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Related Notes of Interest
All known Biff-Burger Drive-In locations have closed with the exception of two...... (1) Biff-Burger, located at 3939 49th Street, St. Petersburg, Florida, and (2) Beef Burger (renamed in the early 1980s), located at 1040 W. Lee Street, Greensboro, NC.
However, upon continual research of Biff-Burger and the National Biff-Burger System, there is creditable information that indicates and/or supports that there are restaurants in the United States that may have been related to the original "Biff-Burger Drive-Ins", franchised from and managed under the National Biff-Burger System (NBBS).
Research has also uncovered that there are other hamburger restaurant chains, not related to Biff-Burger, that have buildings and roadsigns which exhibit similar, or believed to be the same, architectural features as used by early former Biff-Burger buildings and roadsigns.
Not only was there "architectural" influences but there was also food influences as well. Many other restaurants offered food items similar to the items at Biff-Burger, such as hamburgers with similar sauces. Three such examples, are Beef Burger, Kenney's, and Pal's, and are each discussed below.
On-going research and comments from viewers also support that there are other existing restaurants that sill offer menu items that "mimic" burgers from either Biff-Burger and Kenney's due to local popularity and demand! The list of restaurants is provided below for your patronage.
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BEEF BURGER |
Beef Burger
1040 W. Lee Street
Greensboro, NC 27403
(336) 272-7505
Beef Burger, located in Greensboro, North Carolina, has been CONFIRMED to have formerly been a Biff-Burger. The owner and general manager, Ralph Havis, was concerned about franchise fees and other legal issues back in 1981 when his 10-year contract with Biff-Burger expired and could not be renewed due to the National Biff-Burger System going defunct in 1976. So in 1982, Ralph changed the name of his restaurant to Beef Burger. However, to this day, the Beef Burger is still called Biff-Burger by many locals.
Interestingly enough, research has shown that a few other Biff-Burger locations in Burlington and Mebane, North Carolina and the location in Phenix City, Alabama, were also later known as Beef Burger. To date, it is not known if there is any correlation between any of these locations or if the name Beef Burger has signifiance, such as a "spin-off" company of Biff-burger. Another location in Fort Worth, Texas used the name Beef Burger and it is not known if this location "ever" was a Biff-Burger and or related to the other Beef Burgers.
Information on the Beef Burger, located in Greensboro, North Carolina, is now covered under the page titled Beef Burger.
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| KENNEY'S |
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In Virginia, many of the early Kenney's burger locations were originally started as a Biff-Burger Drive-In. William "Bill" Kenney owned his first Biff-Burger in 1958, located at 4317 Williamson Road, in Roanoke, VA and was one of the early Biff-Burger box style buildings.
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Many of the early Kenney's Drive-In restaurants located in various towns throughout western, southern, and central Virginia portrayed many elements of classic Biff-Burger architecture, both building style and roadsigns.
Throughout the remaining late 1950's and early 1960's, Mr. Kenney opened a few additional Biff-Burger Drive-In locations in Virginia as well. While being a franchise owner of those Biff-Burger locations, Mr. Kenney, being the entrepaneuer that he is, founded Kenney's, derived after his last name, and opened additional new drive-in locations under the new Kenney's name.
William Kenney also owned several corporations throughout his career and included: Kenney's Drive-In, Kenney's Americana, Ken-Johnson Restaurants, Kenney's Bantam Markets, and Eastern Sales and Equipment Service Corporation.
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After a few years in the restaurant business, on October 4, 1962, all Roanoke Biff-Burger locations that were owned and francised by William Kenney became known as Kenney Burger Drive-Ins, or simply refered to as "Kenney's", during an advertising ploy in which Mr. Kenney Burger, played by Tim Loughlin, married Miss Biff Burger, played by Barbara Ann Weikle, thus formalizing the name change. (Click here to see the advertisment). Many of the same menu items offered at the former Biff-Burger locations were also offered at the various new Kenney's locations during the early years of Kenney's, including the "Sauce Burgers".
The majority of the Kenney's Drive-In locations making up the chain of restaurants closed down sometime during the 1980's. However, three (3) of them, independently owned, still live on and are open today! Many of the original Kenney buildings and familar "Downward Arrow" style road signs are still around and are used today for various types of businesses. Below is a listing of known Kenney Burger Drive-In locations.
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Typical Kenney's A-Frame Style Building
And "Downward Arrow" Roadsign
Williamson Road, Roanoke, VA
Photo Courtesy of William Kenney and Twig Gravely
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Kenney Burger Drive-In Locations
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Virginia |
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KEY -  - Confirmed Former Biff-Burger Drive-In Prior to Being Renamed to Kenney's Drive-In |
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Buena Vista, VA | | 1518 Magnola Ave. (US 501), near E. 15th St. 
Former Building: A-Frame Style (Demolished in 2000). Existing Modern Square Style w/ Mansard Roof.
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Lexington, VA | | 635 Waddell St., near S. Main St (Kenney's)
Existing Building: A-Frame Style with "Downward Arrow" Roadsign.
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Lynchburg, VA | | 2062 Fort Ave., near Campbell Ave (Kenney's)
Existing Building: Modern Brick Style w/ Mansard Roof
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Blacksburg, VA | |
207 South Main Street (US 460), near Washington St. SE
Existing Building: Modern Brick Style w/ Mansard Roof
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Bridgewater, VA | |
Unknown Address
Existing Building: TBD
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Charlottesville, VA | |
1705 N. Emmett St. (US 29), near Angus Rd. (Formerly Preston Plaza)
Existing Building: Located with a small strip mall
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Danville, VA | |
3025 Riverside Dr. (US BUS 58), Near Commerce Street
Former Building: TBD
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Galax, VA | |
818 S. Main St. (Rt 89)
Existing Building: A-Frame Style
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Harrisonburg, VA | |
885 E. Market St. (US 33), Corner with Kenmore St.
Former Building: TBD
Existing Advance Auto Parts
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Lynchburg, VA | |
2404 Wards Rd., Near Seminole Ave.
Former Building: A-Frame Style. Existing Modern Style w/ Mansard Roof
Existing Shanghai Express Chinese Restaurant
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Lynchburg, VA | |
3rd Location (Unknown address)
Former Building: TBD |
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Marion, VA | |
636 N. Main Street (US 11). Corner of Brunswick Lane
Existing Building: A-Frame Style
Existing: Cook's Service Cleaners (Laundrymat)
Notes: Possibly a Ray's Kingburger location.
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Martinsville, VA | |
(River Hill Section) 1007 S. Memorial Blvd. (US 220/58), near Douglas Ave.
Existing Building: A-Frame Style
Notes: Former Trapazoid shaped Biff-Burger Roadsign
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Pulaski, VA | |
Pulaski Road
Former Building: TBD
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Radford, VA | |
711 West Main Street
Existing Building: A-Frame Style |
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Roanoke, VA | |
325 Elm Ave. SE, near 4th Street SE
Existing Building: Modern Brick Style w/ Mansard Roof
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Roanoke, VA | |
932 Orange Ave. NE (US 221), near Hollins Rd. NE
Former Building: Early Box Style w/ Angled Canopied Patio
Existing Southern Classic Auto Wash
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Roanoke, VA | |
2155 Bennington Ave. SE, near Riverland Road SE
Existing Building: Modern Brick Style w/ Mansard Roof
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Roanoke, VA | |
3021 Brambleton Ave. SW (US 221), near Sweetbrier Ave. SW
Former Building: Small Box Style w/ Exposed Angle Steel Beams. Existing Modern Brick Style w/ Mansard Roof
Existing Domino's Pizza |
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Roanoke, VA | |
3226 Brandon Ave. SW (US 11), near Westland Road SW
Existing Building: Modern Brick Style w/ Mansard Roof
Existing Dairy Queen |
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Roanoke, VA | |
3323 Melrose Ave. NW, near Viewmont St. NW
Former Building: A-Frame Style
Existing Empty Lot across from Dixie Products
Notes: Multi-Colored Rotating Wheel ontop of Arrow Roadsign
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Roanoke, VA | |
4317 Williamson Rd. NW (US 11), near Frontier Rd. NW
Former Building: Early Box Style w/ Canopied Patios, Later Box Style w/ Pagoda Roof
Existing Video Store
Notes: 1st Kenney's Drive-In, Location of Wedding (Biff-Burger & Kenneys)
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Roanoke, VA | |
(Boxley Hills Section) 5324 Williamson Rd. NW (US 11), near Malvern Rd. NW
Former Building: A-Frame Style
Existing Real Estate Services
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Roanoke, VA | |
7000 Peters Creek Road NW, near Williamson Rd. (US 11)
Existing Building: Modern Brick Style w/ Mansard Roof
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Salem, VA | |
508 East Main Street (US 460), near Thmpson Memorial Drive
Existing Building: Modern Style w/ Mansard Roof
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Salem, VA | |
922 West Main Street
Existing Building: Modern Style w/ Mansard Roof
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Salem, VA | |
1019 W. Main St. (US 11), near N. Butterfly St.
Former Building: A-Frame Styel
Existing: Speedee Oil Change & Tune-Up
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Staunton, VA | |
2115 West Beverly St. (HWY 254), near Grubert St.
Existing Building: Modern Style w/ Mansard Roof
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Staunton, VA | |
Greenville Ave (US 11), near Orchard Hill Circle, Staunton Mall (Formerly Staunton Plaza Shopping Center)
Former Building: TBD
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Waynesboro, VA | |
1220 W. Broad St. (US 250), near N. Poplar Ave.
Former Building: A-Frame Style
Existing Fisher Auto Parts |
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Vinton, VA | |
520 Hardy Road
Existing Building: Modern Brick Style w/ Mansard Roof |
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Winchester, VA | |
Unknown Address
Former Building: TBD |
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West Virginia |
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Charleston, WV | |
Unknown Address
Former Building: TBD
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Dunbar, WV | |
Unknown Address
Former Building: TBD
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Princeton, WV | |
Unknown Address
Existing Building: A-Frame Style
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Welch, WV | |
Unknown Address
Former Building: TBD
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For more information about William Kenney's restaurant chain "Kenney's Drive-In", visit Patrick "Skyler" Old's "Kenney's Restaurant" website. This website has excellent photos of old Kenney's restaurant buildings (various styles) and roadsigns. Many of these photos exhibit familar "classic" Biff-Burger Drive-In architecture of early "Downward Arrow" roadsigns and both Box Style and A-Frame Style buildings.
In addition to Patrick Skyler's site, mentioned above, some of you viewers may remember Twig Gravely's website titled, "Kenneys Drive-In". Unfortunately, this resourceful website went offline at the end of 2011. Twig's former website was an extensive compilation of a wealth of information of various old establishments and places around the Roanoke, Virginia area including Kenney's. As of the beginning of 2012, the Biff-Burger Drive-In is currently working with Twig to get his portion of the Kenney's Drive-In back online by incorporating his wealth of photos and information on the Biff-Burger Drive-In website. Stay tuned throughout 2012 as it developes!
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| RAY'S KINGBURGERS |
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Another former hamburger chain by the name of Ray's Kingburger had buildings and road signs that were of the same design used by many early Kenney's and Biff-Burgers Drive-Ins located within Virginia and North Carolina. (see Architecture). The buildings used architectural features that included an Arrow Shaped Structure (also referred to as an "A-Frame Style" and/or "Boomerang Style"), use of Large Sheet Glass Windows, an Upswept Roof, and Exposed Steel Beams.
There were as many as 15 Kingburger locations by 1969, within North Carolina and southern Virginia. Through out the years, a few other drive-in locations were added until the company's final demise in 1980. Below is a listing of known Ray's Kingburger locations.
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North Carolina
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Asheboro, NC | |
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Boone, NC | |
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Burlington, NC | |
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Elkin, NC | |
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Jonesville, NC | |
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Greensboro, NC | |
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Goldsboro, NC | |
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Jacksonville, NC | |
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Kernersville, NC | |
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Lenoir, NC | |
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Mount Airy, NC | |
(2) Locations
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North Wilkesboro, NC | |
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Sailsbury, NC | |
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Winston-Salem, NC | |
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Wilson, NC | |
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Virginia |
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| | Abingdon, VA | |
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| | Hillsville, VA | |
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| | Blacksburg, VA | |
(2) Locations
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| | Marion, VA | |
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| | Pulaski, VA | |
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| | Radford, VA | |
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| | Roanoke, VA | |
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| | Salem, VA | |
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| | Wytheville, VA | |
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Tennessee |
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| | Kinsport, TN | |
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PAL'S SUDDEN SERVICE |
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Another restaurant chain that offers hamburgers with an unique special sauce is Pal's Sudden Service, or simply referred to as Pal's. Many viewers state that Pal's original burger, called the Sauceburger, reminds them of once eating a burger at Biff-Burgers.
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Fred "Pal" Barger became interested in the fast food hamburger industry during his Air Force tenure in Texas in 1952. A few years later, in 1955, Barger met Ray Kroc at a restaurant and food service convention in Chicago, IL, while doing research on restaurant equipment, and also toured the very first McDonald's location in Des Plaines that started Ray Kroc's "Empire".
In 1956, Fred "Pal" Barger, founder of Pal's Sudden Service, opened his first restaurant drive-in location on Revere Street in Kingsport, Tennessee with an original menu offering 'Sauceburgers', 'Frenchie Fries', Milk Shakes, and Cokes . Today, the building still operates as Pal's #01 and, eventhough it has been renovated over the years, it still maintains the feel of a "Classic 50's" walk-up hamburger stand.
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Today, Pal's has 23 locations throughout Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, and is easily recognizable by their unique building architecture consisting of fiberglass replicas of a hamburger, hot dog, "frenchie fries", and a drink on a stair-stepped roof building! Crazy!
Like many other hamburger drive-ins during the 1950 and 1960 era, Pal's offered, and continue to offer today, a hamburger with "special sauce" that is ketchup based, mildly spicy, and is noted to taste similar to Biff-Burger's sauce.
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Pal's Sudden Service, No. 15
Church Hill, TN
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Pal's Locations:
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| Pal's #01 | | Kingsport, TN | | 327 Revere Street |
| Pal's #02 | | Kingsport, TN | | 1316 Lynn Garden Drive |
| Pal's #03 | | Kingsport, TN | | 4224 Fort Henry Drive |
| Pal's #04 | | Kingsport, TN | | 1120 E. Stone Drive |
| Pal's #05 | | Kingsport, TN | | 1200 W. State of Franklin |
| Pal's #06 | | Greeneville, TN | | 1357 Tusculum Blvd. |
| Pal's #07 | | Gate City, VA | | 165 Kane Street |
| Pal's #08 | | Johnson City, TN | | 2011 N. Roan Street |
| Pal's #09 | | Elizabethton, TN | | 413 W. Elk Avenue |
| Pal's #10 | | Bristol, TN | | 960 Volunteer Parkway |
| Pal's #11 | | Johnson City, TN | | 3206 Bristol Highway |
| Pal's #12 | | Kingsport, TN | | 1735 Fort Henry Drive |
| Pal's #13 | | Rogersville, TN | | 4308 Highway 66 South |
| Pal's #14 | | Morristown, TN | | 2301 W. Andrew Johnson Highway |
| Pal's #15 | | Church Hill, TN | | 437 Richmond Street |
| Pal's #16 | | Bristol, VA | | 101 Alexis Drive, Exit 7, I-81 |
| Pal's #17 | | Kingsport, TN | | 3012 N. John B. Dennis Hwy |
| Pal's #18 | | Gray, TN | | 257 Old Gray Station Rd. |
| Pal's #19 | | Blountville, TN | | 3277 Highway 126 |
| Pal's #20 | | Jonesborough, TN | | 1200 East Jackson Blvd |
| Pal's #21 | | Lebanon, VA | | 370 Overlook Drive |
| Pal's #22 | | Greenville, TN | | 3265 E. Johnson Hwy |
| Pal's #23 | | Norton, VA | | 705 Commonwealth Drive NE |
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| OTHERS |
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In Conclusion ...
Last Updated: August 2011
Due to the popularity and demand for burgers dipped with "Biff-Burger" sauce and/or the famous "Sauce Burgers" from Kenneys, many local restaurants, in various regions of the country, are now preparing these items. The following list has been compiled from news articles and emails from viewers.
* Please note that the following information is posted for your convenience and may change at any time. Please contact interested location for further information.
If you visit any of the locations listed below, please kindly drop us an email indicating whether or not the restaurant is open/closed and if the special Kenney Burger or Biff-Burger related menu item is still available. If you know of a place that is not listed, we would also like to hear from you! 
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Pennsylvania |
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Pepper Tree
US Highway Route 522
Selinsgrove, PA, Across from Susquehanna RV
570.374.7211
Biff-Burgers (Pepper Tree call theirs a "Piff-Burger")
Wendt's Pork Palace
950 US Highway Route 522
Selinsgrove, PA
570.372.0777
Biff-Burgers (Wendt's call theirs a "Sauce Burger")
Selinsgrove Speedway -Concession Stand
At Intersection of Route 35 and US 11&15 Busn.
Selinsgrove, PA
570.374.2999
570.374.6270 (Non-Race Days)
Biff-Burgers (The Track call theirs a "Speedway Burger")
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Virginia |
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The Blues Cafe (CLOSED)
Apperson Drive
Salem, VA
Kenney's Sauce Burgers
Burger in the Square
3904 Brambleton Avenue
Roanoke, VA
540.400.8645
Kenney's Sauce Burgers
Bobbie-Jo's Pancake House
1601 Lynchburg Pike, Near Route 419
Salem, VA
540.344.1988
Kenney's Sauce Burgers
Gerows Restaurant (CLOSED)
4602 Old Cave Spring Road, Near Brambleton Ave.
Roanoke, VA
540.725.7344
Kenney's Sauce Burgers
Little Chef Restaurant
1307 Williamson Road NE
Roanoke, VA
540.982.0779
Kenney's Sauce Burgers
Pat's Cafe (CLOSED)
3526 Shenandoah Avenue
Roanoke, VA
540.981.1193
Lendy's and Biff-Burger Items
R and R Market and Snackbar
1611 Wadsworth Street
Radford, VA
540.633.6636
Kenney's Sauce Burgers
Turn One Restaurant & Sports Bar
1155 North 4th Street
Wytheville, VA
276.228.8876
Kenney's Sauce Burgers
Thomas Motor's Store and Deli
1032 Stayman Road (Route 460)
Montvale, VA
540.947.2102
Kenney's Sauce Burgers
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