Opinion: Orlando's King of Beef Still Reigns Supreme

Beefy King is the well loved and enduring location where Orlandoans have been meeting and greeting each other for more than fifty-three years. The food focus is fresh roast beef, steamed and placed within a fresh sliced bun. Add some spuds, popularly known otherwise as tater tots, and cole slaw and a platter is had to carry to a booth or table. Usually to join family or a collection of friends. The evident community atmosphere can be a bit off putting to folks from out of the area. For me, an Orlando native that has been a Beefy King patron since it opened, it is a form of heaven. At the time Beefy King opened in 1968 there was an alteration of restaurants styles going on.

Up to then, the average folks were used to going into a very large dining room, sitting down at a table covered with cloth, getting a filet mignon, fish filet, chopped steak on a tablecloth with metal utensils. There were a number of fine dining restaurants around Orange County in the ‘50s through the ‘70s. Only a couple left today. There was Barney's, The White Turkey, Al & Linda’s La Cantina (Still around, though a divorce sliced Al out) where diners would find tablecloths and metal utensils and were waited to be seated. A place called Imperial House in Winter Park where a bowl of mints sat on a table beside the entrance for before or after a meal. When you walked in, you might have a wait before a table was ready for your dining pleasure.

The more low key cafeteria style restaurants, like S&S or Morrison’s Cafeteria, might not have the accoutrements as the Imperial House had, still had the matter of finding a place to sit, Even in cafeterias folks tended to dress better than today with dresses or dress shirt and slacks. At cafeterias customers selected entrees and more from a line of selections. These style of restaurants were losing favor to the fast-food style where folks would casually go, order and leave or stay at simple tables and chairs. These types of restaurants dwindled more and more through the ‘70s and into the early 1980s. Prior to the gradual closing of finer dining, what we later called, fast food was looked down upon and more for the teenage crowd. The fast food places started decades before  In the waning years of the 1960s a more shaky economic environment in the U.S. was taking hold. Americans found themselves with less money, and the fast food setup was perfect for that.

Also there was the idea of formality going away. There was a big shift occurring in which mom, dad and the kids were breaking apart more during the late ‘60s. Better dress and manners were taking a back seat to looser clothing and talk. Thus a shift from a well cooked steak set upon fine dishware to a quick and, somewhat literally, dirty hamburger wrapped in newsprint was being accepted as part of a meal. The very idea of fast food, where you can run up and get fries, burger and shake for a couple dollars appealed to Americans finding themselves with less available cash. As the mindset changed, Americans embraced the fast food restaurants as a place everybody could go. The fast food concept worked particularly well in Florida, because if there's any place that's more low key than other parts of the country it’s certainly Florida. Though, even prior to the late ‘60s, if you see photographs of people at Cypress Gardens, Silver Springs and Weeki Wachee they are dressed in dresses and shirt and slacks mentioned before. Due to the economy & dressing down that proliferated into the late 60s, fast food places were becoming quite popular. The businesses were starting to really explode.

The likes of Burger King, McDonald's, Burger Chef, Royal Castle, Kentucky Fried Chicken found hearty investors fueling cash for expansion of the many businesses with dreams of riches galore. Suddenly corner lots all over sported one or another fast food place. Of the fast food places becoming very popular were pizza places. Places like Pizza Hut and Sir Pizza were really expanding their locations into Florida and Orange County. The Veigle brothers, Jim and Tom, picked up on the expansion and opened Tom's Pizza. The pizza place in Orlando, on Bumby Avenue, was right across from the Colonial Plaza Mall and the Rocking Chair Theater. In the meantime, a trip to New York had the brothers realize that fast food roast beef was an option. Roy Rogers and Arby’s fast food roast beef sandwich places were taking off. An Arby’s had opened in Winter Park, on US17 & 92, just across the street from S&S Cafeteria, mentioned above, and next door a Sir Pizza restaurant.

The Veigles decided to open their own roast beef place beside their Tom’s Pizza place and across the street from the popular movie theater. So that's what they did, opened Beefy King, a place where you could get roast beef, and it would be chopped up and put into sandwiches and served to whoever came in. It would be quick and very low key. Beefy King opened November 24, 1967 by the Veigles. That was not all, they decided to expand and open ones in Cocoa, Merritt Island and Memphis, Tennessee. One was even in the Bahamas. And that's where the Smith family (No relation) came in. The family had come down to Orlando from Michigan were looking to get into some business. There was a cousin working at Tom’s Pizza who passed the word of possible franchises. The opportunity was grasped by the patriarch, Freeman Smith and the Smith Beefy King was theirs June 2nd, 1968. Eventually the Veigle’s had some 107 locations for Beefy King going into the 1970s. But, as most all other fast food spots that expanded into the ‘70s a decision was made to sell to others. That led, to what most of the new owners did to their acquired fast food places across the U.S., they closed most or all. Investment folks are looking for investments and not making excellent roast beef sandwiches.

The bottom line was key and so many franchises were taken down or nearly out by the late ‘70s, including Roy Rogers, Burger Chef, Royal Castle, BIFF Burger, etc., etc. A major trouble was that there were just far too many fast food places everywhere. Not all could stay open. Also, those who acquired one, would acquire two or three more set of restaurants and got over their heads. In the end, as the Beefy King franchise failed, only Beefy King in Orlando survived. It had its competition as much as any other. Tom’s Pizza was on one side and Kentucky Fried Chicken on the other. A block away was a McDonald’s, Arthur Treacher’s Fish ‘n Chips, Lum’s, Fat Boys Bar-B-Q, Steak ‘n Shake and more. All, but McDonald’s, are gone. Colonial Plaza is gone. The very popular movie theater with chairs that rocked is now a place with more theater and dance shows. Beefy King endures due to focus on quality of product and a family atmosphere that people love. Speaking to so many over the decades an interesting trend was found: Dedication to one or the other. Folks who would go to Tom’s Pizza rarely, if ever, went to Beefy King and vice versa. Sadly, the Tom’s Pizza eventually closed. The structure is still there and has had a variety of businesses in it over past few decades since closing. Beefy King has stayed in the family.

Freeman Smith sold to his son, Roland and his wife.  Their daughter and son-in-law, Woody, can almost always be found at the location getting that roast beef sliced just right, then steamed and then passed into a bun. Maybe request of adding lettuce, onion or other addition. The spuds. The cole slaw. The focus is the food and customers, a recipe for restaurant success. Travelling all over the state and reviewing hundreds of restaurants, Beefy King is outstanding. There are so many locations like Beefy King that have stood for longer. The Tally-Ho in Panama City, the Hob Nob in Sarasota, Powell’s Dairy Freeze in Starke, the original BIFF Burger in St. Petersburg, Del’s Freez in Melbourne, etc. All have enormous community support. Mostly due to multi-generations who were born and raised in the area and grew up with these locations. That helps spread the word to those outside those realms and further increasing the customer base. All finding higher quality and care than the chain spots.

Sending hundreds of people and fellow travel writers from inside and outside the state, all have vowed to return. What is it about the food? Of course there is the steamed, fresh roast beef. It’s recommend to get a regular or “X-Large” to get the best taste of the roast beef. The spuds mentioned are a treat. Aren’t tater tots usually loved? For some reason, the hash brown taste works so very well with the roast beef. Arby’s knew that by offering their hash brown potato cakes until 4 months ago (For some inexplicable reason, Arby’s cut those from the menu after 5 decades). There’s really nothing extraordinary about the spuds at Beefy King, those just enhance the taste of the roast beef sandwich. There’s also the cole slaw. Well made and great addition to a platter. The cole slaw is pretty standard cole slaw, but, again, works so well with the sandwich and spuds. Another customary purchase with a platter is their orange milkshake. This is also pretty standard. Not hand scooped. Just standard machine milkshake. But it works so very well all together! There are many other choices.

Many love the hot reuben, ham and turkey, beef and pastrami and so many other sandwiches available. Other sides include onion rings, dill pickles and cookies. Some are surprised to learn there are even salads and vegetarian sandwiches are available. There is one drawback, which should not be a surprise. Beefy King can be very, very busy. Especially around noontime. Best to have patience if there is a line inside or the drive-thru. People still come from all over to lunch there. Some people come from their office with orders for two or ten people. The seating is limited to the inside and can fill quickly. This is the most challenging hurdle to jump to enjoy their offerings. The hours further complicate this. They open Monday through Friday, 11am. The inside closes at 3pm.

The drive-thru closes at 5:30. Saturday the hours are only 11 to 3. Many love that they are closed always on Sunday. Being so popular, Beefy King has t-shirts and hats with the same bull logo that they started with.

These are particularly popular with the workout crowd as they can wear something, with muscles displayed emblazoned with Beefy King. Location: 424 Bumby Avenue, Orlando Their telephone number: (407) 894-2241 Their website: http://beefyking.com