The Gathering Place
For 66 years we've let the burgers do the talking — and the fans, the food writers, and the newspapers did the rest. This is their side of the story: six decades of reviews, memories, and headlines, every one linked to where it was said.
What they call us
Every word below was used by a real reviewer or publication. Tap one to see who said it.
Sixty-six years, as told by everyone else
The Hires story, stitched together from newspapers, obituaries, food writers, and fans — each stop links to the original telling.
It starts in a grocery store
Long before the first burger, Don Hale worked his family's Depression-era market — where he learned the fresh-meat standards that still define this restaurant. A university journalism project traced the whole origin, including the California trip where a certain Big Boy planted the idea.
Read at Voices of Utah →
A root beer salesman names a drive-in
Days before opening at 400 South and 700 East, a Hires Root Beer salesman offered Don a sign — and "Hires Drive-In" was born, root beer in frosty mugs and all.
Read at Deseret News →
The Big H — and the pink sauce — arrive
Don recreated a Thousand Island–style sauce his mother used to make, put it on a burger, and the Big H was born. Customers begged for cups of it for their fries — and Utah fry-sauce history followed. By 2021, over 12,000 gallons of it were leaving our kitchens and grocery shelves every year.
Read at Deseret News → · Our fry sauce story →
Never advertised. Never needed to.
Word of mouth made the little stand "home of the state's legendary burger" — with regulars from Robert Redford to John Stockton. A national burger chain opened across the street; it didn't last.
Read at Deseret News →
Farewell to Don Hale
He worked the dining room into his late 80s, greeting diners and clearing tables, and passed at 93. Longtime patrons who'd driven down from Layton every week for decades called Hires "the gathering place" — where this page gets its name.
Read at Deseret News →
One of America's best burgers
Zagat named the Big H Salt Lake City's entry among the best burgers in 25 U.S. cities — carried nationally by USA Today, joining earlier nods from Gourmet, The Wall Street Journal, and AAA's Via.
Read at City Weekly →
Jim Merrill retires — after 52 years
He started as a teenage dishwasher on New Year's Eve 1968 and managed the Salt Lake restaurant for 33 years. His explanation was simple: "If you enjoy where you are, why leave?"
Read at Deseret News →
Daybreak — a new generation
Sixty-six years after the first frosty mug, Hires opened in Downtown Daybreak near the ballpark — "bringing a beloved tradition to a new generation of Utah families."
Read the announcement →In their words
A sampling from six decades of coverage. Every card links out to the full story — go read them, we'll wait.
"A Salt Lake City tradition" — rated Excellent: Worth a Detour
Michael Stern's national drive-in bible, on the sourdough bun, the fry sauce, and the car-hop service.
"My dad ate here as a kid. His dad ate here as a kid."
Brooke Eliason's longest-standing foodie affair — three generations of one family at the same counter.
"Home of the state's legendary burger"
On a restaurant that never advertised — and outlasted the national chain that opened across the street.
A flour-topped bun and pink sauce pushing "toward mythical ethos"
Alex Springer on the first burger he ever loved — and why it still holds up.
"A cherished Utah institution"
Announcing the Daybreak opening — and recapping national acclaim from Gourmet to The Wall Street Journal.
Utah's greatest burger joint — without hesitation
A Utah blogger on the mastered 1950s diner burger, and where he'd send any visitor first.
"A Salt Lake icon"
One of hundreds of traveler reviews — first dates, Avenues childhoods, and post-Olympics pilgrimages included.
The pregame ritual before every Utes game
Fans named Hires the best burger stop in Salt Lake — a gameday tradition before and after kickoff.
The family tells the story themselves
Jon Hale, the founder's son, on the history, the franchise offer the family turned down, and Olympics-era fry-sauce fame.
A dishwasher hired on New Year's Eve 1968. He stayed 52 years.
Jim Merrill started at 95 cents an hour and ran the Salt Lake restaurant for 33 of his 52 years. Founder Don Hale worked the dining room into his late 80s, learning customers' names and their kids' names. That's the thing every review circles back to — it never felt like a chain, because it never was one.
Read Jim's story at Deseret News →
Your booth is waiting
First date? Post-game tradition? Grandpa's regular order? The best stories on this page came from people like you. Send us yours — the good ones get added to Memory Lane.
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