an old red schoolhouse in the middle of nowhere, NW Ohio.  No big deal, you just don't see them very much anymore.