PARK-N-EAT was a regular stop for everyone in the Granite City area! It was located at the corner of Niedringhaus and Madison Avenues, where a convenience store is today. "Sandwich specialties and a pleasing atmosphere for in-car eating are they keynotes of this successful drive-in." Drive-In Magazine, September,1959" Granite City, A Pictorial History, 1995 |
| "If we were to sell out here, we would never go into business where we could not get the Pizza-Burger franchise." said owner, Cecil Miner. Pizza-Burgers, "the feast on a bun" was one of the main attractions to the drive-in, with its familiar logo of the elfin-like face questioning, "Do I smell Pizza-Burger?" Granite City, A Pictorial History, 1995 |
| "An early PARK-N-EAT menu board lists a variety of sandwiches, drinks, and pie. Note the cheeseburger for 35 cents and Coke for 10 cents. Later, the drive-in featured a 3 ounce hamburger." Granite City, A Pictorial History, 1995 |
| "We Grind Our Own Hamburger from U.S. Graded Choice Beef" |
| "Inside PARK-N-EAT at the counter, we see, Maxine Hoover, Day Manager, Cecil Miner, owner, Wilma Birdsong, Neva Handcock and Ruth Ann Tanksley during September, 1959." Granite City, A Pictorial History, 1995 Ruth Ann Tanksley Stephens is actually the car hop just to the right of Mr. Miner, she is our aunt, we recognized the error immediately! |
| It is hard to believe that it has been almost thirty years since Cecil Miner closed the doors at PARK-N-EAT. For those of us who well remember driving beneath the steel canopy and pressing the button on the Dine-A-Mike menu board to place our order, that Saturday in March of 1984 was a very sad day. And all these years later, we still reminisce about a by-gone era of icy cold root beer, piping hot fresh fries and the fabulous PARK-N-EAT Pizza Burger. Many lay claim to having the original PARK-N-EAT pizza-burger recipe, but until recently, no one but Cecil Miner's family knew of the mysterious combination of spices, sauce and technique that produces the ORIGINAL PARK-N-EAT PIZZA BURGER! Cecil passed away in March of 1986 leaving the secret recipe to his wife, now deceased and his two sons Tom and Ted Miner. The original Park N Eat Pizza Burger was a franchised trademarked product consisting of spices that were sold to many restaurants. Each restaurant featuring the delicious burger had a slightly different variation of the recipe allowing for each establishment's to be just a bit different from the next. This information was provided to us by Eric Miner, Cecil's grandson. Here is a brief passage: "The Pizza-Burger spice was a franchised item...the spices and recipe were sold to restaurants, but the locations were controlled so one location would not be in competition with another. So a pizza-burger in Kansas City at the Steak House would be very different from the Pizza Burger in Granite City at Park-N-Eat, even though the spices and recipe came from the same location. Tony’s in Granite City was given the recipe after Park-N-Eat closed. I remember going to Tony’s with my grandfather and ordering a Pizza burger. I also remember telling my grandfather that the burger tasted different. This is when he told me that he gave Tony’s the recipe, but he never showed them how to make the burger. So every location had their own version of the Pizza Burger." The franchise that invented and marketed the original pizza burger is still in existence today, and they offer the special seasoning mixture to, not only new franchisers, but to the general public. The name of the company is Pizza-Burger System, Inc. When you purchase the seasoning mix, you also receive instructions for the sauce and the standard pizza burger recipe. Franchisers receive a customized, territory protected version. To order your recipe and seasonings from Pizza-Burger Sytems, Inc., just scroll to the bottom of this page! |
| Photo credit - Randy Givens |
| Photo credit - Randy Givens |
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| We have personally spoken with Tracy, whose husband is related to the original owners, from Pizza-Burger Systems, Inc. The pizza burger seasoning and cooking instructions are very, very inexpensive. Just as it was fifty years ago, all transactions are done via snail mail. Visit their website for updated pricing and ordering information: http://www.pizza-burger.com/ At this time they do not accept credit/debit cards, but you may forward a money order or cashier's check payable to : Pizza-Burger System, Inc. P.O. Box 47 Muskego, WI 53150 For additional information, you can email them at customerservice@pizza-burger.com or call (414) 427-6431 You can visit their FaceBook page by clicking here! CHECK BACK SOON FOR MORE PARK-N-EAT UPDATES, more photos coming soon. If you have a photo or memory you would like to share, please email it to GraniteCityGossip@yahoo.com HELP US KEEP THE LEGEND ALIVE!!!!! |