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1952 While in the Air Force, stationed in Austin, TX, Fred “Pal” Barger noticed a local restaurant named 2-J’s. It was a quick service carryout-only operation. Observing 2-J’s gave tremendous inspiration to Pal. He started planning his own quick service restaurant. With the spark of this idea, Pal’s Sudden Service started on its journey to become an actual restaurant. |
| 1955 While on a trip to the National Restaurant Convention in Chicago to research equipment for the first Pal’s, Pal ran into some other people who were opening a similar type of restaurant. Pal was talking to some equipment representatives about what he was planning to build and open. A couple of men overheard Pal and approached, explaining that they also were opening a restaurant that sounded a lot like Pal’s description. They invited Pal to come with them and see the restaurant that was under construction in Des Plains, Illinois. One of the men happened to be Ray Kroc and the restaurant was the first McDonald’s in what was to become the McDonald’s System that is know today. |  |
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1956 The first Pal’s Sudden Service opened in downtown Kingsport at 327 Revere Street. The original menu consisted of Sauceburgers, Frenchie Fries, Milk Shakes, and Soft Drinks. For service you walked to the front of the building placed your order then moved along the front counter to the pickup point for your drinks and food. In an era of car hops and dine-in restaurant this was a very different service mode. Founding principles: provide the fastest service, serve high quality food and beverages, keep the menu limited, and the operations simple. |
| 1958 To expand Pal’s Sudden Service, an existing ice cream operation named Arctic was purchased. It was located on Lynn Garden Drive in Kingsport. For a short period of time the new restaurant was operated under the Arctic name before becoming a Pal’s Sudden Service. |
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1962 As an attention-getting marketing effort a large fiberglass man holding a large hamburger was added on the roof of Pal’s number 2 on Lynn Garden Drive. The rapid positive effects provided a quick lesson in marketing to standout in the crowd. |
| 1964 By 1964 the Chipped Ham was already a hit on the menu and the time was right to add another sandwich. The Pal’s Hot Dog was introduced in 1964, becoming an immediate customer favorite. Pal’s own secret recipe chili has kept hot dog fans raving. |  |
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1968 The Big Pal started as a quarter pound (4 oz) hamburger. The meat patty was dipped in melted cheese and served with lettuce on a bun. By request, the standard toppings for the Big Pal were changed to mayonnaise, lettuce, tomatoes, and onions. In 1991 our research suggested that moving the Big Pal to a larger portion size was desirable. The portion size was increased to a 1/3 pound (5.33 oz) hamburger that same year. |
| 1984 The design for the first Pal’s drive through was truly done on the back of a napkin. Artists/designers Karen and Tony Barone developed the building look one evening while dining at Skoby’s. During a discussion about the drive through restaurant project Tony quickly sketched on the back of a paper napkin a building with the stair-stepped front holding larger than life food and drink items. The napkin went to architect Tony Moore who developed building plans for the new Pal’s. |
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1985 Pal’s opened the first drive-thru location in Colonial Heights, followed by a second location on Stone Drive. Both were sporting the new attention getting architecture. |
| 1987 After customer research and product testing showed market demand and acceptance of an iced tea product, Pal’s was ready to launch a new product. In August the Pal’s Big Tea made its debut. The large 32 ounce portion of brewed-to-perfection iced tea became a stellar success. |  |
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1990 In January 1990, the fifth Pal’s opened across the street from the ETSU campus. It quickly became a favorite of the students. |
| 1991 Pal’s #6 opened in Greeneville in the spring. Being in a shopping center allowed space for a dining room. The first Pal’s outside of Tennessee, Pal’s #7 opened in June in Gate City, Virginia. |  |
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1992 Pal’s #8 opened in the food court of the Johnson City Mall. The design used bold colors and shapes to convey the fun atmosphere of Pal’s. In the fall, Pal’s #9 opened in Elizabethton on West Elk Avenue. |
| 1993 Pal’s #10, the first one in Bristol, opened after a two year long search for a lot that was just right. The store opened to a tremendous flow of customers. |  |
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1994 Store number 11, third location in Johnson City, opened on the Bristol Highway.The Creative Energy Group developed our slogan “Great Food in a Flash”.Also this same year we adopted the Baldrige Criteria as the tool to assess the overall state and effectiveness of our management system. |
| 1995 Two additional locations were added in 1995. Pal’s #12 was built on Fort Henry Drive at the location of the old Munal Clinic, near Fort Henry Mall. The store is called Brook’s Circle in reference to a traffic circle that was at one time located where Fort Henry Drive and Eastman road intersect. Pal’s #13 opened in Rogersville in the fall. Of all the new store openings to date, Rogersville had the biggest response. |  |
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1996 Pal’s introduced a chicken sandwich that is uniquely different from other restaurants’ chicken sandwiches. We start with oven roasted chicken breasts that are sliced extra thin then piled high. The hot chicken breast meat is added to a toasted bun along with mayonnaise, spicy mustard, lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese. The Big Chicken sandwich has become a regional classic with a taste you can get nowhere else. Pal’s wins the Tennessee Quality Award level three. |
| 1997 In November 1997 the Pal’s located furthest from our home market opened. The Morristown location on the Andrew Johnson Highway is 60 miles from the concept’s point of origin in Kingsport. |  |
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1998 The 15th Pal’s opened in early summer in Church Hill, Tennessee.This same year in Pal’s began offering breakfast. Using only the best ingredients, Pal’s began serving sausage biscuits, country ham biscuits, sausage gravy biscuits, and of course the very popular Cheddar Rounds. Our pilot testing data showed the breakfast program to be a big winner and it was. |
| 1999 Opened in December the store is located in Bristol, VA on Lee Highway. The Bristol Virginia is the second store to open in Virginia. The new store is operated by Tim Stevens. |  |
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2000 With 2.5 million hit per month, Pal’s website (www.palsweb.com) is the hottest local on-line property. Spin-&-Win, the game where you can win free stuff from Pal’s, has people clamoring to their computers. Prospective employees have the option of applying via the web to the Pal’s store of their choice. Company management responds within hours to all e-mail coming in from the website. It is the fun and useful nature of the site coupled with fast personal attention to customer questions and comments that makes the site the region’s favorite. the addition of Cinema Central added a feature, which recieves 280,000 hits alone |
| 2001 In November Secretary of Commerce for the United State Donald Evans announced that Pal’s was the first and only restaurant company to win the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Pal’s # 17 is being built on the John B. Dennis Highway just past North High School near Bloomingdale Pike. Also Pal’s has created the Business Excellence Institute which opened in April. The Business Excellence Institute was created to share best business practices with other organizations and individuals. |  |
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2002 In March, Pal’s was presented the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in Washington DC from President George W. Bush. Additionally, Pal’s on Lynn Garden Drive (the second Pal’s location to open) was completely remodeled. |
| 2003 Two new Pal’s locations were added. One in Gray, Tennessee opened in February. The other one opened in Blountville, Tennessee and is operated by Chris Smith. |  |
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2005 More companies attended Pal’s Business Excellence training than ever before. Organizations representing various industries from across North America, Europe and Asia regularly attend Business Excellent course in Kingsport.. |
| 2006 Pal’s opens store 20 in Jonesborough, Tennessee. In addition to the new store, Pal’s celebrates their 50th anniversary. One of the summer long celebration events is sponsorship of the Pal’s Treasure Quest during Kingsport’s annual Fun Fest. The participants will be playing for a possible $500,000 grand prize. |  |
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2007 On February 22, 2007 Pal’s received the Tennessee Excellence Award becoming the first organization to win the Excellence Award twice.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Big Tea Tea-Shirts were offer for sale during July and August. In November Pal’s started offering Gift Cards for sale at all locations in addition to their traditional Gift Certificates. |
| 2008 Pal’s opens 21st store in Lebanon, VA to rave reviews. Dustin Keller and team are focused to WOW the customers. |  |