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Krystal is a hamburger restaurant chain in the Southeastern United States.

It is known for small, square hamburgers, and unique breakfast food like the "Scrambler," a mixture of eggs, sausage and other items such as pancakes or grits.

A Krystal restaurant.

Founded October 24, 1932, in Chattanooga, in the first years of the Great Depression, entrepreneur Rody Davenport Jr. and partner J. Glenn Sherrill theorized that even in a severe economic upheaval, "People would patronize a restaurant that was kept spotlessly clean, where they could get a good meal with courteous service at the lowest possible price." Krystal is the second-oldest hamburger chain in the United States (the oldest being White Castle) and the oldest in the South.

Davenport and Sherrill set up the first Krystal at the corner of Seventh and Cherry streets in Chattanooga. While the building still stands, the original Krystal restaurant is no longer in operation. The oldest Krystal still in operation is located on Cherokee Boulevard in Chattanooga's Northshore District.

Map showing the states with locations of Krystal Restaurants (in red) along with states with locations of White Castles (in blue). States with both Krystals and White Castles are colored in green.

Krystal restaurants, both company-owned and franchised, operate in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. There is also a single Krystal in Bristol, Virginia (which lies on the Tennessee-Virginia border) and one in Salem, Virginia, and one in Arkansas, in West Memphis (directly across the Mississippi River from Memphis). Krystal is often compared to a similar Midwest restaurant chain White Castle, but other than Nashville and several Kentucky markets, the two restaurants have seemed to drawn their own Mason-Dixon line when it comes to competition.

Krystal still maintains corporate headquarters in Chattanooga, and has been owned by Port Royal Holdings, Inc. since 1997. In the late-1990s, Krystal emerged from a bankruptcy petition and sale of assets that placed majority ownership outside the heirs of the founding families. Krystal's period of structural change and uncertainty in the late-1990s has led to a successfully re-born restaurant chain with high levels of reported customer satisfaction and an evolving menu.

Krystal's product line centers on a small, square hamburger called, simply enough, a "Krystal". Small hot dogs, named "pups" now also anchor the menu. The restaurant has since expanded its menu to include the "B.A. Burger," a full-size hamburger made of 100% black angus meat. Krystal is known for a diverse breakfast menu, and now offers a limited but popular selection of chicken and salad items. Krystal continues to focus on its core menu products, but continues to redesign and upgrade its stores to appeal to a mobile and multi-tasking audience.

During the 1950s and early 1960s, the chain served much of their food not in to-go containers but on inexpensive china labelled "Krystal." The waiters and waitresses wore white uniforms, and food was offered on a counter. Cake doughnuts were served as a breakfast and dessert item.

From about 1970 until 1986, fried chicken, coleslaw, potato salad, and rolls were offered. These items were usually sold from a small addition to the back of the hamburger restaurants. The chicken was introduced around the same time that singers Minnie Pearl and Mahalia Jackson entered the fried chicken business.

Krystal is one of the growing number of fast food restaurant chains offering free wireless internet access to customers with Wi-Fi compatible devices. Known as "The Krystal HotSpot", the service is nearly universally available at Krystal locations offering inside seating. The chain is also testing a prototype for a drive-in that features individual television monitors for ordering and watching television (audio is accessed via car stereo), and indoor and outdoor seating areas with multiple big-screen television monitors and free digital jukeboxes.^[1]

Krystals remain enormously popular in the South, especially in its East Tennessee "backyard". Fans are known to drive great distances to "get a Krystal" or pine for them when they're out of reach.^[2] Long time fans can show new patrons how to combine the boxes that Krystals come in to make Krystal houses. Krystal is a perennial favorite with college students, due to most (but not all) Krystal restaurants being open 24/7, making them a popular destination during late-night study sessions or while returning home from a party.

Frozen Krystal hamburgers are also available in supermarkets, although Krystal purists insist that the store-bought ones are simply not as good as the real thing.

As of July 2006, Krystal has confirmed that they are expanding the chain into other Southern and Mid-Western states such as West Virginia and Missouri, respectively. The company also said they are expanding further into Virginia and Kentucky.^[3]

Krystal restaurants are the host of the Krystal Square Off, a competitive eating contest. The current World Record is 103 Krystal burgers in 8 minutes by Joey Chestnut, set on October 28, 2007^{[citation needed]}

Singer Crystal Gayle was reportedly named after the hamburger chain, although the names were spelled differently.^{[citation needed]}

The leading character in Jimmy Buffett's "Great Filling Station Hold Up" took refuge at a Krystal before being arrested and sentenced to prison.

One of the restaurants was featured in a deleted scene in Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006). Borat tries his best to be a conscientious employee but as always, manages to offend customers and employees alike.

• Krystal website
• Krystal Square-Off website