History
Kewpee Hamburgers is a chain of fast-food restaurants founded in 1923 in Flint, Michigan, by Samuel V. Blair[2] under the name "Kewpee Hotel" in a stand.[3] In 1926, Blair sold the rights to the Kewpee trademarks to Toledo, Ohio Kewpee Hotel operator Ed Adams.[5]
In Lansing, Michigan, the Weston family has owned and operated the Kewpee's restaurant since it opened in 1923. The Weston family has had as many as two Kewpee restaurants open at one time in Lansing. The Westons are in their fourth generation of operating Kewpee.[4] Kewpee's early plans under Blair and Adams seemed to stay out of major cities. After Prohibition, some Kewpee restaurants added real beer to their staple of root beer, which was on many Kewpee menus joining the standard coffee offerings of other hamburger chains.[3] In 1928, the Lima, Ohio, location opened under the ownership of Hoyt “Stub” Wilson.[2][6] About 200 Kewpee locations existed by 1929.[3] In 1936, with a Kewpee already located in Findlay, Ohio, Wilson opened a restaurant there called Wilson's Sandwich Shop.[6] At its peak just before World War II, there were more than 400 Kewpee restaurants in operation.[3]
Blair, upon his retirement on April 1, 1944, started renting the original location. Blair died in 1945 and licensees continued to lease their locations and paid royalties for use of the Kewpee name from Adams. The Blair estate owned locations went up for sale in 1958. The original location was sold to leaser William "Bill" V. Thomas with Thomas paying license fees to Ed F. Adams's Kewpee Hotels partnership of Toledo, Ohio.[3][7][8] About 1958, Harrison "Harry" E. Shutt went to work for Wilson at his Lima restaurant.[1] In 1963, the Grand Rapids licensee locations were sold and separated from Kewpee as Mr. Fables.[9] Ed Adams' partnership, Kewpee Hotels transferred the Kewpee trademark to Kewpee Hotel Systems, Inc. in 1965[8]
According to a 2001 interview with Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy's, as a child, he lived near the intersection of Douglas and Kalamazoo Avenue in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Thomas used to love eating at a Kewpee restaurant, which stood at Burdick and South. He said it was what inspired him to go into the business. Kewpee's sold square hamburgers and thick malt shakes, much like the famous restaurant that Thomas eventually founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1969.[2][17]
In January 2010, Kewpee was named to the National Restaurant News 50: All-American Icons list,[18] and the Lima City Council passed a resolution congratulating the company.[19]
A book about Kewpee's history titled Kewpee Hamburgers: A Mity Nice History became available on July 24, 2023.[20]
Harrison Shutt died in 2024.[21][22]
