Why are Krystal’s so haphazardly placed?

[u/Boeing-B-47stratojet]

Compared to other hamburger joints, Hardee’s, Burger King, McDonald’s and so on, there seems to be no rhyme or reason where a Krystal is located.

Hardee’s seems to aim for small towns

Burger King for small-large cities

McDonald’s, everywhere.

Krystal on the other hand, it seems like they just throw a dart at a map.

[u/va2wv2va]

Isn’t Krystal only located in the South? I’ve only come across one in my entire life and I’m 40. It was in Florence, AL

[u/thecamino → u/va2wv2va]

For the most Krystal is in the South and White Castle is in the North. There may be a mix close to the dividing line.

[u/MrHockeytown → u/thecamino]

Used to live in Nashville, they had both there.

I still miss my corn pups

[u/Disastrous_Life_3612 → u/thecamino]

Virginia has neither. North Carolina has one Krystal and that's it. 

[u/are2deetwo → u/Disastrous_Life_3612]

But you have cookout!

[u/Famous_Strike_6125 → u/are2deetwo]

Omg. I just discovered those Cajun wraps. WOW!!!!

[u/socialformality → u/thecamino]

London, Ky, has both. North has White Castle and south has Krystal

[u/Powered_by_JetA → u/socialformality]

Orlando, FL also has both.

[u/satyrday12 → u/thecamino]

They used to have an agreement to do that. Now they're getting away from that.

[u/RolandMT32 → u/va2wv2va]

I live in the northwest US and have never seen a Krystal here.

[u/BomBiddyByeBye → u/RolandMT32]

California here and had to google to find out what this place was

[u/SharksFan4Lifee → u/va2wv2va]

Pretty much. The dead giveaway also was OP invoking Hardee's, which is pretty much only in the South too.

[u/corkyrooroo → u/SharksFan4Lifee]

And throughout the Midwest and up to New Jersey. There’s far more Hardee’s than Carls

[u/dontmatterdontcare → u/va2wv2va]

truly the /r/fastfood experience, it feels like I'm always hearing about places that only serve a small section of the region.

[u/Ryokurin → u/va2wv2va]

There was one in Muscle Shoals too. Closed in the early 00s but was rebuilt in a different location a few years later.

Krystal's has had its struggles over the years. Changing owners over the years, and fortunes, including a bankruptcy around 2020. The store seem random because for the most part those are the ones that largely survived all the ups and downs over the years.

[u/CaptainPrower → u/va2wv2va]

I saw one in Des Moines.

[u/wolfansbrother → u/CaptainPrower]

Des Moines, Tennessee?

[u/littletriggers → u/CaptainPrower]

Ain’t no Krystal in Iowa

[u/AdMaximum7051 → u/va2wv2va]

Bro shout out to Florence

[u/aakaase]

I wonder how they taste compared to White Castle. I love WC every once in a while.

[u/Th4ab → u/aakaase]

Krystal puts mustard on theirs by default, I think White Castle is right to not do that. The beef at Krystal is more burger like, the onions are more raw. If I could have just one in my town it would be White Castle but it's pretty close.

[u/aakaase → u/Th4ab]

Interesting! Yeah I guess it doesn't occur to me that WC doesn't put ketchup or mustard on theirs, and I usually just dip the thing in ketchup. Never even occurred to me to use mustard at all, though I do love mustard.

[u/fireshaper → u/aakaase]

I grew up in the south east US so we always had Krystal. But I think White Castle is much better. Krystal burgers are always soggy and every time I've had WC they are much more fresh.

[u/Johngalt323 → u/aakaase]

Krystal almost identical to WC but somehow Krystal tastes better. They’re cooked better and usually pretty darn fresh.

[u/Trypticon808 → u/aakaase]

My experience was that they were about on par with those frozen white castle sliders that come out of the microwave soggy. I was blown away that people pay money for it.

[u/Chaparral2E → u/aakaase]

White Castle hamburgers are necessary for life. An essential part of a nutritious breakfast.

Drinking from my 1960s WC coffee mug right now.

[u/E_in_BAMA → u/aakaase]

I prefer Krystal

[u/satyrday12 → u/aakaase]

I think Krystal loses because they have too much bun for the size of the meat. WC is balanced better.

[u/CuteVelma777]

Krystals mostly a SE chain, grew in weird spurts then had closures/bankruptcy, so franchises are patchy. They grab cheap highway/corner lots when avail, so u get random pockets instead of a grid.

[u/onamonapizza]

My one time at Krystal off of Bourbon Street at 2AM was a wild experience

[u/E_in_BAMA → u/onamonapizza]

That place has stayed in business thanks to alcohol even though they can’t serve any

[u/raging_sycophant]

Krystal lost the plot with pricing. I mean it's expensive now!

[u/cheechahumma]

Everyone misses their Crystals until you order for nostalgic reasons, which always outshines your past experience.

[u/doomislav → u/cheechahumma]

Sounds about right.

[u/Trees_are_cool_]

Krystal's what?

[u/breatheintheAlR]

I miss having a Krystal close to me

[u/Apprehensive-Can-857]

Where I grew up and lived most of my life they used to focus on highway exits and 24-hour service. Commonplace now, but pretty rare 30 years ago. In the past 15 or 20 years they've moved further into the town and away from the highway exits.

[u/Own_Shallot7926]

Krystal is a bad, cheap restaurant. Their target audience is low income workers, interstate travelers with no other options and late night drunks. Everyone else is choosing to eat somewhere else.

They can't afford prime real estate and even if they could, it wouldn't attract more business anyways.

[u/pblol → u/Own_Shallot7926]

I think the chicks are surprisingly good (and overpriced). It's fillet style meat. I would take them over the reconstituted McChicken every time. Otherwise pretty much yes. The fries are trash. I actually kind of like the burgers, but I eat them maybe once a year out of nostalgia. Never tried the dogs or much else.

[u/DOSBrony → u/pblol]

I get a few spicy chicks every time I go, they're genuinely one of the better chicken options out there. The ones nearest to me closed though, so it's a rare treat now...

[u/outgoinggallery_2172]

I miss when Burger King had restaurant locations everywhere up until a couple of years ago. Burger King is better than McDonald's.

[u/RolandMT32 → u/outgoinggallery_2172]

Burger King has been raising their prices like everyone else. They used to have good deals in their app, but now, not so much anymore

[u/Boeing-B-47stratojet → u/outgoinggallery_2172]

For me, it depends location to location

A good Burger King is better than a good McDonalds, but a bad Burger King seems to always taste worse than even the worst McDonald’s

McDonald’s is average, for better or worse

[u/AwsiDooger → u/outgoinggallery_2172]

I guess I'm lucky. Here in Miami the Burger Kings are plentiful and sticking around but Wendy's are closing all over the place.

[u/Chaparral2E → u/outgoinggallery_2172]

My closest BK is amazing - like Chik-Fil-A levels of service and attentiveness.

The food is always hot, the fries are perfect… it’s a very strange experience. Hats off the their hiring and training at this location, it’s like stepping back in time. Smiles, eye-contact…

The McDonalds 600 yards south employs what I can only assume are meth addicts and people on work-release programs from the local jail. Orders always wrong, cold food, limp, soggy fries.

My BK acts like it’s Five Guys with the fries, the container overflowing into the bag.

Never been to another BK like it. I agree, BK seems more like food, maybe it’s the fresh toppings.

I’ve only had Krystal when visiting Tennessee - once at a stand-alone restaurant, and once as part of a gas station. The stand-alone was far superior, near Sevierville, Tennessee.

[u/Boeing-B-47stratojet]

Here’s what I mean

A city with 100k people will probably have a Krystal

A town 200+ miles away from said town will also likely have one, I have seen Krystal’s in towns with 500 people.

But the town, that’s inbetween the two aforementioned towns, won’t have one. It will have every other chain under the sun, but it won’t have a Krystal.

My town used to have one, now I have to drive an hour to get my tiny burger fix.

[u/dirtyshits → u/Boeing-B-47stratojet]

It’s a franchise. It’s in places where people want to own and buy one(that can also be supplied).

Same as all of the other franchises you mentioned. Burger kings are in metropolitan cities and small bojank towns.

[u/Fuzzy_Welcome8348]

They r a diff breed

[u/rr777]

they came to my city with a state of the art store. closed in short order. went twice, meh.

[u/Timeleeper]

Cheaper real estate.

[u/Key-Character3502]

I wish we had Krystal’s in Houston. They closed the only one in a several hundred mile radius years back and I’ve been depressed ever since.

[u/BethDream365]

Krystals mainly a Southeast thing tbhstarted in Chattanooga and kinda stuck to those old franchise pockets. Lots closed in the 2010s, so it looks random. Not darts, just legacy and shaky ops.

[u/lo-lux]

They used to be so much better than they are now. 2006 ish?

[u/NinjaBilly55]

They do seem to be in odd places.. The first time I had them I thought they were awful because I don't like excessive amounts of mustard on anything.. Hold the mustard and they are awesome..

[u/NMazer]

Where?

[u/manmythmustache]

Shoutout to the only Krystal I’ve experienced, rundown in Gaffney, SC attached inside to a Circle K just off I-85 because it always happened to be the ideal location to stop on the way to Greenville or Atlanta

[u/danielcc07]

From the south and never eaten at one. I know I've seen one but can't recall where. I could tell you where the closest hardees is like gps though.

[u/mcdj]

Literally never heard of it. I visited Virginia a bunch as a kid in the 70s-80s and my mom’s in Fla.

[u/JustLikeTampa]

I wish they'd go out of business and White Castle can take over the South.

Krystal is fine but there's just one in Tampa in the Hood.

[u/rubyskinner65 → u/JustLikeTampa]

Krystal is way better than White Castle

[u/Boeing-B-47stratojet → u/JustLikeTampa]

When I was working up in Ohio, there was only White Castle

IMO, White Castle just tastes significantly worse.