Pal’s Sudden Service, a long-time favorite of Elizabethton Star readers, did it again this year by rating as a Readers Choice winner.
Pal’s East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia locations were the first restaurant chain to earn America’s highest honor for quality — the Baldridge National Quality Award!
They rank at the top when it comes to having the nation’s best burgers, fries, hotdogs, cheddar rounds, shakes and ice tea.
Pal Barger created his vision of a fast food chain built on quality, speed of service and delighting every customer in 1956. Today, his vision lives in an organization that is recognized as the leading fast food chain in America based on these metrics.
Pal’s Sudden Service outperforms all national burger chains in customer satisfaction, health scores, customer retention, order accuracy, drive through wait times and profitability. The company employs more than 900 people who are engaged in fulfilling Pal Barger’s vision of delighting every customer — one transaction at a time.
Earlier this year, the company was placed on the list of Inc. Magazine’s “25 Most Audacious Companies.” The popular monthly business magazine is well known for its annual list of the 500 fastest growing companies in the “Inc. 500.” The audacious list defines the companies as “bold, courageous, and even heroic. They see a better way to do something and work to make it happen, fearlessly committed to not only making their vision a reality but also spreading that vision.” The article noted Pal’s policy of managers spending time each day to mentor a promising employee on a certain skill, the company’s incredible retention rate of managers, and its rigorous hiring and training process — things you don’t see at other quick-serve restaurants.
Pal’s President and CEO Thom Crosby said, “We view our commitment to our leadership and employee training as not just being audacious, but smart. It is all part of our mission of delighting our customers in a way that creates loyalty to Pal’s.
“Our superior training is the essential element in the quality of our food and our speed of service,” Crosby adds. “That is how we can provide better quality with drive-through wait times that are at least three times faster than our national competitors.”
Pal’s is also a two-time winner of Tennessee’s Quality Excellence Award.
There are 26 Pal’s locations in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.
In addition to its burger menu, Pal’s also has a breakfast menu, which includes country ham biscuits, gravy biscuits, sausage biscuits, butter biscuits, cheddar rounds, bacon biscuits and coffee.